Jamaat adamant to hold rally in Dhaka tomorrow, even as DMP denies permission

The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has announced that it will hold its planned rally in the capital tomorrow (1 August) despite failing to secure police permission for the event.

"The rally will take place at the north gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque even if they do not have police permission," Jamaat Dhaka South City chief Nurul Islam Bulbul adamantly announced on Monday (31 July) soon after the DMP said it won't permit the Islamist party to hold the programme.

The country's largest Islamist party announced the rally in demand of a free, fair, and credible general election under a caretaker government.

"If Jamaat takes to the streets without permission, police will take all the necessary courses of tactical, operational, and legal actions," DMP Deputy Commissioner and spokesperson Faruk Hossain said earlier on the day citing concerns over law and order situation. 

"We will have force members deployed in the streets to prevent Jamaat from holding the rally," he added.

However, despite DMP's warnings, in a press briefing on Monday afternoon, Nurul Islam Bulbul said the party will go ahead with its planned programme.

He said Jamaat held a rally at the auditorium of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh on June 10 after having police permission at the very last moment.

The party also held its first public meeting on the day in the capital in a decade, triggering huge discussion in the country's political arena.

Later on 24 July, the party announced countrywide programmes demanding a free, fair and credible general election under a caretaker government.

The programmes included a grand rally in Dhaka on August 1 and processions in all cities on 28 July and in all district headquarters on 30 July.

A Jamaat delegation on 25 July visited DMP headquarters and submitted an application for permission for holding a rally.