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Protesters vow not to leave streets

Admin — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:04:08 +0000

Bid farewell to Rajib
People joined the Shahbagh protests sporting black badges on Saturday to bid farewell to blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who had been actively involved in the protests before being killed by assailants on Friday night.
Protesters, with the coffin of Rajib wrapped in the national flag in the protest venue, vowed not to leave the streets to push for their demand for death penalty for all war criminals..
Unnamed assailants hacked to death Rajib near his house at Palashnagar of Mirpur in Dhaka on Friday night.
The police said that Rajib, hacked in the face and throat, was found dead about 9:30pm in a dark place.
The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, meanwhile, visited Rajib’s family at Palashnagar in the afternoon where she said that the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir had no right to do politics in Bangladesh.
Hasina sought people’s cooperation to save Bangladesh from Jamaat and urged people to stand by Shahbagh protesters.
The government has taken all-out measures to ensure security for Shahbagh protesters, she told reporters later.
People, irrespective of age, faith and party affiliation, thronged Shahbagh to attend the namaz-e-janaza of Rajib, on the 12th consecutive day of protests on Saturday. The namaz-e-janaza was held about 6:00pm
The youths started their protests on February 5 afternoon after International Crimes Tribunal 2 convicted Jamaat-e-islami assistant secretary general Quader Molla to life in prison. Protesters were demanding death penalty for Quader Molla.
Blogger Imran H Sarker termed Rajib a new generation freedom fighter. ‘We vow by touch the coffin of Rajib that we will not leave the streets until Rajib’s killers and war criminals are convicted to death penalty.’
Rajib’s uncle Alam said that the dead body did not belong to any party and urged all not to leave the streets until justice was meted out.
Protestors said that the body would be kept in a mortuary for the night. He would be buried in their village home at Kapasia in Gazipur on Sunday.
Immediately after the funeral rites, Shabagh protesters raised their hands breaking the silence shouting ‘Jay Bangla, Jay Bangla.’ Other slogans demanding justice for the killing followed.
Earlier at daybreak, protesters started the day’s programme singing the national anthem and observing a minute’s silence paying respect to Rajib.
They shouted slogans such as ‘Shaheed Rajib er rakta amader dhamanite (Martyred Rajib’s blood flows in our vein)’ and ‘Ar nay pratirodh, ebar habe pratishodh (No more resistance, it’s time for revenge).’
People also shouted ‘Shaheed Rajib er dabi, razakar er phansi (Death penalty for collaborators was the demand of martyred Rajib), ‘Shaheed Rajiber rakta britha jete debo na’ (Blood of Rajib will not go in vain) and ‘Razakarer hale phansi, sabar mukhe phutbe hashi’ (Everyone will smile if collaborators are hanged).
A group of band artistes including members of Miles, Feedback, Souls and Artcell expressed their solidarity with the protests and sang war songs. Fakir Alamgir and Mahmud Selim sang patriotic songs.
FBCCI, BGMEA and BKMEA leaders and actor ATM Shamsuzzaman also joined in. A large number of people with physical disabilities also attended.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh and the Socialist Party of Bangladesh in the evening joined the protests.
The protesters urged all students to join the programme of hoisting the national flag and singing the national anthem in all educational institutions, including mardassahs, at 10:00am today.
Protestors by the 12th day of protests have covered almost all giant hoardings with banners, set up banners on top of the buildings round the crossing.
They also hung several giant banners coming down from roofs of BSMMU and BIRDEM hospitals. Banners also covered all the walls in the area, with slogans such as ‘Amara bari jachchhi ba, kono beiman ke chharchhina’ (We are not going home. No traitors will be spared).
A banner sporting caricatures of war criminals says: ‘History never lies… hang them all’ and ‘Amra amader baba-mayer hathyakarider phansi chai (We want death penalty for killers of our parents).’
Many banners have portraits of Jahanara Imam, who led a people’s court trying war criminals in 1992, with demands ‘Execute the verdict of the people’s court, hang all war criminals including Quader Molla.’
Many individuals also brought placards with popular slogans such as ‘Phansi, phansi, phansi chai – Quader Mollar phansi chai’ (Hang Quader Molla), ‘Ka te Quader Molla, tui razakar (Ka for Quader Molla, you are a collaborator),’ ‘Ga te Ghulam Azam, tui razakar’ (Ga for Ghulam Azam, you are a collaborator)’ and ‘Kandte asini phansir dabi niye esechhi (We have not come here to cry. We want them to be hanged).’
Local people have, meanwhile, gathered between Mirpur Section 10 and 12, blocking the road in protest at Rajib’s killing. Many schoolchildren took plart in the blockade.

