Hafiz Saeed to protest Bangladesh's Abdul Quader Molla execution
Abdul Quader Molla was convicted of rape, murder and mass murder during 1971 war.
MULTAN (Dunya News) - Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed Ahmad has announced that his party will hold nationwide protest against the hanging of Abdul Qauder Molla on December 16 while funeral prayer for the Jamaat-e-Islami leader will be offered in absentia.
Addressing party workers, Hafiz Saeed said the Bengali Muslims were the first to raise the slogan of Pakistan ka matlab kiya, La illaha il-Allah’ (What does Pakistan mean? There is only one God) while people from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Blaochistan joined their movement for Pakistan, he added.
Holding India responsible for fall of Dhaka, Jamaatud Dawa chief said that once again, India was behind the chaos in Bangladesh.
Hafiz Saeed said he will not keep quiet against the ill-treatment of patriotic Pakistanis in Bangladesh. He slammed all those politicians who were making efforts to maintain ties with India.
Earlier on Friday, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) held protest against the execution of Bangladeshi leader Abdul Kader Mullah. A large number of workers held protest demonstration near JI headquarter Mansoora in Lahore.
Addressing the gathering Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hassan said the governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh were under the influence of India. The protesters offered funeral prayer in absentia for Abdul Kader Mullah. The JI also held protest in Multan at Shah Masoom Road and offered funeral prayer for the deceased leader. The JI workers also staged demonstration in Okara against the hanging of Mullah.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also expressed deep grief and concern over the incident of execution of imprisoned political and religious leader Abdul Qadir Mullah of Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh. In a statement on Friday‚ the minister said even after passing of 42 years to the events of 1971‚ executing Abdul Kader Mullah is very unfortunate and tragic step and some circles are declaring it a judicial murder. The Interior Minister said there is no doubt that he was hanged because of his loyalty and solidarity with Pakistan in 1971.
He said till the very end before creation of Bangladesh‚ he remained supporter of a united Pakistan and on Friday every Pakistani is saddened and grieved on his death.
Chaudhry Nisar said it was demand of international relations‚ solidarity of Islamic ummah and wisdom that conditions and events of the past should be put behind and a new era should be started. But with this unfortunate incident‚ an effort is made to revive old wounds of the past.
He said in reality whenever unfortunately any country falls victim to civil war then all sides in the conflict resort to violence. He said it would have been better if the Bangladeshi government had shown farsightedness‚ large heartedness and magnanimity instead of opening old wounds. Bangladesh on Thursday hanged a senior Islamist leader Abdul Qader Mullah, 65, at 10.01 pm (1601 GMT) in a jail in the capital Dhaka.
Earlier, Bangladesh’s highest court upheld the death penalty for a top Islamist leader convicted of war crimes, just two days after he was given a dramatic last-minute reprieve from execution. The Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Muzammel Hossain "dismissed" Abdul Quader Mullah s appeal for a final review of his death sentence, meaning he could now be hanged as early as midnight Thursday. On Tuesday night a judge stayed the hanging of Mullah, just 90 minutes before his scheduled execution at a jail in Dhaka, amid a global outcry over the fairness of his and other trials held for alleged war crimes.
Mullah, a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party leader, would have been the first person put to death for massacres committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war following a series of verdicts by a special war crimes court that have sparked deadly protests. Mullah was convicted of rape, murder and mass murder, including the killing of more than 350 unarmed Bengali civilians.
