Hifazat-e Islam chief Shah Ahmed Shafi has returned to Chittagong after spending over a month at a hospital in Dhaka.
rrived at the Darul Ulum Moinul Islam Madrasa at Hathazari around 4:45pm on Monday, Hifazat’s Organising Secretary Azizul Haque Islamabadi told to reporter.
“He’s resting now,” Islamabadi said.
He said Shafi was supposed to return in the morning by a helicopter, but that travel was delayed due to bad weather. The helicopter carrying Shafi started from Dhaka’s Dhupkhola ground and landed on the madrasa’s roof later in the afternoon.
Shafi’s younger son Md Anas told that his father is able to normally walk at the moment.
The Hifazat chief, suffering from weakness and respiratory problems, was first admitted to the Centre for Specialised Care and Research in the port city on May 18. He was kept at the coronary care unit for a few days.
On Jun 6, an air ambulance carried Shafi to the capital, where he was admitted to Asgar Ali Hospital at Gandaria.
Shafi, director general of the Hathazari madrasa, has made headlines several times for his anti-women statements.
Radical Islamist group Hifazat has also come into focus multiple times since 2013 after creating mayhem in Dhaka’s Motijheel to protest against the Shahbagh movement, calling them ‘atheist bloggers’.
Shafi’s Qawmi madrasa-based organisation came to limelight again recently by demanding the removal of the Lady Justice statue from the Supreme Court premises.
The statue was relocated outside the top court’s Annex Building later after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met a delegation led by Shafi at her official residence in April and said she too had reservations about the statue.
In the same meeting, she announced the highest Qawmi madrasa certificate will be made equivalent to a post-graduate degree.