Hefazat: Sever diplomatic ties with France

The Secretary General of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, Junayed Babunagari, on Friday urged the Bangladesh government to sever all diplomatic ties with France and impose a ban on the import of French products into the country.

Babunagari also requested the government to adopt a motion in parliament condemning the controversial French cartoons.

The top leader of the radical Islamist platform was speaking at a rally to protest French cartoons at Anderkilla Mosque in Chittagong. The Chittagong city chapter of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh organized the protest.

Speaking as the chief guest, Babunagari said France must offer an apology to the Muslims of the world for publishing the caricature of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Babunagari also called upon the OIC, Arab League and Muslim-majority countries to resist France.

With Chittagong city chapter president of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh Tajul Islam in the chair, the protest was also addressed by Sarwar Kamal Azizi, Ali Osman, Nasir Udddin Munir, Azizul Haque Islamabadi, Harun Ijhar and Meer Idris, among others.

Following the rally, a procession was brought out and paraded through different points of the port city.

Tensions between France and Muslim-majority nations flared up earlier this month when a young Muslim man beheaded a French schoolteacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class.

The images, republished by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to mark the opening of the trial for the deadly 2015 attack against the publication, have stirred the ire of Muslims across the world who consider depictions of the prophet blasphemous.

Over the past week, protests and calls to boycott French products have spread rapidly in Bangladesh, while social media platforms have been pulsing with anti-France hashtags.