A Bangladeshi court has ordered four top leaders of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami to appear before it while another court was set to issue an order as they were sued for “hurting” Muslim religious sentiment, officials said on Monday.
The officials said a court in northwestern Lalmonirhat court yesterday ordered personal appearance of the four including Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid in next four days in line with a case filed by a local leader of ruling Awami League.
Dhaka’s Metropolitan Magistrate Court set March 25 for an order on an identical charge brought by moderate Tariqat Federation, which preaches interfaith harmony in line with ideals of Islamic Sufi saints.
According to the charges, Jamaat leaders hurt the Muslim sentiments as they last week compared Nizami with Prophet Mohammad saying they were exposed to “tortures” in an identical manner in preaching Islam.
The party, however, in a statement yesterday blasted “a section of newspapers” for whipping up “propaganda and conspiracy” against the Jamaat by “distorting” remarks of its leaders.
The cases came as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government said that it was set to soon expose several high-profile Jamaat leaders including Nizami to justice for “crimes against humanity” during the 1971 atrocities siding with the Pakistani troops.
Jamaat, a crucial ally of ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is said to be the country’s biggest Islamic political party, but is widely castigated for actively siding with Pakistani troops during the 1971 independence war.
Agencies