Hefazat presents nine demands in meeting with PM

Hefazat-e-Islam leaders joined a meeting with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Chattogram on Sunday, and presented nine demands including a strict blasphemy law, exemplary punishment for the 2013 Shapla Square massacre, and declaration of Kadiyanis as non-Muslims.

The meeting was held at Al-Jamiatul Islamia Azizul Uloom Babunagar Madrasa in Fatikchhari, Chattogram.

Hefazat Ameer Shah Mahibullah Babunagari and other senior leaders of the Islamic organisation including Secretary General Maulana Sajedur Rahman and Joint Secretary General Azizul Haque Islamabadi took part in the meeting.

The government delegation, led by Tarique, included Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, State Minister for Energy Aninda Islam Amit, and State Minister for Land Mir Mohammad Helal, among others.

The nine demands from Hefazat are: 1) maximum punishment for defamation of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and anything relating to Islam under a new blasphemy act – and the government must drop all new laws that violate Islamic principles, 2) exemplary punishment for the planners and executioners of the 2013 Shapla Chattar massacre, crackdown on anti-Modi protests in 2021, and atrocities in July Uprising 2024, 3) dropping of all “false cases” filed against Islamic scholars and leaders during the Awami League government’s tenure, and measures for integrating them in the nation rebuilding process, 4) according the master’s degree status to Dawrae Hadith certification from Qawmi Madrasahs, 5) making Islamic studies mandatory for all Muslim students up to higher secondary level, 6) officially declaring the Qadiyani group as non-Muslims, 7) banning Hizb-ut-Tawhid, 8) stopping all the alleged conspiracies of domestic and foreign Christian missionary groups in the Chattogram Hill Tracts region, 9) maintaining the entry ban on Maulana Sa’ad and hosting the Bishwa Ijtema annual gathering under the supervision of Islamic religious leaders.