Courtesy of New Age

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Shahbagh protests call for ban on Jamaat

Admin — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 17:21:05 +0000

Protesters call off earlier plan after fellow’s killing
Shahbagh protesters late Friday night stepped back from the decision they announced in the afternoon that they would be holding protests for seven hours every day after the killing of a blogger at Mirpur and Jamaat-e-Islami’s call for a general strike for Monday.
The decision on rally for seven hours that was announced in the afternoon, however, drew ire from a large section of protesters as they refused to leave the place after 10:00pm.
The dissenting group of protesters at one point occupied the makeshift dais set for Friday’s rally and continued shouting slogans that they had not agreed to the decision. They also accused the bloggers’ platform of compromising their sentiment.
Blogger Imran H Sarkar about 11:00pm went onto the dais and took back the earlier announcement. ‘Now we have no option but to continue with round-the-clock protests after the killing of a fellow of ours.’
Blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, known as Thaba Baba in the blogging circle, was found dead with his throat slit in front of his house at Pallabi at night.
Protesters earlier in the day in the Shahbagh crossing and elsewhere across the country on Friday called for a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami and vowed to continue with protests to push for their demands, including death penalty for war criminals.
Protesters, irrespective of age, faith and party affiliation, poured in Shahbagh for a rally in the afternoon and took a vow raising hands not to leave the streets until their demands were met.
The organisers called on people to resist Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir wherever they would be seen and to reach the protests to the remotest corners of the country.
They also asked sympathisers with war criminals to stop patronising them and asked the people to boycott financial and services establishments owned by Jamaat and its activists.
On the 11th consecutive day of the Shahbagh protests, the organisers announced that they would be holding protests at Shahbagh for seven hours
a day between 3:00pm and 10:00pm ‘to take the movement forward and make it more organised.’
People initially said ‘no’ to the announcement by blogger Imran H Sarkar for protests for seven hours a day but later accepted it when Imran called on them to get ready to swarm the are on a moment’s notice.
The organisers also announced the programme of hoisting the national flag and singing the national anthem in all educational institutions, including mardassahs, at 10:00am on Sunday.
‘We have achieved some successes. We have forced the government to amend the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 which was holding back the state from appealing against the tribunal’s verdict. The bill is likely to be passed on Sunday. But this is not the end of our movement,’ Imran said reading out a declaration.
Imran said that the platform for demanding for capital punishment for war criminals was not partisan despite the issue being absolutely political. ‘Our movement is above partisan parochiality and we represent a national unity,’ he said.
‘We are not here to shed tears. Forty-two years after, we have gathered to push for the demand for the execution of killers. Support us, steer the protests forward and convey the message of 1971 to each of the houses,’ he said.
People in their thousands started assembling at Shahbagh about midday and the crossing, stretching from Kantaban to Matsya Bhaban and from the Sakura crossing to the Teacher-Student Centre, teemed with people when the rally began about 4:00pm with the singing the national anthem.
Protesters shouting slogans such as ‘Phanshi, phanshi, phanshi Chai, Quader Mollar phanshi chai (Hang Quader Molla) and ‘Tui razakar, tui razakar (you are collaborators)’ filled the air.
Many of them shouted ‘Let weapons of ’71 roar again,’ and ‘We want razakars to be hanged.’ Lucky Akhter and others were untiringly leading the slogans at intervals between speeches.
Only the student leaders spoke at Friday’s rally calling for a national unity of political parties, professionals, and cultural, student and youth organisations to push for death penalty for all war criminals.
The Student Union president, SM Shubho, the Chhatra League general secretary, Siddiqui Nazmul Alam, the Chhatra Front president, Shaifuzzman Shaker, former Chhatra Maitree president Bappaditya Basu, and the Biplabi Chhatra Maitree president, Abdur Rouf, among others, addressed the rally, anchored by journalist Anjan Roy.
Some language movement heroes, retired Supreme Court judge Golam Rabbani, Dhaka University professor emeritus Anisuzzman, actors Hasan Imam and Pijush Bandopaddhyay, the Jahangirnagar University vice-chancellor, Anwar Hossain, the Bangladesh Economic Association president, Abul Barkat, writer Shahriyar Kabir and actor Asaduzzaman Noor were, among others, on the makeshift dais.
Ayesha Faiz, the widow of martyred police officer Faizur Rahman, also joined the protests with her two sons writer Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and cartoonist Ahsan Habib.
Several hundred Cambrian College students in black uniform also joined the protests.
In Chittagong, people continued with protests for the 10th consecutive day on the Chittagong Press Club premises. Sampradayikata Birodhi Tarun Udyog is leading the protests.
Youths in Barisal set up Ekattarer Mancha in front of the Ashwini Kumar Town Hall on Friday. In Sylhet, protesters joined the rally in front of the Central Shaheed Minar.
The protesters said similar protests were also reported from countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Kingdom by expatriate Bangladeshis.
The protests began in the Shahbagh crossing on February 5 hours after International Crimes Tribunal 2 sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami’s assistant secretary general Abdur Quader Molla to life in prison. The protesters termed the punishment ‘inadequate compared with crimes Molla committed in the war of independence.’

