Acting Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Maulana ATM Masum has issued the following statement on 6th March 2023 protesting and condemning the unjustified arrests of 8 Jamaat leaders and activists from Panchagarh district.

Police have arrested 8 Jamaat leaders in two separate arrest drives on the 5th and 6th of March in the Panchagarh district. I am condemning these arrest drives.

The incumbent government has been detaining Jamaat leaders and activists and other opposition activists for many years by using the state apparatus. The government has seized the freedom of speech and other basic rights away. The entire nation has been turned into a police state. Law enforcement agencies are being used as a tool of the government instead of discharging their regular duties. The consequence of such oppression can never be positive.

I am urging my fellow countrymen to raise their voices against the incumbent tyrannical government. Besides, I am calling upon the concerned authorities to stop repression and to release all detained leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami immediately.