Nayeb-e-Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and former member of the Parliament Professor Mujibur Rahman has issued the following statement on 20 February 2020 protesting and condemning arrest of 18 women and a man from Dimla Upazila of the Nilphamari district.

“A tutorial program of Quran and Hadith was arranged in the house of Hafez Abu Bakar located in Dimla Upazila under Nilphamari district today. 17 women took part in this program. The program discussed about the responsibilities of women as per the morals of Quran and Hadith. It also emphasized on building noble characters. At that time, police carried a raid in that house and arrested all the 17 women along with the house owner.

Bangladesh is a democratic country. Constitutionally, Islam is our state religion. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has been working among the people systematically and also following constitutional norms and process. The women wing of Jamaat-e-Islami arranged a religious program in Dimla of Nilphamari complying the constitution, existing laws and Islamic rules and regulations. The incident of arresting women from such a noble occasion is really painful. I am vehemently condemning the incident and demanding release of all the detained women immediately.”