In Bangladesh, thousands of activists of Islamist organisation Hefazat-e-Islam gathered at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka with a four-point demand, including abolition of the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission and other demands.
Speaking at the rally, Hefazat-e-Islam central committee member Mahmud bin Hossain said they are ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to prevent any activities that go against the Holy Quran, and this rally serves as a proof in this regard. He demanded that the government immediately cancel the recommendations of the women’s affairs reform commission.
Earlier in April, the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission had recommended the Interim Government of Bangladesh to issue an ordinance to ensure equal rights for women of all religions in matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, and maintenance, through enacting a uniform family law. To increase women’s representation through direct elections, the commission also recommended expanding the number of parliamentary seats to 600 and reserving 300 of those for women, to be filled through direct elections.
The others demands of Hefazat are: reinstatement of total belief and reliance on Allah instead of pluralism in the constitution, withdrawing all cases against Hefazat members and trial of the genocides, including the so-called Shapla Chattar killings, and government’s intervention to stop Israel from killing Palestinians.
