Acknowledge your 1971 role, politics will be easier: Fakhrul tells Jamaat
LGRD Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said Jamaat-e-Islami had yet to apologise for its role against Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971, adding that the party still had time to reflect on and reconsider the issue.
Taking part in parliament’s discussion on the proposed national budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, the BNP secretary general said it would be easier for Jamaat to engage in politics in Bangladesh if it clearly stated its position on 1971 and acknowledged its role.
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“For your role in 1971, you have not apologised even once. You should have apologised before the nation. Had you done so, today’s problems would not exist. But you did not. On the contrary, your leader Ghulam Azam declared that in 1971 ‘we did not make a mistake.’ Even now, there is time -- you can reflect and reconsider,” Fakhrul said.
“Our friends are trying in various ways to ignore us, to provoke us. I believe this is not the right time. You should also look back at yourselves. You should make your position on Bangladesh clear to us, to the nation. I do not want to go further. But you do not speak clearly about 1971,” he added.
When something was said from the opposition benches, the local government minister responded, “You do not speak clearly. I have never heard it. No one has heard it. If you acknowledge this, politics will become easier for you.”
On the National Citizen Party (NCP), he said, “They have allied with a party that did not believe in Bangladesh’s independence. I hope they will clarify their politics further as they move forward. These young politicians have much potential. They will do well. We want them to succeed. But they should not carry the stigma of being associated with those who denied Bangladesh’s very existence.”
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