Courtesy of New Age

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Hand in hand in candlelight vigil

Admin — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:22:41 +0000

Shahbagh Protests
Hand in hand in candlelight vigil
People joined a candlelight vigil the protesters held in the Shahbagh crossing by lighting candles across the country on Thursday evening symbolically dispelling the darkness war criminals had cast on the nation.
Protesters, after the candlelight vigil, said that they would hold a grand rally at Shahbagh at 3:00pm today. The next programmes would be announced at the rally.
The protests at Shahbagh, which passed the 10th consecutive day on Thursday demanding death penalty for all war criminals, held the candlelight vigil at 7:00pm amid one minute’s silence, in memory of three million people who laid down their
lives and two lakh women who faced torture by the Pakistan army and their collaborators during the war of independence in 1971.
Protesters also paid respect to an Agrani Bank lift operator man who, after being wounded in an attack by Jamaat and Shibir activists on Wednesday, died in hospital on Thursday.
People from all walks of life indoors, at work and on the streets across the country lighted candles as the clock struck seven evening. Protesters at Shahbagh also brought out a procession holding torches to push for their demand.
The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, also joined in by lighting candles in Gana Bhaban, her residence.
Lawmakers, government and non-government officials, and ordinary people from one end to the other of the country came out lining along the roads to light candles with the day’s transaction coming to a halt for a minute.
About 50 students leaders of anti-autocrat movement of the 1980s joined the candlelight vigil at the protests, spearheaded by the youths.
Former student leaders included former DUCSU vice-president Sultan Muhammad Manusr, former DUCSU general secretary Mustak Hossain, former Chhatra Union leaders Anwarul Haq and Ruhin Hossain Prince, former JSD Chhatra League leaders Shafi Ahmed and Abul Hasib Khan, former Chhatra Samity leader Abdullah Tarek, former Chhatra Maitree leader Ragib Ahsan Munna and former Chhatra Front leader Bazlur Rashid Firoz.
Protesters raised their hands on a countdown and lighted candles for several minutes before breaking the silence shouting ‘Jay Bangla, Jay Bangla.’
Other popular slogans such as ‘Phansi, phansi, phansi chai, Quader Mollar phansi chai’ (Hang Quader Molla), ‘Ka te Quader Molla, tui razakar, (Ka for Quader Molla, you are a collaborator),’ ‘Janaganer dabi, Quader Mollar phansi (People want death penalty for Quader Molla),’ ‘Jamaat-e-Islami made in Pakistan’ and ‘Tomar amar thikana, Padma, Meghna, Jamuna (Our address is Padma, Meghna and Jamuna)’ followed.
Students leaders and bloggers at a meeting earlier in the day decided to hold the rally this afternoon.
Some leaders and protesters told New Age that ruling alliance student organisations had proposed that they should decide how long they would continue protesting in this manner as it was inconveniencing people and patients being treated in BSMMU and BIRDEM hospitals, close to the protest venue.
The meeting did not make any final decision on this and the leaders are expected to sit again today to make a decision, a leader said.
Fine arts students distributed to people copies of a speech of Jahanara Imam against the collaborators.
Actor Subarna Mostafa and singer Haider Hossain joined the protests on the day. Mahfuja Akhter, a housewife attending the protests, said that she had finished her daily chores early so that she could be a part of the candlelight vigil.
People of Enayetpur in Sirajganj on the day distributed 4,000 pithas to protesters in the afternoon.
Lawmakers held joined the candlelight vigil by lighting candles on the south plaza of the national assembly complex during the maghrib prayer break. The deputy speaker, Shawkat Ali, led the lawmakers. Political parties held similar programmes in places across the capital Dhaka.
BGMEA officials said that apparel workers across the country had also joined the candlelight vigil.
Cricketers playing the Bangladesh Premier League also lighted candles at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Reports reaching from outside the capital said the candlelight vigil was held with similar fervour in all the places, inlcuding Chittagong, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Kishoreganj, Sylhet, Chandpur, Brahmanbaria, Bandarban, Dinajpur, Moulvibazar, Sunamganj, Comilla, Satkhira, Khulna, Kushtia, Gazipur and Bogra.
Students and teachers of educational institutions such as the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Jahangirnagar University, Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, Khulna University, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology in Gazipur, Dhaka Medical College and Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College in Bogra, observed the programme.
In Chittagong, people lighted candles in front of the Chittagong Press Club, in Sylhet at the Central Shaheed Minar, in Rajshahi in Alupatti Square, in Barisal in the Ashwini Kumar Town Hall and in Rangpur in the Town Hall.
The programme was also observed in Feroz-Jahangir Square in Mymansingh, in the thana crossing in Sherpur, at Rangmahal in Kishoreganj. People of Chandpur, Brahmanbaria, Bandarban, Dinajpur, Moulvibazar and Sunamganj held programmes near shaheed minars.
Expatriate Bangladeshis also held candlelight vigil expressing solidarity with the Shahbagh protests.

