Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman on Tuesday the people of the then East Pakistan rose in revolt as the Pakistani ruling elite perpetrated injustice and created discriminations against them.

He made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at the inauguration of a youth marathon organised by Jamaat-e-Islami on the occasion of Victory Day at Suhrawardy Uddyan in the capital.

The marathon began around 8 am from Suhrawardy Uddyan and concluded at Manik Mia Avenue near the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, passing through Shahbagh intersection and Science Lab.

Participants carried national flags and banners with various slogans throughout the route.

Shafiqur Rahman said the politics of the future Bangladesh would be guided by a new system by discarding the old political order.

“The politics of the new system will be against terrorism, extortionists, murder, rape, false cases, corruption, injustice and all forms of oppression,” he said.

He said the marathon would continue until a new Bangladesh built by youths is realised. “No matter how many obstacles or threats come, we will not stop. We will build a new Bangladesh as dreamt by the nation, Inshallah,” he added.

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Referring to the upcoming election, the Jamaat chief said the people would not allow any kind of technical manipulation.

“We do not seek any favour from the Election Commission but if the commission shows favour to anyone, it will not be tolerated,” he said.

He said attempts to buy people with black money would fail as people are now much more aware than before.

Shafiqur alleged that during the Awami League’s 15 years in power there was no area of the country where people were spared from oppression, which led the entire nation to rise against them during the July movement.

He alleged that their current target is the country’s youth and revolutionaries and an attempt was made on the life of Osman Hadi, one of the key leaders of the July movement. “If anything happens to Osman Hadi, the revolutionaries will not remain silent,” he added.

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He said Awami League has wrongly assumed that eliminating one or two leaders would weaken the movement.

“They cannot reduce the number of revolutionaries. Rather, the number of revolutionary youths will continue to grow,” he said.