BNP on Wednesday spewed fire against the death sentence awarded to the party’s standing committee member, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, for war crimes.
In its official reaction to the ICT verdict a day earlier, BNP accused the government of a conspiracy to deny justice to SQC. In protest, the party has decided to stage nationwide rallies on Thursday against “the government’s attempt to eliminate its political opponent and to destroy the country’s democratic organs in the name of war crimes trial”. In Dhaka, the nationalist party announced an agitation programme at Suhrawardi Uddan around 3 pm on Thursday.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the announcement at a press briefing at the party’s Naya Paltan office here. The announcement followed a meeting of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and other top leaders at her Gulshan office here on Tuesday night.
“We are expressing our condemnation of the government for its evil attempt to eliminate opposition party politics in the country,” the opposition spokesperson said. “We are astonished that SQC was deprived of justice,” he added.
Alamgir said several local and international media have cast doubts on the credibility of the ICT verdict. “Even the common people have raised questions over the legal process adopted to convict SQC of war crimes,” he claimed.
Question about acceptability over the ICT given verdict against SQC for his involvement in wartime offences has already risen in different local and foreign level media as well as in the peoples’ minds, he claimed. The text of the ICT verdict was displayed on different websites even before its pronouncement, he said, adding that it was leaked from the office of an acting secretary in the law ministry.
The verdict was written in the law ministry on May 23. “This is illegal and an unprecedented instance of the abuse of law,” he said.
Two witnesses, including a former Supreme Court judge, wanted to submit their statements in SQC’s defence, but they were deprived of the legal right, he alleged.
Alamgir said the defence witnesses had deposed that SQC was staying in Pakistan from March 29 till October 1971.
Later, he went to London. “But SQC was sentenced to death in connection with nine wartime offences that were committed in the period when he was staying abroad,” he added.
BNP standing committee members Moudud Ahmed, MK Anwar, Rafiqul Islam Mia and others were present at the press briefing.
-With The Independent input
