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OIC communal body: SQ Chy

He says Hindus shouldn't speak about it, offers to quit politics if opposition can prove vulgar remarks

Staff Correspondent
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, who recently lost the race for secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), yesterday said the OIC is a communal, Muslim organisation and the Hindus do not have any right to speak about it.
"The Hindu community cannot speak about the OIC. The OIC is a communal organisation, it is not for non-Muslims, it is an organisation of Muslims," said Chowdhury when asked by a reporter why he had asked Awami League (AL) MP Suranjit Sengupta to get circumcised if he is to demand resignation of Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan for Bangladesh's defeat in the OIC election.
"It is an illicit generalisation to think of those comments as communal, I would not take the Islamic tradition of circumcision as vulgar. Why is he (Suranjit) worried about a Muslim organisation? I do not speak on elections in Hindu organisations," Chowdhury, also the prime minister's adviser on parliamentary affairs, said at a press briefing in Dhaka Sheraton Hotel yesterday.
He said if a single vulgar remark is found in the statements he made about Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina or Suranjit, he would immediately quit politics.
"I did not make those comments as the Bangladeshi candidate, I did so only as a person who is speaking against personal attacks made by the opposition," he added.
"I have been in parliament for 26 years and during this time not a single word of mine has been expunged in the House," said Chowdhury when asked if the comments he made about Hasina were vulgar.
Chowdhury however ducked the question on his reaction to BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan's comment that if he (Chowdhury) had made the statements on Suranjit and Hasina, they surely would have been expunged in parliament.
He also clarified his remarks on Hasina, saying, "If she wants to ask for gold (shona), she has to ask her husband first, why drag me into it?"
Asked what this shona refers to, as it means gold in Bangla but can also be colloquially denoted as penis, he said, "I was only answering their accusations made against me about gold smuggling, it is unfortunate if they take the meaning (of the word) otherwise."
He added he has waited for a year to reply to the accusations of gold smuggling levelled against him by the AL leaders and he was only speaking his mind.
"I have to tell people living in glass houses to be careful... any foul comments made will be returned with foul answers in the future," Chowdhury said.
He challenged the AL to prove why he should be accused of gold smuggling when only a cook on his ship was caught with gold bars while the party was in office. He asked the media why it does not report on the 'highly offensive' comments made by Hasina and Suranjit but picks his.
Replying to the comment of opposition parties, former diplomats and social organisations that the top OIC post was lost due to controversy surrounding him, Chowdhury said, "Yes, I am controversial. But in pluralistic politics
one might not always be accepted. May Allah help in keeping me controversial all my life."
"I am not a product of political consensus, but I am a product of the rule of the majority coming from all sections of society," added Chowdhury, when asked if he was representing only the Muslim majority of the country.
"If I am guilty of war crime, why didn't they (AL) bring me to justice during the rule of Sheikh Mujib or when they were last in government?" Chowdhury asked.
Asked if the recent visit of US defence secretary and Bangladesh's decision not to send troops to Iraq played a part in his election defeat, he said: "It is an interesting proposition, but I cannot comment on it, you (the press) are intelligent enough to figure things out."
"There are a lot of limitations in our foreign policy because of popular opinion," he added to his recent remarks that the popular opinion in the country is totally against sending troops to Iraq.
Chowdhury also said he had an understanding with the foreign minister on presenting separate statements and their own opinions on the OIC election defeat, when asked if the government has disowned him.
"His (Morshed) audience is the world, my audience is Bangladesh, and he fulfilled his duty sincerely."
He also said he was sure that the governments of Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast voted for him, and thanked them in an official statement.
Asked how could he be sure that these governments voted for Bangladesh since it was a secret ballot, Chowdhury said, "Not all things can be shared." He also said these countries represent 75 percent of the Muslim population in the OIC and that constituted a moral victory for Bangladesh.
He lauded the role of the foreign ministry and said it was not diplomatic failure of Bangladesh but the reflection of global political norms that shaped the result.
Asked if it was a victory of the pro-Israel lobby, he said," Yes, perhaps it is."
He, however, congratulated Turkey on its securing the OIC secretary general's post and said, "It is my belief that every nation has the right, privilege and duty to protect and promote its own national interest."
"We have no ill feeling towards any of them. On the contrary, it has been a lesson in diplomacy where concerns and interests of member countries have been reflected." But he did say there was a lobby which was soft towards Israel and "they supported a particular country".
Asked about the cost of his election campaign, Chowdhury said it would be better if the foreign ministry answers the question.