Jamaat defers Sylhet rally, seeks permission for Ctg
The Jamaat-e-Islami has been denied police permission to hold its Sylhet divisional rally slated for yesterday, and plans to organise the Chattogram divisional rally on 22 July.
The party, however, has deferred its Sylhet rally to 21 July, said Sylhet Metropolitan Jamaat ameer Muhammad Fakhrul Islam.
Sylhet Metropolitan Police informed the party on Friday night that it would not get permission for the rally scheduled for 2pm yesterday at the Registrar Ground in the city, Fakhrul said at a press conference at the party office in Bandar Bazar area of Sylhet yesterday.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
He added that the law enforcement agency did not give any explanation behind the decision to deny permission.
On 15 June, Jamaat announced its divisional rally in Sylhet to press home their 10-point demand, including release of their jailed leaders, the dissolution of the parliament, and restoration of the caretaker government system.
Sylhet Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (North) Azbahar Ali Sheikh said Jamaat was not granted permission for the rally considering sabotage risks.
Yesterday, a team of pro-Jamaat lawyers, headed by Advocate Shamsul Islam, submitted a letter to the Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) seeking permission for the party to hold a rally in the port city's Laldigi Maidan on 22 July.
"We hope to get permission [for the rally]. If permission is obtained, the Chattogram Metropolitan Jamaat alone has planned a gathering of lakhs of people. Preparations are underway for this," AZM Obaid Ullah, ameer of Chattogram Metropolitan Jamaat, told The Business Standard.
Muhammad Monzur Morshed, deputy police commissioner at City Special Branch of CMP, told TBS that approval for any rally or political event requires an investigation at the field level, and the permission is given based on the investigation report. This process will be followed in this case.
However, after losing Election Commission registration as a political party in 2018, Jamaat had long been absent from holding any political programme. Later, it held a rally in the capital on 10 June this year after nearly 10 years since 2013, where they demanded reinstatement of their registration at the EC, and the next parliamentary polls under a non-partisan election-time government.