Courtesy of New Age

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More women join Shahbagh protests

Admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:46:54 +0000

Jahanara Imam’s portrait set up
Thousands of women from all walks of life joined the Shahbagh protests, spearheaded by the youths, passing the ninth consecutive day Wednesday, expressing solidarity with the demand for death penalty for war criminals. Protesters instituted a giant portrait of Jahanara Imam, who led people’s court trying war criminals in 1992, about 7:00pm amid a minute’s silence.
Women stood shoulder to shoulder with men in the Shahbagh crossing and also demanded a ban on Jamaat’s politics.
Protesters requested the countrymen to light candles at 7:00pm today to push for death penalty for Jamaat-e-Islami’s assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla and all other war criminals.
In the evening, women of rights organisation along with others swarmed the place between Aziz Super Market and Children’s Park in one direction and between the fine arts faculty of Dhaka University and the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the other holding banners and festoons.
Dhaka University mass communication and journalism teacher Kaberi Gayen said that Jamaat is a political party ‘which does not believe in women’s empowerment and a critic of women
leadership’ and this inspired women to protest against Jamaat.
She said that a significant number of women had joined the protests as women were the worst victims of atrocities by the Pakistani military and their collaborators.
Left politician Mushrefa Mishu said, ‘These women are also fighting for their rights. Jamaat tortured lakhs of women during the war.’
People in Dhaka, meanwhile, welcomed Pahela Phalgun, first day of the Bangla month of spring, singing protest songs and reciting such poems.
Many protesters in traditional outfit joined the protests, shouting slogans such as ‘Razakarer kalo dag ei basante muchhe jak (Let the blemishes left by collaborators be wiped out this spring).’
The occasion every year is usually marked by festivity and welcome songs.
At dawn, protesters welcomed the spring singing the national anthem. Young girls in yellow saris, with hairs bedecked with marigold and young boys in colourful punjabis flocked to the protest venue and shouted slogans against collaborators.
Many also joined the protests in black dresses. Many participants in the Jatiya Basanta Utsab Udjapan Parishad programme at the fine arts faculty and in others places sported black badges, witnesses said.
Schoolchildren and college students joined the rally in their thousands in the morning.
Demonstrators in the afternoon held a soiree of protest songs at the place. Members of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, Udichi Shilpi Goshthi, Sangiskritik Union and others raised their voice expressing solidarity with the protests.
The National Poetry Council held a session of recitation at the fine arts faculty.
A group of protesters set up a big banner sporting caricatures of war criminals on the fine arts faculty building wall.
Protesters carrying the national flag, banners and festoons marched in small groups, screened films on the independence war, painted road stretches, staged street plays and sang patriotic songs.
Many people stood in queues to sign a long piece of white cloth extending their support to the protests.
Students and teachers of educational institutions such as the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Jahangirnagar University, Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, Khulna University, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology in Gazipur, Dhaka Medical College and Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College in Bogra, held similar programme.
In Chittagong, people held programmes in front of Chittagong Press Club, in Sylhet, at the Central Shaheed Minar, in Rajshahi, in Alupatti Square, in Barisal in the Ashwini Kumar Town Hall, in Rangpur, in the Town Hall.
The programme was also observed in Feroz-Jahangir Square in Mymansingh, in the thana crossing in Sherpur, at Rangmahal in Kishoreganj. People of Chandpur, Brahmanbaria, Bandarban, Dinajpur, Moulvibazar and Sunamganj held programme near shaheed minars.

