Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami said 650 people, including a former judge, former military and police officers, lawyers, businesspeople, Qawmi scholars and political activists, formally joined the party at an outreach rally in Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon. The event was organised by the party’s Dhaka South unit as part of its month-long public-contact programme at the Muktijuddho Smriti auditorium of the Institution of Diploma Engineers.

Opposition leader and Jamaat ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman attended as chief guest and welcomed the new members with flowers and Islamic books. Dhaka South Jamaat ameer Md Nurul Islam Bulbul MP chaired the gathering. Named entrants included former judge Syed Shahidur Rahman, senior Supreme Court lawyer Dr ASM Khalequzzaman, former army officer Colonel Faruk Hossain, former police superintendent Obaidul Haque and former national footballer and former UN official Selim Ahmed.

The group also included business figures, BNP activists from several wards and local units, mosque secretary Niamat Ullah Kollol, Nurani Education Board secretary general Maulana Muhammad Jasim Uddin, and several Qawmi scholars. Several new members and Jamaat leaders addressed the rally, which was jointly moderated by Dhaka South secretary Dr Shafiqul Islam Masud MP and assistant secretary Delwar Hossain.