After being sworn in as the new Jamaat-e-Islami ameer, Shafiqur Rahman remembered the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as well as the executed war criminals in his introductory speech to the party, which opposed Bangladesh’s independence during the 1971 war.
“I remember with great respect to the architect of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with former president Ziaur Rahman, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, and Commander-in-chief of the Liberation War [Muhammad] Ataul Goni Osmani. I [also] remember with respect to Prof Ghulam Azam, Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Abdul Quader Molla and Mir Quasem Ali, who had lifelong tried to build Bangladesh a welfare state in line with the Islamic rules,” Rahman said on Saturday (Dec 5).
All of the Jamaat leaders whom the new party chief paid tributes, except for Ghulam Azam, have been executed for their crimes against humanity during the 1971 War of Independence.
Azam, who is known as Jamaat guru, died of natural causes while serving an imprisonment till death sentence for 1971 war crimes.
Jamaat’s Chief Election Commissioner ATM Masum administered the oath to Rahman as the Jamaat Ameer at a house in Dhaka on Thursday (Dec 5), according to party's publicity wing.
Outgoing party chief Maqbul Ahmed and others top leader were present at the oath taking program.
Remembering the martyrs of the Liberation War and contribution of the Freedom Fighters, the new Jamaat Ameer Rahman, however, alleged that the government executed its leaders “unjustly”.
“The [Awami League] government has hanged them [leaders of Jamaat] unjustly out of political vengeance,” he said.
Citing Jamaat has been practicing democracy since its inception, Rahman claimed they respect differences of opinions and “vehemently oppose terrorism and extremism.”
On Nov 12, Jamaat’s announced Rahman, then general secretary, as the new ameer after several rounds of voting within the part that lasted more than three weeks.
Rahman, who was the president of the Sylhet unit of the party’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, joined the party’s central policymaking forum in 1985.
He was made Jamaat’s acting secretary general in 2011, and had been working as the secretary general since 2017 until elected the ameer.