Courtesy of New Age

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Country stands in silence for 3 minutes

Admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:49:54 +0000

People from all walks of life indoors, at work and on the streets across the country stood in a silence for three minutes as the clock struck four on Tuesday afternoon joining the Shahbagh protests demanding death penalty for all war criminals. People wherever they were observed silence for the three minutes at the call of protesters at Shahbagh. The protesters also brought out a procession holding torches to push for the demand.
Ministers, secretaries, lawmakers, government and non-government officials, and ordinary people from one end to the other of the country came out on the streets passing by their respective workplaces to express solidarity with the Shahbagh protest demand.
Witnesses said that everything had come to a standstill, with even all transports stopping short on the road or the three minutes. People lined up along road stretches and stopped their day’s business for the duration.
The call for the silence even inspired some patients in BIRDEM and BSMMU hospitals to get on their feet in silence in corridors and on balconies. Some who could not stand up because of illness did so with the help nurses and attendants.
The protests at Shahbagh, spearheaded by the youths, passed the eight consecutive day on Tuesday.
The deputy speaker, Swakat Ali, the foreign minister, Dipu Moni, the education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, the information minister, Hasanul Haque Inu, the Communist Party of Bangladesh president, Mujahidul Islam Selim, along with ranking leaders of student organisations observed the silence in the Shahbagh crossing.
Protesters in their thousands raised their hand on a countdown and kept silent for the three minutes. They broke the silence shouting ‘Jay Bangla, Jay Bangla.’
Protesters then filled the air at Shahbagh with slogans such as ‘Phansi, phansi, phansi chai, Quader Mollar phansi chai’ (hang Quader Molla), ‘Ka te Quader Molla, tui razakar, (Ka for Quader Molla, you are a collaborator)’ ‘Ga te Ghulam Azam, tui razakar’ (Ga for Ghulam Azam, you are a collaborator).’
Slogans such as ‘Janaganer dabi, Quader Mollar phansi (People want death penalty for Quader Molla), ‘Jamaat-e-Islami made in Pakistan,’ ‘Tomar amar thikana, Padma, Meghna, Jamuna’, (Our address is Padma, Meghna and Jamuna), ‘Tumi ke, ami ke, Bangali, Bangali’ were also shouted by the protesters.
In the evening, students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology brought out a huge torch procession.
More than 50 lawmakers from the ruling Awami League-led alliance observed silence on the south plaza of the national assembly complex.
Leaders and activists of the Awami League-led alliance, observed the silence at the Central Shaheed Minaar, expressing solidarity with the protests.
The Communist Party and the Socialist Party of Bangladesh stood in silence in front of the National Press Club. Parbatya Chhatragram Jana Sanghati Samiti expressed their solidarity with protesters keeping silent in front of Ramna Park.
Apparel workers across the country also observed the silence, BGMEA officials said.
Cricketers playing the Bangladesh Premier League also observed the silence at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Reports reaching from outside the capital said the silence was observed with similar fervour in all the places, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Kishoreganj, Sylhet, Chandpur, Brahmanbaria, Bandarban, Dinajpur, Moulvibazar, Sunamganj, Comilla, Satkhira, Khulna, Kushtia, Gazipur and Bogra.
Students and teachers of colleges and universities such as the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Jahangirnagar University, Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, Khulna University, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology in Gazipur, Dhaka Medical College and Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College in Bogra, observed the programme.
In Chittagong, people observed the silence in front of Chittagong Press Club, in Sylhet, at the Central Shaheed Minar, in Rajshahi, in Alupatti Square, in Barisal in the Ashwini Kumar Town Hall, in Rangpur, in the Town Hall.
The programme was also observed in Feroz-Jahangir Square in Mymansingh, in the thana crossing in Sherpur, at Rangmahal in Kishoreganj. People of Chandpur, Brahmanbaria, Bandarban, Dinajpur, Moulvibazar and Sunamganj held silence near shaheed minars.
Expatriate Bangladeshis went on demonstrations February 9 near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in the United States, expressing solidarity with the Shahbagh protests.

