Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on Sunday demanded that State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam and the Administrator of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) withdraw their remarks about the alleged ownership of 700 e-rickshaws by the party's Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar and apologise to the nation.

“We challenge them to prove that Mia Golam Porwar owns 700 e-rickshaws. Far from owning 700, he does not have even a single rickshaw in his name,” Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Ehsanul Mahbub Zubayer said in a statement.

He was responding to the State Minister's remarks at a press conference at the Secretariat on Sunday, where he reportedly claimed that Porwar owned 700 e-rickshaws and had been given the opportunity to secure legal registration for five of them.

Strongly rejecting the claim, he described it as baseless, fabricated, and misleading, saying it was irresponsible for someone holding a government position to make such allegations against a national-level political leader without evidence.

He said the DNCC Administrator had made a similar allegation against Porwar some time ago.

Jamaat had then challenged those making the allegations to produce supporting evidence publicly, but no such proof had been presented so far, he added.

The Jamaat leader accused the State Minister of repeating an unsubstantiated allegation in an attempt to mislead the public.

He urged the concerned officials to refrain from making evidence-free statements aimed at undermining political opponents.

He also called on the State Minister and the DNCC Administrator to immediately make public specific and credible evidence supporting their respective claims.

Otherwise, they should withdraw the remarks, which he described as false, misleading, and defamatory, and apologise to the nation, he added.