Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk:Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged all to remain alert so that militant activities could not be carried out in the name of Islam.
“We have to take steps so that Islam always remains on top,” she said while inaugurating the Hajj Programme-2018 at Hajj Camp in the city’s Ashkona area.
Hasina said Islam believes in peace as it repeatedly says about the rights of human beings and welfare of people. “But often we see some people in the name of this religion get involved in terrorist activities. This puts our religion into question before the whole world.”
The PM said such activities cause problems to Muslims when they travel to various countries. “But Islam is the most peaceful religion…. Islam says the people of all religions will perform their own religious rituals independently, our Prophet (PBUH) repeatedly said that.”
She mentioned that some people created anarchy and problems just to undermine Islam. “Nobody has the right to malign our religion.”
Hasina said the government wanted to build a system so that people could understand the real meaning of Islam. “For that, we have taken a project to construct 560 mosques across the country under the supervision of the Islamic Foundation.”
She said 80 percent places for these mosques have been selected and the Tk 800 crore project got the government’s nod. “Apart from being used for prayers, these mosques will spread the real meaning of Islam so that no one can confuse people.”
She urged the hajj pilgrims to seek mercy of the Almighty Allah while offering prayers in the holy mosques for allowing the people of all faiths in the country to live peacefully.
Chaired by Religious Affairs Minister Matior Rahman, the programme was addressed, among others, by Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister AKM Shahjahan Kamal, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Religious Affairs Ministry Bazlul Huq Haroon, Sahara Khatun, MP, and Saudi Charge d’Affaires Amir Bin Omar Bin Salem.
Later, the premier exchanged greetings with Hajj pilgrims.
The Hajj flights carrying Bangladeshi pilgrims this year will begin on Saturday. A total of 127,198 pilgrims will perform Hajj from Bangladesh. Of them, 7,198 will perform the rituals under government management and the rest under private management.
Two packages have been designed for pilgrims under the government management which will cost them Tk 397,929 and Tk 331,359 respectively.
