Bangladesh arrests hardline cleric of Islamist group after violent protests
Dhaka, April 18
An influential hardline cleric of an Islamist group was on Sunday arrested in Bangladesh on charges of instigating deadly violence in the Muslim-majority country.
According to officials, a joint team of police and detectives raided an Islamic seminary in Mohammadpur on Sunday and arrested Hefazat-e-Islam Joint Secretary General Mamunul Haque, who has been in the limelight due to some recent controversies, Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Joint Commissioner (Detective Branch) Mahbub Alam said that 47-year-old Haque was arrested around 12:30 pm.
Teachers and students of the seminary initially staged protest and tried to obstruct the raid. However, Haque was detained from a room on the first floor of the building, officials said.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Commissioner Harun-ur-Rashid said that Haque and other Hefazat leaders had been accused in several cases, including attacks on law enforcers and police stations and vandalism. These cases are being investigated.
He had been watched for some time now, said the senior officer.
The Hefazat leader has been sued in several cases filed over violence in Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka and following his confinement with a woman at the Sonargaon resort.
DB officials said Haque is also an accused in a number of cases.
Earlier, the Hefazat leader made the headlines by his controversial remarks regarding sculptures. He is also accused of threatening the government in the past.
In November last year, he demanded an immediate halt to the installation of a sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the capital’s Dholaipar.
Meanwhile, a local court in Dhaka on Sunday placed Hefazat-e-Islam Dhaka city president Junayed Al Habib and its assistant secretary general Jalal Uddin on seven-day remand each in a case lodged over the group’s 2013 violence in the capital.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shahinur Rahman passed the order as police produced them before the court and pleaded to place them on 10-day remand in the case lodged with the capital’s Paltan police station.
Separate units of police arrested Junayed from the capital’s Baridhara area and Jalal from the Mohammadpur area on Saturday.
During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh last month, members of the Hefazat-e-Islam staged protests, attacked government structures and clashed with security forces leaving dozens injured. Some protesters were also killed in violent protests. PTI
