Ulema postponed Hartal: We hope their negotiation with Government succeeds
"S A Hannah" <sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com>
Dhaka press have reported that Ulema ( Islamic scholars) have postponed on Saturday their countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal set for December 26 following assurance from the government that their demands would be addressed in phases and also considering the Christmas celebrations, the biggest religious festival of the Christian community, Islami Oikya Jote secretary general Abdul Latif Nezami told a news conference, ‘We have decided to postpone the hartal following assurance from the government that it would address our demands in phases and also considering the celebration of Christmas, the biggest religious festival of the Christian community of Bangladesh.' He said that the Ulema would call the hartal again if the demands were not met in a month. Some of the ulema leaders present at the news conference said that no time-frame was given to the government for implementing their demands. Sammilita Ulema-Mashayekh Parishad chief and editor of monthly Madina, Muhiuddin Khan had announced the hartal call at a news conference to protest against unilateral adoption of a national education policy by the government without accommodating the other opinions on the issue. The Ulema has been asking for a correction of the education policy. The main opposition BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami lent their support to the hartal. The ulema has been opposing a government move to drop from the constitution the provision of Islam as the state religion' and secularise the education system, and removal of the director general of Islamic Foundation, Shamim Afzal,
The parishad had been asking for the removal of the Islamic Foundation director general for dancing in an indecent manner before the imams at a conference of them at the foundation. The Ulema Parishad leaders said that they took the decision to postpone the hartal following a series of meetings the government had with them over the last three or four days. The prime minister's adviser HT Imam and the state minister for LGRD, Jahangir Kabir Nanak had discussions with the parishad leaders and persuaded them to postpone the hartal. The parishad in a leaflet, distributed at the news conference, said ‘it would go for trough action programmes including hartal if their demands were not met by January 25. IOJ joint secretaries Alamgir Majumder and Khalilur Rahman Madani and city unit president Ahmed Ali Kashem attended among others.