The Karachi Chapter Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) staged a rally on Sunday to decry gross human rights violations in Bangladesh and urged the international rights forums to take notice of this injustice. It demanded the government of Pakistan to raise Motiur Rahman Nizami’s conviction issue in the United Nations.
A large number of people participated in the rally that marched from Mazar-e-Quaid Chowrangi to Sea Breeze Plaza along M A Jinnah Road. Participants carrying flags and banners raised slogans to express solidarity with JI leaders in Bangladesh and condemn death and life sentences to them by courts.
JI Amir Siraj ul Haq addressed the rally on telephone and said that a massive protest had already been started in Bangladesh against their government and the ruling party Awami League. “The atrocities against the JI leaders in Bangladesh are being committed on the behest of India while the government of Pakistan is playing the role of a silent spectator.”
The JI chief said that the conviction of JI leaders in Bangladesh was a part of political maneuvering by Awami League, as the popularity graph of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed was on the decline. He said the struggle of JI Bangladesh would continue till the fake cases against its leaders were withdrawn.
He said this protest rally was also against the government of Pakistan for its anti-people policies. He demanded to give basic rights to the poor Pakistani masses.
Sindh Chapter JI Chief Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui said that the government of Hasina Wajed was trying to suppress the popularity of Islamic leaders in Bangladesh. He said that human rights organisations including the Amnesty International had rejected the verdicts of Bangladeshi courts against the JI leaders.
JI Pakistan Naib Amir Muhammad Hussain Mahenti said that it was sheer injustice to give death sentence to Motiur Rahman Nizami. He said that the aim of holding the protest rally was to compel the government of Pakistan to play its due role in this regard. “We have rejected the conviction of JI leaders in Bangladesh and will continue to protest against Bangladeshi government and its courts.”
Pakistan Muslim Alliance leader Khawaja Salman asked the Bangladeshi government to immediately stop atrocities against the JI leaders. “All this is being done because the JI leaders and activists are fighting secularism in Bangladesh”.
Hafiz Engineer Naeem-ur-Rehman also spoke on the occasion and demanded of the government to raise this issue in the United Nations so that the canons of justice were upheld.