“The biggest need among the people of Bangladesh now is security,” Father Hubert Liton Gomes, secretary of the Integral Human Development Commission of the Bangladesh Catholic Bishops’ Conference, told Crux Now. Shahabuddin, who held the largely ceremonial presidential role until his resignation last week, had been Hasina’s political ally. Opposition leader Shafiqur Rahman of the far-right Bangladesh Jamaat Islami party also had strong words regarding the former president. Officials in Habiganj, roughly 90 miles northeast of the capital, Dhaka, cited public safety concerns including possible clashes. Though the BNP is also covered under the Habiganj public safety order, Gomes said not allowing opposition parties to hold rallies or programs “is not the behavior of a democratic government.”