Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s Assistant Secretary General and Head of its Central Publicity and Media Department, Advocate Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair issued a statement today, 22 December condemning and protesting the remarks made about Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami by Nurul Kabir, the Editor of the English daily New Age, during a recent television talk show.

In the statement, Advocate Zubair said: “The remarks made about Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami by a veteran journalist like Nurul Kabir during a recent television talk show have hurt us. We strongly condemn and protest his statements.

His allegation that ‘using the name of Hadi, the spokesperson of the Inqilab Mancha, Jamaat-e-Islami and its allied intellectual circles are carrying out violence at newspaper offices’ is false and unjust. Jamaat-e-Islami has never been involved in such violent activities and will never be involved in the future.

Mr. Nurul Kabir’s comment that ‘Jamaat-e-Islami wants to delay elections and enjoy state power’ is also inconsistent with reality. Jamaat-e-Islami’s Ameer Dr. Shafiqur Rahman was the very first to announce full cooperation for holding a free, fair, and acceptable election next February.

We believe that the remarks made by Mr. Nurul Kabir, in which he called upon Islam-loving people to take a stand against Jamaat-e-Islami in the name of ‘protecting Islam,’ are contrary to democratic norms. Such statements create division in society, which is by no means acceptable or desirable.

The allegation that Jamaat-e-Islami’s candidates have linked voting for the party with ‘going to or not going to heaven’ is also untrue. Jamaat-e-Islami has never made such statements.
Furthermore, he in the same program commented that ‘Jamaat-e-Islami has been practicing hypocrisy since its inception and that this is supposedly part of the party’s growth. Such an untrue and inconsistent remark is not acceptable from a senior journalist like him. is, in our view, unbecoming of a veteran journalist like him.

We expect constructive and positive criticism from a responsible journalist and editor like Mr. Nurul Kabir.”