Jamaat to focus on public demands and national issues, Shafiqur says

Leader of the Opposition and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman today said his party would not create disorder in parliament but would instead focus on people’s demands and national issues.

“We have decided in parliament that we will not be an opposition that throws files. We will not be an opposition that picks up chairs to kill the Speaker. We will not do any uncivilised acts here,” he said at an interaction with journalists at Al-Falah auditorium, adjacent to Jamaat’s central office in Dhaka’s Moghbazar.

“If throwing files and creating disorder does not solve anything, what do we have left to do? We have to go to the people,” he said.

Shafiqur alleged that notices submitted by the opposition on issues including fertiliser, electricity, law and order, child rape and murder, and rising prices had repeatedly been kept out of parliamentary discussions.

He said Jamaat had even offered to form a technical team of opposition experts to help the government address national problems.

“If the government does not take our good advice, what can we do?” he said.

The Jamaat chief said his party wanted to act as a responsible opposition.

“Whether it is the ruling party or the opposition, everyone has said, ‘I am not a ruler, I want to be a servant.’ So why should there be a ruler’s mentality now? There should be a servant’s mentality,” he said.

Shafiqur also questioned the state of press freedom, saying the media could not be truly independent if there was “invisible pressure”.

“Everyone says the media are free. The judiciary is independent. We hear the word ‘independent’ everywhere. But if there is invisible pressure, how can the newspaper be independent?” he asked.

He urged journalists to report irregularities and unfair treatment within their own organisations.

“If your own house does not say it, let another house say it. Someone has to bring it to the surface,” he said.

Describing the media as a powerful force that can keep the state’s other three constitutional pillars accountable, he said, “If the media remains strong, the three players will keep their spines straight.”

“If this fourth pillar remains strong, the country will remain in good shape. If this pillar is not strong, everything in the country will go bad,” he added.

The Jamaat chief also alleged that his comments were often distorted in social media photo cards.

“What I say in interviews does not appear in the photo cards. They are misleading -- cut pieces, no head, no tail, taking just a part out of the middle,” he said.

Such posts confuse people and spread rapidly, he said.

“If we get the assurance that these things will not happen, I will speak -- and I will speak very strongly. But we have reservations on this issue,” he said.

Shafiqur also expressed disappointment over media coverage of Jamaat’s recent long march, saying he believed the second programme received stronger public support than the first but did not receive proportionate coverage.

“Such a huge programme took place in the national interest. This is not our party agenda. Please give us our due share of coverage,” he said.

He stressed that Jamaat was not seeking coverage for political credit.

“We are not campaigning for credit. We are campaigning to safeguard the rights of the people,” he said.

Calling journalists “guardians” of the fourth pillar, Shafiqur said, “We want to safeguard the nation together with you.”

He also urged journalists to submit their problems and proposals in a structured manner so that the party could work on them.

“If you have an association, please give us your problems and proposals in a structured way. That would make it easier for us to move forward on these issues,” he said.