Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member Selima Rahman on Monday condemned the comments on women made by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami amir Shafiqur Rahman.
She called the comments shameful and demanded a public apology.
She made the remarks during a protest rally organised by the Nationalist Women’s Party in front of the BNP central office at Nayapaltan, after which participants brought out a procession that circled the Nightingale Mor and returned to the party office.
Addressing the rally, Selima Rahman said that the Jamaat chief, despite being highly educated, had made deeply offensive comments about women.
‘The soil of this country is sacred, and mothers are equally sacred. Women’s dignity must be respected. Why should they be prevented from stepping outside their homes?’ she asked.
Selima said that women were the country’s greatest resource and stressed that the constitution guaranteed equal rights for men and women.
She urged women to unite and protest such remarks and demanded that the Jamaat chief apologise publicly.
Senior BNP joint secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi also spoke at the rally. He said that the Jamaat leader had claimed his social media account was hacked after a post about working women went viral on Saturday.
The post stated: ‘We believe that when women are taken out of their homes in the name of modernity, they face exploitation, moral degradation, and insecurity; this is nothing but another form of prostitute [prostitution].’
The post drew widespread condemnation from political parties, rights activists, and social media users. Later, around midnight, the Jamaat announced from the same X handle that the party chief’s account had been hacked.
Rizvi questioned how the account could have been hacked in such a short time and called the remarks a direct insult to half of society.
He warned that such demeaning attitude towards women indicated the kind of treatment they could expect in the future if that party went to power.
The rally was attended, among others, by leaders of the Nationalist Women’s Party, including its president Afroza Abbas, general secretary Sultana Ahmed, and joint general secretary Helen Jerin Khan.
