Rangpur: Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami central executive council member and former acting secretary general ATM Azharul Islam has expressed that implementing Islamic labor laws could transform the fate of working people in the country.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, ATM Azharul Islam made these remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a workers' welfare rally organized by the Workers' Welfare Federation at the Badarganj Model Multipurpose High School ground in Badarganj upazila of Rangpur. The rally was presided over by Mohammad Shahinur Islam, president of the Badarganj upazila branch of the Workers' Welfare Federation, and moderated by its general secretary, Mohammad MA Matin.
Several notable figures addressed the rally, including Professor Abul Hashem Badal, the general secretary of the central committee of the Bangladesh Land Port Workers' Union, Mohammad Belal Abedin, the Rangpur district president of the Workers' Welfare Federation, and Jamaat-e-Islami Badarganj Upazila ameer Moulana Kamruzzaman Kabir, who attended as special guests.
ATM Azharul Islam emphasized that workers hold a special place in Islam, being the first to accept the Prophet's invitation and the first to be martyred for Islam. He argued that if Islam is established in society and the state, it would prevent the accumulation of illegal wealth and eradicate poverty through a zakat-based economy within five years.
He lamented the exploitation and deprivation workers face under the capitalist state system, highlighting the unemployment resulting from the closure of industries such as jute and sugar, and the unfair wages faced by garment workers. He asserted that only Islamic labor policies could resolve this crisis and stressed the need to legally establish the July Charter to ensure fundamental rights in a fascist-free country.