“We are pretty confident about entering the parliament in the next election,“ Muhammad Mamunul Haque, joint secretary of Hefazat-e-Islam, an influential coalition of Islamic schools, told AFP in an interview.
Haque, 52, said the group will push to implement sharia, or Islamic law, and believes the group’s network of tens of thousands of seminaries -- claiming to have some 500,000 members -- means they will do well if the vote “is free and fair”.
A hugely influential pressure group, it has been courted by political parties since it was founded 15 years ago.
Strength after revolution
Her opponents boycotted the vote after a crackdown.
Thousands were detained, including Haque, who was arrested in 2021 and spent three years in jail.
Hasina fled to New Delhi in August as crowds stormed her palace.
Islamist groups have gained strength with Hasina gone and have increasingly sought to impose their vision on the wider population.
Women, in particular, have expressed concern.
Mobs have vandalised Sufi shrines. Supporters of Haque's Khilafat-E-Majlis group stormed a public library last month and carted away hundreds of books before returning them.
'Implement sharia'
Those include the powerful Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), expected to be the largest political force, and the National Citizens Party (NCP), formed by students who spearheaded the uprising against Hasina.
Haque said the group opposed a government women's commission and its recommendations to end discriminatory provisions, including equal inheritance rights for men and women.
“It seems they want to destroy the religious values attached to marriage and divorce and want to establish a Western society.”
However, Haque said his supporters wanted Islamic law.
“Everything will be guided by the Koran... under an Islamic welfare state, all, regardless of their faith, will be treated justly.”
“We demand death sentences for speaking against Allah, tarnishing the image of the Prophet, and offending Muslims,“ Haque said.
“There is no room for negotiation in this regard.”
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