Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman said on Thursday that if his party forms the government it will bring the BNP into the administration, but warned that it would not spare them if they betrayed that trust.
“Bearing Allah as our witness, we say that if we form the government, we will take them with us. But if they come to power and do wrong things, we will not spare them,” he said.
Shafiqur made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a reception organised by Sylhet Metropolitan and Sadar Jamaat at the Aman Ullah Convention Centre. He criticised what he called past excesses by the Awami League and repeated calls for patient, principled struggle. “As we have risked our lives in movements before, we will continue to do so again,” he said.
Referring to the events of August 5, the Jamaat ameer alleged that his party could have sought revenge but restrained its supporters. “On the night of August 5, if we wanted, we could have told our activists — go meet those who have harmed you. Then the country would have turned into a killing field. Their crimes were boundless. We told our party activists to be patient, to remain calm,” he said, adding: “Although the Awami League was irresponsible, this nation has shown responsibility.”
He also criticized what he described as lawlessness and corruption, saying the country cannot continue as “one group will loot money and flee, another will plunder and build Begum Para abroad — this is not what we want. We want to change Bangladesh. We want to establish justice. Rats are sitting everywhere; we want to drive those rats away.” The Jamaat ameer accused the Awami League of killing and disappearing Jamaat activists, seizing the party’s registration and symbol, and looting “thousands of crores of taka” through syndicates. “For 15 and a half years, we have been oppressed,” he said.
Describing the period after the Awami League government’s fall, he disputed higher casualty claims: “At that time, not five thousand, not even five hundred or five people were killed. However, within five to six months, a few people have been killed.”
He added that those responsible for mob beatings who later styled themselves “July warriors” were wrong to do so.
The reception was presided over by city Ameer Hafiz Fakhrul Islam and conducted by Nayeb-e-Ameer Nurul Islam Babul. Other speakers included party Assistant Secretary Ehsanul Mahbub Zubair and working committee member Professor Fazlur Rahman.
