Bangladesh minister fired for Anti-Hajj remarks

Rasa - Abdul Latif Siddique who called Hajj a "waste of manpower" dropped from cabinet after protests from opposition parties.

News ID: 1292

Date: 02 October 2014 - 23:08

RNA – According to Bangladesh News, Bangladesh has sacked a top minister after his criticism of the Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj triggered protests by Islamists who declared him an apostate and set a 24-hour deadline to replace him.

The minister for posts, telecommunications and information technology, speaking at an event organised by expatriates in New York, said he was against Hajj, Tabligh Jamaat and Jamaat-e-Islami.

"So much manpower is wasted over Hajj. Two million people are now in Saudi Arabia for Hajj. They have no work or role in production. They only eat and go abroad using the country’s money,” he said.

The video clip of him making the statement was widely circulated on social media.

He will have to appear before the Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrates’ Court on Oct 23 in three other cases filed by three BNP-affiliated lawyers.

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