Last Updated on February 1, 2026 11:46 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami chief (Ameer) Shafiqur Rahman on Sunday said false and misleading information was being circulated on social media about his views on women, a day after a controversial post from his verified X (formerly Twitter) account sparked widespread outrage.
In a Facebook post, Shafiqur said, “False and misleading content is being circulated on social media to misrepresent our position. I am sharing this to clarify our values and refocus the discussion on our policies.” He said Jamaat’s manifesto supports women’s “active and dignified participation” in education, healthcare, administration, entrepreneurship and public service, and reiterated commitments to “uninterrupted education for girls, zero tolerance for harassment, equal pay, safe workplaces, childcare support and women-centric healthcare”. “Judge me by my record, policies and manifesto, not by false narratives,” he wrote, adding that the manifesto would be formally released on February 3.
The clarification followed a post shared on Saturday afternoon from his X account stating: “When women are pushed out of the house in the name of modernity, they face exploitation, moral degradation and insecurity. This is actually another form of prostitution.” Jamaat later claimed the account had been hacked. Sirajul Islam, a member of the party’s election management committee, said the party’s cyber team recovered the account shortly after 5pm and removed the post. A general diary was filed at Hatirjheel Police Station later that night.
The BNP has expressed scepticism over the hacking claim. BNP election steering committee spokesperson Mahdi Amin said, “It is only natural to question how credible the hacking claim is when it was made around 1:00am, nearly nine hours after the misogynistic post was published and only after criticism intensified.” He added that no public warning was issued even though posts continued from Shafiqur’s Facebook account during that period.
Mahdi recalled a recent Al Jazeera interview in which Shafiqur said no woman could ever lead Jamaat, arguing God had not created women to lead. “Such language and mindset have no place in a civilised society. This is a blatant expression of misogyny,” he said, questioning why Jamaat had not nominated a single woman candidate in the current election.
BNP’s student wing, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, staged a protest at Dhaka University on Sunday, demanding an apology. “If he does not apologise, we will be forced to conduct an even larger protest,” said Chhatra Dal president Rakibul Islam Rakib. General secretary Nasir Uddin Nasir said, “Many say his account was hacked. We say that his head was hacked and he has unmasked his true face.” Jamaat has maintained that the controversial post was “entirely false and misleading” and did not reflect the party chief’s views.