Leader of the Opposition and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman today said the 2024 mass uprising should not be seen as the “final battle”, but rather as a “rehearsal for the final battle” ahead.

“Not all those who rose up in 2024 have died, nor have they gone to sleep. They are watching everything with vigilant eyes. An army is formed before the main battle; it must train and rehearse. They should not consider 2024 the final battle. It was a rehearsal for the final battle,” he said.

The Jamaat chief was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled “The Prophet’s (PBUH) Principles and Ideals for State Reform” at the Institution of Diploma Engineers auditorium in Dhaka.

“Fascism is not associated with any particular party. Fascism is a contagious disease. It spreads from one place to another. Whoever this virus infects becomes a fascist,” he said.

Accusing the government of following the path of the ousted regime, he said, “We can see that the current government is following the same path as the fascist government.”

The people of Bangladesh would not allow anyone to follow this path, he said, urging the government to refrain from doing so.

“If the government does well, the opposition’s responsibility is to cooperate with and support it. But if the government commits any wrongdoing, deprives people of their rights or takes the wrong path, the opposition must resist and protest against it,” he said.

Speaking about the country’s image and the dignity of its citizens, Shafiqur said a nation’s travel document, or passport, is one of the key measures of its standing in the world. Expressing disappointment over Bangladesh’s passport position, he said the country’s image is also linked to the character of its people.

He also said history has repeatedly been distorted in the country and that no government that has come to power has been able to completely break away from the practice.

The Jamaat chief urged citizens to visit the July Memorial Museum. However, he alleged that many memories of past persecution and political events had been removed from the museum “to please a particular country”.