You cannot survive by attacking the shrines: Farhad Mazhar

State thinker and poet Farhad Mazhar has alleged that the attack on the Shah Ali shrine in Mirpur was to loot the money from the offerings.

Addressing the attackers, he said, "A popular uprising has taken place. The Sheikh could not survive in this country. You too cannot survive by trying to loot the money from the shrine."

Farhad Mazhar made the remarks at a public gathering and singing of hymns at the Shah Ali shrine in Mirpur in the capital on Tuesday afternoon. The 'Sadhu-Guru-Bhakta and Oli-Auliya Ashekan Parishad' and 'Bhabbaithaki' jointly organized this public gathering in protest against the attack on the shrine last Thursday night.

He said that the money collected from the offerings at the shrine is the right of madmen. "The attack was carried out on false charges of consuming marijuana to loot this money. We sing hymns at this shrine. We will not remain silent if we are attacked. If they are attacked silently, we will stand up."

Earlier, allegations were made against local Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists in the attack on the shrine. However, Farhad Mazhar said that he had discussed the matter with local Jamaat MP Barrister Mir Ahmad Bin Qasem without blaming anyone for the attack.

He said that the shrine's money is being looted here in the name of leasing. Each shop is being leased for Tk10,000 and allocated for Tk1 lakh. The government is also losing revenue due to this. This shrine is ours, we will keep this shrine clean and tidy. But we will not let the madmen and devotees loot money in the name of the leaseholders.

Addressing the madmen of the shrine, Farhad Mazhar said, "I will tell the madmen - we must maintain the etiquette of this shrine. No one should be able to behave disorderly here by accusing them of being marijuana users. We ourselves cannot be disorderly. We, the sons and daughters, wives and families, will continue to protect the environment of this shrine together."

He said, "We must protect the madmen of the shrine together. The lease system here must be stopped. We must ensure that whatever comes to the shrine goes to the poor people here."

The public meeting, chaired by Jatiya Nagorik Party (NCP) central leader Zayed Bin Naser and conducted by Mohammad Romel, the chief coordinator of the meeting, was also attended by NCP central joint convener Sarwar Tushar, BAS (Marxist) central leader Jasim Uddin, NCP Dhaka Metropolitan North senior joint convener Kazi Saiful Islam, members Tahmina Sharmin Junthi, Shafiqul Islam Rana Khan, former convener of the Shah Ali Thana branch of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement Rafiqul Islam Mithu, writer Uday Hasan and journalist Nahidul Islam, among others.

On the same day, a large number of devotees and Ashekans formed a human chain and protested in the premises of Shah Ali Shrine in protest of the attack on the shrine. After the half-hour human chain, the protest march circled various roads in the Shah Ali area. During this time, devotees and Ashekans chanted slogans like 'Why was Shah Ali Shrine attacked? I want an answer? I want an answer?', 'Why was the fakir attacked? I want an answer? I want an answer?', 'Creep of militancy, destroy it and crush it', 'It has hit me, my blood has caught fire', etc., and filled the entire area with them.