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Nayeb-e-Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Dr. Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher today (Tuesday) expressed concern over the recent attacks on its women activists in different parts across the country.
"Despite incidents occurring openly in many areas, the Election Commission was playing a "passive role," raising serious questions about the credibility of the upcoming national election," he told a press conference this afternoon at the party's central office in the capital, BSS reports.
Dr. Taher said Jamaat-e-Islami was the only political party in the country where nearly 43 percent of its members were women, numbering no less than 15 million. "While the Representation of the People Order (RPO) requires political parties to ensure at least 33 percent female participation, Jamaat alone has fulfilled this condition", he added.
Despite this, he said, a planned propaganda campaign was being carried out to portray Jamaat as a party where women were given little importance. "If women's importance is questioned in a party where female participation is the highest, then the nation should consider the situation of women in parties with much lower representation," he added.
Dr. Taher said the election was very close and Jamaat's women activists were playing an active role across the country by going door to door to contact voters, similar to male party workers.
According to the party's assessment, he said, Jamaat was likely to receive more votes from women voters this time, as women preferred peaceful politics over violence and extremism.
He claimed that rival political forces had realized the growing role and influence of Jamaat's women activists and were therefore launching planned attacks, harassment, and intimidation campaigns against them nationwide.
Stating that women represented mothers, sisters, and daughters of the nation, Dr. Taher said ensuring their dignity and security was a collective responsibility of society. "Ironically, those who speak the loudest about women's rights are now seen attacking women for political reasons," he said.
He said violence was not limited to women alone, as intimidation and threats were being reported in different constituencies. Public threats, including warnings of physical harm to Jamaat supporters, were being circulated through
media and social platforms, he added.
Dr. Taher warned that if the election failed to be free, fair, neutral, and peaceful, its outcome would not be acceptable either nationally or internationally. "After such massive movements and sacrifices, an unacceptable election would push the nation into a dark and uncertain future," he added.
Presenting examples, he cited incidents in Jashore-2, where two women leaders were injured in an attack during campaigning on January 25 while in Chuadanga, where women activists were obstructed and assaulted while seeking
votes and in Cumilla, where videos circulated on social media showed women being publicly harassed and their hijabs forcibly removed.
"Similar incidents were also reported in Tangail, Lalmonirhat, Bhola, Keraniganj, and Meherpur, where women activists faced physical assault, harassment, hijab pulling, and mobile phone snatching," he said, adding that in many cases no effective action was taken despite the presence of administration, he added.
Dr. Taher said such incidents were part of a strategy to compensate for a lack of popular support through violence and attempts to control polling centres.
In protest against the attacks on women activists, Dr. Taher announced that Jamaat's women wing would hold a women's protest rally at Suhrawardy Udyan at 10:00 am on January 31. He said further programmes would be announced by the party and its allied 11-party alliance if the situation did not improve.