Jamaat backs Sunday\\\'s general strike

Jamaat-e-Islami has lent its support to Sunday's nationwide hartal demanding arrest of recently-removed minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui for his anti-Hajj remarks. In a media statement on Saturday, Jamaat-e-Islami claimed the people of Bangladesh endorsed the general strike called by several Islamist groups. Latif Siddiqui’s offensive comments about Holy Hajj and Tabligh Jamaat, which he made in New York on Sept 29, triggered a wave of protests on the social media with many calling for his arrest and prosecution. A group of Islamist organisations demanded his arrest by Oct 22. On Wednesday, they called for Sunday's strike as their deadline lapsed. Siddiqui, implicated in a number of cases and facing arrest for hurting religious sentiments, has not returned home. Jamaat's acting chief Mujibur Rahman said they had extended 'moral support' to Sunday's strike. ‘The people of this country are united in their demand for anti-Islam Siddiqui's arrest,’ he said in the statement issued in Bangla. ‘They want his exemplary punishment,’ according to a news agency.