Press Release
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Hizb ut Tahrir/Wilayah Bangladesh organized Protests against the Unprecedented and Heartless Increase of Fuel Prices by the Government in Collaboration with the IMF
Today Friday (August 11, 2022) after Jummah prayer Hizb ut Tahrir/Wilayah Bangladesh organized protest gatherings in various mosque premises in Dhaka and Chittagong, under the title: “In Collaboration with the IMF, the Government has heartlessly increased the Fuel Prices; Our Liberation from the Economic Dominance of the Kafir Western States is only possible under the Khilafah (Caliphate)”. Speakers in the gathering explained how Western institutions like the IMF and the World Bank have trapped the third world countries, including the Muslim world, in a debt trap, destroyed the country’s economic base, made them completely dependent on foreign countries, and allowed local and foreign capitalists to build huge wealth. In the beginning, the speakers exposed the lies and deceptions that the government resorted to raise the price of fuel, giving reasons like increased prices in international market, losses by the government or fule smuggling to India, in order to hide the issue of the conspiracy of IMF.
Then the speakers exposed the policies of the IMF by saying: The well-known notorious Capitalist institution IMF always takes the opportunity to impose the Colonialist agenda and Capitalist policy of privatization that crippled our economy, particularly our energy sector. In pursuance of IMF policy, all the successive secular regimes never invested in the state petroleum exploration company (BAPEX) and let the foreign Colonialist companies such as Chevron, ConocoPhillips etc. to loot our oil-gas minerals under Production sharing contract (PSC). They handed over the power generation sector to the greedy foreign companies (such as Palli Biddut owned by US company) and local companies (such as the Summit Group). In the past, Colonialists would invade such lands for natural resources and minerals. But now in today’s ‘free world’, institutions like IMF and WB in cahoots with the treacherous puppet rulers loot a country’s resources and cripple their energy sovereignty so that they always remain dependent on the mercy of the Kuffar. So, we see that Western-backed corrupt elites and rulers make fortunes in the energy sector through IMF’s wicked privatization program whereas common people takes the toll of the ever-increasing price of the fuel. Thus, naturally, IMF does not pressurize the government to stop providing ‘capacity charge’ to the few elite Capitalists, but rather forces to withdraw so-called subsidies on fuel which makes living harsher for the masses. All of this should be a stark lesson to us as Muslims that progress and prosperity can never be achieved by reliance on the IMF or any capitalist or man-made system or state, as Allah (swt) reminds us in the Qur’an:
* مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَوْلِيَاءَ كَمَثَلِ الْعَنكَبُوتِ اتَّخَذَتْ بَيْتًا وَإِنَّ أَوْهَنَ الْبُيُوتِ لَبَيْتُ الْعَنْكَبُوتِ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ*
“Those who take helpers other than God can be compared to the spider which builds itself a cobweb. But the frailest of all structures is the house of the spider, if but they knew it.” [Al-Ankabut: 41]
Finally the speakers said: O People, you must call for the reestablishment of the promised Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) on the method of Prophethood because only the Khilafah can bring people out of this misery. The Khilafah will not need to subsidize the energy sector since energy and minerals belong to the category of ‘public property’ under Islam; people will have direct access to these at low cost or for free. It will organize its economy according to the prescription of Sharia and will not allow colonialists or their institutions like IMF, World Bank to intervene in the economic affairs of the State. Khalifah will never turn to these imperialist institutions for bailing out because the Khilafah will never give way to the dollar-based fiat monetary system. The economy will be based upon real goods and services and the currency will be backed by gold and silver. So, there will be no such inflation or a sudden hike in the price of essentials. The Capitalist system has brought us to the verge of destruction, has made us indebted to Western powers and brought misery for the people. But if we rely on none but only Allah (swt), He (swt) promises to make a way for us to get out of this trouble:
* فَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا يَضِلُّ وَلَا يَشْقَى*
“Whoever follows My guidance will neither go astray in this life nor suffer in the next” [TMQ Taha: 123]
Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Bangladesh