Islamic parties call daylong hartal for Oct 26

  • 10 years ago
Sammilito Islami Dal, a coalition of Islamic parties, on Wednesday called a countrywide daylong hartal for October 26, demanding Latif Siddique’s trial for his disparaging remarks about hajj and Tablig Jamaat.

Mawlana Zafrullah Khan, secretary general of the coalition, announced the shutdown for Sunday from a press conference at Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka in the morning as the government failed to arrest Latif Siddique by today (Wednesday) for his remarks, exceeding their earlier-given deadline.

Earlier on October 16, the coalition threatened to enforce a daylong countrywide hartal on the day (on October 26) if the sacked minister was not arrested by October 22 for his disparaging remarks about hajj.

Latif Siddique at a views-exchange meeting with expatriates from Tangail on September 28 in the USA said, “During hajj, so much manpower is wasted. Over 20 lakh people have gone to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj. They’ve no work, no production and they only cause deduction.”

“Some 20 lakh Tablig Jamaat people get together annually who don’t do any work except halting traffic movement across the country,” he added.