Highly sensitive responsibilities such as guarding polling centers and ballot boxes are planned to be placed solely under the control of Ansar and VDP members.

A frightening and well coordinated plan of election engineering has allegedly emerged with the Ansar and VDP Directorate at its center. According to the allegations a grand strategy is being implemented for the election scheduled on twelve February by keeping the armed forces the administration and the police engaged elsewhere while controlling the core election process through Ansar and VDP members.

Around five hundred and fifty thousand Ansar and VDP members are being deployed for field level election duties. It is alleged that after five August the newly appointed Director General of Ansar and VDP Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud recruited around three thousand three hundred general students who were active members of Shibir and Hizbut Tahrir into the Ansar force.

In addition nearly three thousand Battalion Ansar members were recruited in exchange for large sums of money. These newly recruited members are now being specifically assigned to election duties.

Highly sensitive responsibilities such as guarding polling centers and ballot boxes are planned to be placed solely under the control of Ansar and VDP members. On election day their activities and instructions will be directly monitored and controlled from headquarters through a software system called AVMIS which allows senior officials to issue direct commands to field level personnel.

At present there are about one hundred thousand general Ansar members and nearly seventy million trained VDP members. According to the allegations five hundred and fifty seven thousand Ansar and VDP members affiliated with Jamaat and extremist groups have been registered through the AVMIS system for election duty. These members are expected to play the central role in election engineering on election day.

It is further alleged that through this software senior officials can directly instruct Ansar members deployed at polling centers. This could allow intentional obstruction of voting disruption at sensitive centers and deliberate creation of complications related to ballot boxes through covert instructions. There are also allegations that directives have been issued to seal ballots in favor of Jamaat and to vote yes in the referendum using code names such as Breakfast and Move Fast.

Additionally all Ansar and VDP members and their family members have allegedly been made mandatory voters. Each member has reportedly been instructed to ensure at least five votes. Failure to comply is said to result in dismissal from service.

Another serious allegation involves arms procurement. It is claimed that through secret tenders the Director General of Ansar has already purchased thirty two thousand semi automatic shotguns including Haksan Escort Magnum twenty gauge weapons from two different companies in Turkey in two separate phases. These weapons are intended to be distributed among Battalion Ansar members assigned to election duties.

The main executor of this entire plan is alleged to be Major General Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud the Director General of Ansar who is a resident of Chattogram and was reportedly associated with Shibir during his student life and is currently linked with Jamaat.

It is further alleged that he has already appointed three Jamaat aligned army officers to the Ministry of Home Affairs on deputation outside formal orders to advance his election agenda. The allegations also claim direct support from Home Affairs Adviser Jahangir Alam and Home Secretary Nasimul Gani.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Milli Chronicle’s point-of-view.

These examples suggest that women’s leadership was neither alien nor unacceptable in early Islamic practice.

The discourse surrounding women’s leadership in Islam is complex and deeply contested. Recently a female leader from Jamaat-e-Islami cited a Qur’anic verse to argue that Islam prohibits women from holding leadership roles. The verse quoted was “Men are qawwamun over women” (Surah An-Nisa 4:34).

A closer textual and historical reading however reveals that this verse was revealed in a specific domestic context. Classical interpretations indicate that it addressed household responsibility and accountability during a marital dispute rather than questions of political authority or governance. The emphasis of the verse lies on responsibility not dominance.

If the verse had intended to establish a permanent hierarchy between men and women the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him would not have considered punitive action against a husband accused of wrongdoing.

This context makes it clear that the verse cannot be used as a blanket prohibition against women’s leadership.

Islamic history further complicates the claim of prohibition. The Qur’an does not condemn the rule of Queen Bilqis of Sheba. Instead, her wisdom and consultative leadership are presented positively.

Shifa bint Abdullah was entrusted with administrative authority in Madinah. Aisha may God be pleased with her was a leading authority in hadith jurisprudence and political understanding.

Khadijah may God be pleased with her was economically independent and decisive in commercial affairs.

These examples suggest that women’s leadership was neither alien nor unacceptable in early Islamic practice.

The Qur’an states that women have rights similar to the obligations upon them. It also describes believing men and women as allies of one another. Such language implies partnership and shared responsibility rather than fixed subordination.

The modern political implications are equally significant. If women’s leadership were truly forbidden then women occupying spokesperson or organizational roles within political parties would themselves be violating that principle. This contradiction becomes even more pronounced when parties operate within legal frameworks that mandate women’s representation.

Ultimately the debate over women’s leadership in Islam is less about clear textual prohibition and more about selective interpretation. A balanced reading of the Qur’an Islamic history and contemporary realities suggests that women’s leadership is not inherently incompatible with Islamic principles.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Milli Chronicle’s point-of-view.