DHAKA: BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgair condemned the recent remarks of Hefajat-e Islam Chief Shah Ahmed Shafi on limiting girls from education.

“(We) have been shocked and astonished at the speech of Hefajat Islam Amir about not sending girls to school-college,” Fakhrul said. 

“Such kinds of statement even in this 21st century will make Bangladeshis embarrassed to the international community,”

“Religion has no contradiction with girls’ education. BNP thinks women won’t get flourish and real empowerment unless they are enlightened in fair education,” he added.

The BNP secretary general on Sunday (Jan 13) issued a press note to condemn Shafi’s remarks.

The anti girls’ education speech of Allama Shafi is unexpected, inadvertent and unfortunate, he further said in the note.

While addressing a rally at Darul-Ulum Moinul Islam Madrasa in Hathazari upazila of Chattogram on Friday (Jan 11), Shah Ahmed Shafi said girls should not be schooled beyond Grades IV or V because education would make them disobedient. 

The statement triggered widespread criticism in social media and from civil society.

BDST: 1415 HRS, JAN 13, 2019
SI/SMS