রিপোর্টারের নাম 
Opposition Leader and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr. Shafiqur Rahman on Monday declared that the nationwide movement demanding implementation of referendum verdict and July Charter reforms has already begun, vowing that the opposition will not return home until it succeeds.
“The movement is already underway across the country. The question is not whether it will start, it has started. Now we must gradually take it toward success,” Dr Shafiqur said at a seminar titled “Government Against the Referendum Verdict: A Country Facing Crisis” organised by the 11-party opposition alliance at Diploma Engineers’ Institution auditorium in Kakrail.
Dr Shafiqur reminded the ruling BNP that every political actor in the current parliament is a product of the July uprising. “July exists, we exist. July exists, the government exists. July exists, the opposition exists. Without July, nothing exists. The government will not get away with standing against July,” he said, warning that those who have broken political promises in Bangladesh’s history have never met a good end.
The opposition leader accused unnamed forces of pulling strings behind parliamentary decisions, using a vivid analogy. “The question is who pulls the strings. The nation understands where the kite’s spool is held and from where it is being controlled. This is why there is instability. At one time the referendum is forbidden, at another time it is half acceptable. The meat from the same order is acceptable, but the gravy is not,” he said.
Dr Shafiqur issued a stern warning against the politicization of Islami Bank, noting that the institution alone handles 32 percent of the country’s remittance inflows. “If this bank’s existence is endangered, Bangladesh’s economy will sink into the Bay of Bengal. I am warning you, do not politicize it. If you politicize the banks one after another, the people will not spare you,” he said.
The Jamaat chief said the opposition seeks not merely a change of government but a transformation of political culture itself, pledging to confront what he described as a toxic culture across the banking sector, economy, education system, and legal institutions.
Opposition Chief Whip Nahid Islam told the seminar that the BNP has created an artificial conflict between the July Charter and the July Order, accepting one while calling the other illegitimate despite the referendum being conducted under the very order they reject.
He said fundamental reforms cannot be achieved through ordinary constitutional amendments and require a constituent assembly called the Constitution Reform Council. “BNP has broken its word. The Prime Minister, the Home Minister, and everyone who was in the Consensus Commission have all gone back on their commitments. They have shown contempt for the referendum verdict,” Nahid Islam said, warning the BNP that the consequences will not be easy.
Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis Ameer Maulana Mamunul Haque, who chaired the seminar, accused the current government of being possessed by what he called the “ghost of Sheikh Hasina,” referring to a pattern of publicly humiliating citizens.
“An MP said in parliament that people voted in the referendum without understanding. He wants to sit as a schoolmaster and teach the Constitution to MPs and the public. There should be a limit to arrogance. BNP seems to think that having gained power, the people are mice and they are lions,” he said, warning the ruling party not to become the first in world history to ignore a referendum verdict.
Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar noted that with most of its five-year term still remaining, the BNP is already moving toward authoritarian governance and must learn from history.
The seminar was attended by senior leaders of the 11-party alliance including Colonel (retired) Oli Ahmed of the Liberal Democratic Party, political scientist Dilara Chowdhury, Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Shafiqur, and representatives from multiple alliance partners.
