Jailed Hefajat leaders recommended for release: home boss
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said jailed Hefajat leaders are being recommended for release and most of them have already been freed.
"We received a list Hefajat-e-Islam leaders who are in jail," he said, adding, "According to that list, we are recommending the release of them."
The minister was talking to reporters after a programme at Al Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Uloom Moinul Islam Madrasa at Hathazari upazila in Chattogram, a stronghold of Hefajat-e-Islam.
When asked about the government's relationship with Hefajat, he said, "We have no hostile relationship with anyone."
He said 90 percent of the country's population is Muslim and Hefajat are helping spread Islam, "so we welcome them."
Asked whether his visit is related to the upcoming elections, the minister said, "I am travelling all over Bangladesh."
He said he went there to offer fateha at the grave of Shah Ahmad Shafi, the previous ameer of Hefajat-e-Islam.
Kamal said the government has not closed any Noorani madrasa and will not do so.
The government is working to modernise madrasa education, he said. He also said Qawmi madrasas are being managed under a board and the government does not interfere.
The home minister's visit came two days after present Ameer of Hefajat-e-Islam Muhibullah Babunagari made a statement demanding immediate release of its leaders.
The minister said, "After the rise of militancy, everyone said that militants come from Qawmi madrasas. But we said religious education is imparted in Qawmi madrasas, militants never emerge from there."
The minister said that religious leaders including clerics and imams of mosques have cooperated with the government to tackle militancy.
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