Jamaat-e-Islami's Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Abdullah Md Taher has condemned and protested the “harassment” of Muhammad Yunus, former chief advisor to the interim government, upon his arrival in the United States.
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, he said: "By humiliating Dr Yunus, a Nobel laureate respected by the world, Bangladesh as a state and all its citizens have been humiliated and belittled in the eyes of the world.
"To uphold the country's dignity on the world stage, it is not appropriate for anyone to conduct such reprehensible activities with respected people of the country on foreign soil, which is what the fascists' accomplices have done. Everyone should refrain from such behaviour."
Several leaders of the Awami League, whose activities are banned in Bangladesh, have been accused of harassing Yunus in New York. The incident took place at 3:45pm local time on Monday, as Yunus was leaving John F Kennedy Airport in a wheelchair.
A video circulating on social media shows Imdad Chowdhury, general secretary of the New York Metropolitan Awami League, and Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, general secretary of the US Jubo League, and a group of others standing in front of Yunus. Then, Yunus was wheeled back into the terminal.
The harassers continued after him. One of them shouted: “You killed a thousand people in Bangladesh. You terrorist! You terrorist! You terrorist, why did you come here?... Why did you arrest 200,000 people?... He killed a thousand police in my country. He destroyed the democracy in my country….”
Taher, deputy leader of the opposition in parliament, said: “…The use of foul and indecent language by some of the friends of the Awami fascists to harass him is unacceptable and highly condemnable. I strongly condemn and protest this harassment.”
Taher said, “The fallen Awami ‘fascists’, expelled from the country, have continued to conspire against the country and its people on foreign land. They are disrupting the security of expatriates and visiting patriotic Bangladeshi citizens.
“Peace-loving and expatriate Bangladeshis will thwart all their conspiracies and work for the welfare of the country, In Sha Allah. The officials of the Bangladesh embassies and high commissions abroad should take responsible and brave steps in this regard.”