Women Development Policy Minister claims nothing against Quran, Sunnah

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The opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has demanded of the government to make its position clear on the Women Development Policy 2011, report agencies. A cabinet minister has, however, said the government is ready to sit with the critics and discuss the matter to remove any confusion about the policy. Refuting the opposition statement on the issue, State Minister for Religious Affairs Mohammad Shahjahan alleged Sunday that certain quarters were trying to misinterpret the Women Development Policy as being contradictory to Quran and Sunnah, for creating an anarchy, in the name of hartal to put the government in an embarrassing situation. Islami Oikya Jote called the hartal for today (Monday), protesting the women policy. Earlier, senior Joint Secretary General of the BNP Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made his party's demand at a press conference Saturday at the Gulshan office of the party chairperson. Briefing newsmen the following day at his ministry, the state minister for religious affairs referred to section 23.5 of the Women Development Policy and stated that it stipulated equal opportunities for women and their share in property, employment and trading. The property here does not mean the inherited property, he added. The Constitution of the Republic ensures that a woman, being a citizen, will have due share in acquiring property, own workplaces and trade and commerce according to her competence, he observed. Shahjahan said the section under mention says that if a woman participates in a joint venture and makes investment, she will have her share accordingly. It does not mean anything against Quran and Sunnah. The state minister also referred to section 25.2 of the Women Development Policy which would ensure full control of a woman over the property, acquired with the funds out of her earnings, inheritance, loans, land and market management. This section, he said, does not speak about equal rights to inheritance. Rather, it says full control of a woman over her property acquired in accordance with the Muslim Inheritance Law and religious provisions, he added. Shahjahan said what Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) leader Mufti Maulana Amini says has no links with the reality. The Islamic Foundation, he said, had earlier held a press conference on the Women Development Policy, clearing all its aspects. He said the Prime Minister herself categorically said that the government would never enact any law against Quran and Sunnah. Shahjahan said the hartal has been called with an ulterior motive to impede the process for holding the trial of the war criminals and to create instability in a bid to topple the government. The briefing was attended by IOJ (faction) Chairman Mesbahur Rahman Chowdhury, Jatiya Party (JP) presidium member Mujibur Rahman Juktibadi, AL Religious Affairs Secretary Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and the secretaries to the Religious Affairs, and Women and Children Affairs ministries. Meanwhile, the BNP Senior Joint Secretary General, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, when asked about the party's stance on the April 4 general strike, Alamgir said at his Saturday's press conference, "We've given a written statement. Our stance is expressed in it." He said, "We think that the government should explain what has been incorporated into the women policy and it must cancel the part that contradicts the religious norms of the country's majority population." The BNP leader alleged that the government did not consider it necessary to discuss the matter with the religious scholars and the opposition, before approving the policy. He pointed out that the present government had pledged before the elections that it would not enact any law that would go against Quran or Sunnah.