& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Women flowers, not tamarinds

Shafi goes back on his controversial remark

Staff Correspondent
Hefajat-e Islam Ameer Shah Ahmed Shafi yesterday said people misunderstood him when he had likened women to tamarinds.
Seeking to deflect criticism for his recent misogynist remarks, he said, "I did not label them as tamarinds. I had only likened them to tamarinds because when you walk beneath a tamarind tree, or see someone eating Women flowers,
FROM PAGE 16
tamarind, you want to taste it. No one understood the difference. ”
The Hefajat chief was addressing a rally in Hathazari Parbati High School ground in Chittagong.
He claimed the video of his sermon, which went viral after being uploaded on YouTube five months ago, did not contain some importantpoints.
"For example, the video did not contain the part of the sermon where I had compared women not to tamarinds, but to flowers. Whenever people see flowers, they want to smell the fragrance. So I was asking women not to go outside without purdah |veil],’ he said.
He also denied yesterday that he is against women education, saying, "I only say they must adhere to purdah."
Shafi added, "A journalist once came to me and asked why 1 say so. I told him I would bring a beautiful woman in front of him to see what effect it has on him. I will do the same for the ministers who refute my argument. A beautiful girl will sit in front of him for two to four minutes. If the minister is a man, he will be able to describe what effect it has on him."
He also denied the allegation that he is opposed to women employment. "Once again, I only want them to have purdah in the workplace," he said.
In the YouTube video, the Hefajat chief in fact says, “Women go to schools, colleges and universities; let them study up to class four or five. They should only learn enough to be able to keep records of their husbands' finances after marriage."
He further tells the crowd in the video, "You are spending lakhs of taka to send them to
schools, colleges and universities. But after a few days, your daughter will get a husband of her own, enter into a love marriage or a court marriage and elope. She will not remember her father."
He went on, "You women should stay within the four walls of your houses. Sitting inside your husband's home you should take care of your husband's furniture and raise your children, your male kids. These are your jobs. Why do you have to go outside?"
He says of a typical garment worker, "She goes to work after Fajr at 7/8:00am and does not come back even at 8/10/12 at night. You do not know which man she is hanging out with. You do not know how much zina [unlawful sexual activity) she is getting involved in. Through zina, she is earning money, which does not bring prosperity."
At the event yesterday, other Hefajat leaders said they would organise a grand rally in the capital on November 15 to press home their 13 demands.
They will also demand a judicial enquiry into the "mass killing" in Shapla Chattar on May 6, compensation for the families of the “martyred", withdrawal of all the "false cases" against Hefajat leaders and activists and release of the arrested.
Hefajat will also stage rallies at Sylhet on November 7 and at Khulna on November 8.
Shafi, who also heads the Qawmi Madrasa Education Board, urged the government not to pass the Qawmi Madrasa Education Authority Act, 2013, in parliament.
"The Qawmi madrasa was never under anybody's control, and will not go under anybody's control in future," he said, referring to the government's initiative to bring Qawmi madrasas under its control.