Banning me from AL illegal: Latif Siddique

Staff Correspondent: The former Posts, Telecommunications and ICT Minister Abdul Latif Siddique on Sunday said that the banning him from the party was illegal.

"I did not speak on behalf of the party, I commented on religious issues personally," says the former minister.

The former minister`s comment came when his personal assistant replied a letter to the Election Commission on the day.

Earlier on June 29, Latif Siddique has been released on bail from jail.

He has been freed on bail from BSMMU prison cell around 4.45 pm on the day, days after he had obtained bail in all cases filed against him for hurting people`s religious sentiment.

On November 25, 2014, a Dhaka court sent the former Minister to jail in the case and he was returned from New York on November 23.

Earlier, after his return from New York, Latif Siddique was taken to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court (CMM) after he surrendered to Dhanmondi Police Station.

Abdul Latif Siddique was expelled from the cabinet and his own party Awami League for his derogatory comments against hajj, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina`s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Tablighi Jamaat and expatiate Bangladeshis in New York.

At a program organised by Awami League Tangail unit in the USA on September 28, Latif Siddique, who was in New York as part of the PM`s entourage in the 69th United Nations General Assembly, said he was against hajj and Tablighi Jamaat more than he detested the Jamaat-e-Islami.

“Hajj is waste of manpower,” he said. “Those who perform hajj do not have any productivity. They deduct from the economy, spend a lot of money abroad.”

Those in Tablighi Jamaat do not have anything else to do but block roads during a rally, he commented.

A video clip of him talking spread over the internet kicking up a storm, but the remarks about the hajj in particular touched some raw nerves.

risingbd/ DHAKA/ August 2, 2015 / Mithun/ Mahfuz