News Desk: A Dhaka court today issued arrest warrant against sacked minister Abdul Latif Siddique for failing to respond to its summons in a case filed for hurting Muslims’ religious sentiments.
The court order asking Siddique, now in Indian city of Kolkata, to appear before the court today was returned from both of the sacked minister’s addresses in Dhaka and Tangail.
The court considers return of the order as “not served” as the accused former minister was not present at the addresses to acknowledge receipt, our court correspondent reported.
Latif on September 28 said that he was against hajj and Tabligh Jamaat more than he was against the party Jamaat-e-Islami. He also said Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) made arrangement of hajj to “generate income”.
A lawyer of Dhaka Bar association, Advocate Shah Alam, filed a case on October 2 with metropolitan magistrate’s court for Latif’s derogatory remarks.
WHAT THE MINISTER SAID
At the programme organised by the Tangail Samity at a New York hotel, Latif said he was against hajj and Tabligh Jamaat more than he was against the Jamaat-e-Islami.
“Hajj is a waste of manpower. Those who perform hajj do not have any productivity. They deduct from the economy, spend a lot of money abroad.
“If 1,00,000 people perform hajj every year on an average and spend Tk 5 lakh each, then the total cost stands at Tk 500 crore,” he said.
Speaking about the history of hajj, he said Prophet Muhammad was worried about the people of Arab as they were robbers. The prophet then made an arrangement that his followers meet at a place every year, which will generate income.
Criticising Tabligh Jamaat, he said, “Tabligh Jamaat brings together about 20 lakh people every year. It has no specific duties. It just clogs traffic across the country.”
Latif also castigated Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, saying, “Why do you often mention of Joy? Who is Joy Bhai? Joy is nobody in the government. He cannot make any decision.”
On talk shows, the minister said, “Those who attend talk shows are basically ‘talk man’. They jabber in front of cameras as they have nothing to do.”
He went on to use unprintable offensive words about the talk show speakers and behaved indecently with the journalists present at the discussion.
He snubbed a journalist and said, “Should I talk as you wish? I am telling what I think right. Why have you come here? Who has invited you here?”