Hefajat declares committee ‘under watch’
Hefajat's new committee does not include Mamunul Haque and other leaders who are involved with different political parties or are in jail on charges of being involved in the violence in late March.
Hefajat-e-Islam's new Secretary General Nurul Islam Jihadi at a press conference yesterday announced that Junayed Babunagari continues to be the amir of the Islamist organisation.
The press conference was held at a madrasa in the capital's Khilgaon.
A group of people, whom Hefajat leaders discreetly identified as not their members, were seen busy organising the press briefing. They offered chairs for the reporters and distributed press releases. Interestingly, they offered journalists envelopes containing money. The Daily Star correspondent humbly turned down the offer.
Since early morning yesterday, the presence of intelligence officials inside and outside the madrasa was notable.
The men from the intelligence agencies were seen assisting the organisers and the media like volunteers throughout the event.
Asked about it, Nurul Islam told a few reporters afterwards that the government and the intelligence agencies were "watching how we announce the committee".
The new central committee has 33 members, an advisory committee 16 members and another committee called Majlish-e-Sura nine members.
Muhibullah Babunagari, a relative of Junayed Babunagari, is the chief of the central and advisory committees.
Except Junayed, Muhibullah, Nurul, and a couple of other leaders, the individuals in the leadership are comparatively little known among Hefajat activists.
Well-known leaders like Mamunul Haque, Junayed Al Habib, Abdur Rob Yusufi, Ahmed Abdul Kader, Azizul Haq Islamabadi, Khalid Saifullah, Mufti Harun Izhar, who are in jail, no longer have leadership roles.
All except Mahfuzur are remaining in jail at present, sources in Hefajat said.
Mamunul's elder brother Mahfuzul Haque, also an influential leader, is not in jail. But he is not named in the new committee.
Hefajat's previous central committee was disbanded on April 25 amid a government crackdown on Hefajat leaders following the islamist organisations's violence across the country in late March.
A five-member convening committee headed by Junayed and Nurul as its amir and member-secretary was formed at the time.
In November 2020, around two months after the death of Hefajat chief Shah Ahmad Shafi, Babunagari and Nur Hossain Kasemi were named as the new amir and secretary general.
Nurul Islam was made the secretary general after Kasemi died in December.
Asked during the event, Nurul Islam said there was no pressure from the government or from the intelligence agencies about the formation of the new committee.
But insiders said the government influenced the formation of the new committee, making sure the individuals involved in political parties associated with the BNP are axed.
Talking to this correspondent after the briefing, Nurul islam also admitted that the new committee members were not involved in politics.
Asked whether Hefajat leaders now in jail would be incorporated in the committee later, Nurul Islam said the top leaders will make such decisions.
Sources said the new central committee includes Yusuf Madani, son of Ahmad Shafi, and another man, who was a follower of the late Hefajat chief, because of government pressure.
After Shafi died in September last year, a new committee was formed excluding the Hefajat leaders who were close to Shafi.
Nurul Islam yesterday said the three new committees were formed through discussions in the five-member convening committee.
Hefajat has been under tremendous pressure from the government to restructure its central committee since the mayhem in late March, sources said.
At least 17 people were killed in clashes between Hefajat men and law enforcers in different parts of the country, especially in Brahmanbaria.
At least 154 cases were filed against Hefajat men in the following days while around 1,230 people, including more than 30 top Hefajat leaders, were arrested, according to police headquarters data.
Following the recent crackdown on Hefajat, some of its leaders started trying to negotiate with the government in hopes of avoiding "arrest and harassment".
The Islamist organisation first made headlines in 2009 by protesting a draft national women development policy that provided equal inheritance rights to women.
It is often said that hostility between Hefajat and the AL government turned amicable through closed-door negotiations amid a government crackdown after Hefajat's mayhem in the capital in May, 2013.
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