Hefajat pushes for anti-blasphemy law

Hefajat-e-Islam secretary general Allama Junayed Babunagari on Friday urged the government to get a bill passed in parliament with a provision of capital punishment for ‘atheists’. Addressing a conference of the Islamist organisation at Laldighi Maidan in the port city, Babunagri also said, “The people of all religious faiths, including Hindu, Buddha and Christian, can live in the country, except the atheists.” Hefajat leaders Mahmudul Hasan, Azizul Hoque Islamabadi and Maulana Forkan Ahmed, among others, addressed the two-day conference. The Chittagong-based organisation has been pushing for the formulation of anti-blasphemy law with a provision of death sentence for atheists, according to a news agency.