Staff Reporter:
The Shura-e-Nezam faction of Tablighi Jamaat, followers of Maulana Mohammed Zubair, yesterday placed a six-point demand addressing the government ahead of its Ijtema, the annual gathering it hosts on the banks of the Turag River in Tongi each winter.
The demands were announced at a press conference held at the Jatiya Press Club, after it was announced that there may be a change in the timing of the next Ijtema, in view of the security situation surrounding the country’s parliamentary election, which the interim government has promised in the first half of Feb-ruary.
The Bangladeshi chapter of Tabligh’s Ijtema is consistently the largest among all its chapters worldwide, in terms of attendance. It has traditionally been held in January, broken down in recent years over two weekends, and even more than that, after it became clear that the cracks within the Tablighi movement were irreconcilable. The presence of the two factions at the same spot often led to violence, including last year in the period leading upto the main event.
Addressing yesterday’s press conference, Mufti Kefayetullah Azhari, a key leader of the Shura-e-Nezam group, relayed the government’s proposal to organise the next Ijtema in March 2026. He also expressed his group’s consent to the proposal in principle, as long as it is announced ahead of time.
“If the government wants the Ijtema to be organized on its proposed date, the official announcement must be made by December,” Azhari added.
Senior members of the Tabligh’s Shura, Islamic scholars, and administrative representatives were also present at the press conference.
