Hefazat protests appointment of Shamim Kaisar as state minister for religious affairs

Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh has strongly protested the appointment of Gaibandha-4 MP Mohammad Shamim Kaisar Lincoln as State Minister for Religious Affairs and urged the government to reconsider and cancel the appointment.

Hefazat Publicity Secretary Mufti Kifayatullah Azhari expressed the protest in a statement sent to the media on Friday night. Kaisar had taken oath as state minister at Bangabhaban earlier that evening.

Hefazat said the Sammilito Ulama Mashayekh Bangladesh had demanded on Thursday that Kaisar not be given charge of the Religious Affairs Ministry, but the government ignored the objection.

The organisation claimed that Kaisar follows an ideology opposed to the views of traditional pir-mashayekh, the Tablighi Jamaat and the established four schools of Islamic jurisprudence. These are allegations made by Hefazat and allied Islamic organisations; no immediate response from Kaisar was available.

Hefazat said the Religious Affairs Ministry is a sensitive and specialised ministry directly involved in mosques, madrasas, Hajj and other religious affairs. It therefore called for a person who respects Islamic values and is acceptable to religious scholars to be given the responsibility.

The organisation warned that ignoring the views of Qawmi scholars and religious people could negatively affect trust and relations between the government and religious scholars, as well as hurt the sentiments of religious people.