DHAKA, 7 May 2004 — Pakistan supports Bangladesh bid for the post of OIC secretary-general and hopes the Bangladeshi candidate will win the highest executive post of the Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Conference.
Visiting Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar said this when he met Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in Dhaka yesterday. He said Islamabad was campaigning for the Bangladeshi candidate.
The prime minister thanked him for his support and hoped Bangladesh would win the post. Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, parliamentary affairs adviser to the prime minister, is the Bangladesh nominee for the top post.
Khokhar assured Khaleda that Pakistan would extend all-out cooperation in making the 13th SAARC Summit slated here in January a success.
Prime Minister Khaleda said she would visit Pakistan at a convenient time this year.
Vigilantes Criticized
Police in Bangladesh have criticized a new crime-fighting group for its “over-enthusiasm”, including allegedly pressuring women to wear veil.
“I am critical of this group’s over-enthusiasm,” Noor Mohammad, divisional inspector general of police in the northwestern region of Rajshahi, told AFP. Mohammad said the group, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (Inspired Muslims of Bangladesh), was however helping an overstretched police force track down outlaws in the region 200 kilometers northwest of Dhaka.
He said he believed the problems complained of were already under control. “My officers will be keeping a close eye on what they (group members) are doing,” he added.
“This group will not have any chances to go for any excesses because whatever they are doing they are doing under the guidance of local police. They have no independent role. I am giving my assurance on this.”
According to a local media report, residents in the Rajshahi region have complained that members of the group were forcing women to wear veil and men to grow beards.
Jagrata Muslim Janata leader Azizur Rahman dismissed the claims as a “conspiracy”. Rahman told the English language Daily Star his men were working to root out the outlawed Sarbahara party, a left-wing extremist group.
The party was banned in Bangladesh in the 1970s for fomenting unrest and those connected to it are believed to be involved in criminal activities.
“The allegations of harassing women, disregarding people and extorting protection money are propaganda,” Rahman told the paper. He added that he would turn Jagrata Muslim Janata, which he launched on April 1, into a political party if there was popular support. “We will establish a political party named JMJB if people want it,” he said.
Home Minister Lutfozzaman Babar said the group was providing tip-offs to police on the activities of outlaws in the Rajshahi region, the report said. “We encourage such activities,” Babar said, adding however that no one would be allowed to take the law into their own hands.
Jagrata Muslim Janata last month held rallies attended by thousands of people at which scores of alleged drug dealers, criminals and “Sarbahara men” renounced their crimes.
