Jamaat's women's rally called to protest attacks on women leaders and activists postponed

The women's rally that the Jamaat's central women's division had announced to organize in Dhaka to protest against allegations of attacks and harassment against women leaders and activists across the country during the 13th parliamentary election campaign has been postponed. The decision was announced through a short message on the party's women's wing's Facebook page at around 5:30 pm on Thursday (January 29).

The Facebook post said, "The women's rally has been postponed due to unavoidable reasons." However, no detailed explanation was immediately given about the reason behind the postponement of the rally. As a result, various discussions have started in the political arena on the issue.

Earlier, at a press conference organized at Jamaat's central office in Moghbazar in the capital on Tuesday (January 27), it was announced that the women's protest rally will be held at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital at 10:30 am on January 31 (Saturday). The party claimed that the leaders and activists of Jamaat's women's wing were being attacked, harassed and intimidated while participating in the election campaign across the country, which was why the program was being organized in protest.

At a press conference, Jamaat-e-Islami's Naib-e-Ameer Dr. Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher said, "This is the first time in the history of Jamaat-e-Islami that leaders and activists of women's organizations are being forced to organize a protest rally in public." He alleged that such attacks and harassment are being carried out in a planned manner to remove women from the electoral field.

Although the specific reason for the postponement of the rally was not disclosed, political observers believe that the program may have been postponed for the time being due to strategic decisions, security considerations or to facilitate field-level preparations. There has been no announcement from the party yet on whether the rally will be held on a new schedule in the future.