Courtesy of New Age

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BNP asks Shahbagh protesters not to be used as ‘pawns’

Admin — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:24:16 +0000

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has expressed hope that the youth movement at Shahbagh Square would encompass the issues of ‘democracy’ and ‘corruption’ apart from their demand for death sentence to all war criminals. The BNP high command in a meeting with party chairperson Khaleda Zia in the chair at her Gulshan office on Monday night took stock of the situation arising from the Shahbagh Square uprising and discussed how the party should respond to it, a standing committee member told New Age.
The meeting that began at about 9:15pm lasted over three hours.
The meeting appreciated the initiative of the new generation but observed that they should raise voice also for ‘democracy’ and ‘against corruption’.
It also advised the organisers of the Shahbagh Square movement to be ‘careful’ so that a ‘certain political party’ could not cash in on their protests.
The meeting said that ‘partisan slogans’ were being raised at the Shahbagh rally and observed that the organisers of the movement should not be used as ‘pawns’ by that party.
The meeting also discussed Khaleda Zia’s planned public meeting at Rajbari on February 27.
BNP standing committee members, vice-chairmen, BNP chairperson’s advisers and other mid-level leaders attended the meeting.
Earlier on the day, BNP in a statement alleged that the government was conspiring to use the Shahbagh movement for holding the next general elections under a ‘partisan government’.
The BNP in a press statement said it was observing with concern that ‘certain quarters’ were making efforts to ‘politicise’ the demands of the youth at Shahbagh Square.
The party alleged that the ruling Awami League was hatching ‘plots’ by using state machinery to turn the strong emotions of the youth in favour of a ‘one-party’ regime.
It was BNP’s first press statement since the Shahbagh Square uprising erupted on February 5 after an International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla to life term imprisonment.
The statement signed by BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said that young people had been rallying at Shahbagh Square for the past few days demanding ‘trial’ of the accused of crimes against humanity.
The demands voiced by the youth ‘might be logical’, the statement read, adding that the BNP had been making ‘positive’ statements on the youth’s ‘emotion’.
But people have already become ‘conscious’ of the movement being misguided under a ‘plot’ of the government, the BNP claimed.
It alleged that intellectuals and organisations biased towards the AL and its associate organisations were burning copies of the daily Amar Desh, Naya Diganta and Sangram at Shahbagh and issuing threats of closing down the newspapers.
Besides, threats were issued to Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman and intellectual Pias Karim, it said, adding that the incidents clearly echoed the rise of ‘one-party fascism’ in 1975.
The BNP thinks if the youths incorporate in their charter of demands issues like the government’s ‘silence’ on killings of Bangladeshi citizens, including Felani in border areas, holding trial of ‘anti-independence elements’ inside the AL and the cabinet, the Padma Bridge and capital market scams, and the Sonali Bank-Hallmark and Destiny scandals, their demands and movement will become ‘more acceptable’ and ‘meaningful’ and get a more ‘broad-based’ shape, the statement read.
The main opposition said if the issue of enforced disappearance of people, including BNP leader Ilias Ali, were incorporated in their demands, the Shahbagh movement would get a ‘national character’ irrespective of party and opinion.
It maintained that if the demand for restoring the provision for a non-party neutral caretaker government in the constitution was on the list of the youths’ demands, it would lend more meaning to the movement.
It said excepting the ruling party, people across the country irrespective of party, opinion, profession, and class raised their voice demanding reinstatement of the caretaker government system.
It said the youth should be alert so that they do not become a ‘pawn’ of those who had once established an ‘extreme form of fascism’ by killing 40,000 progressive political activists and freedom fighters, including Siraj Sikder.
The BNP alleged that a group of terrorists led by the AL-backed Bangladesh Chhatra League general secretary attacked Lucky Akhter at Shahbagh after an Awami League leader had been barred from mounting the stage and dubbed the incident as one of the ‘neo-BAKSAL attacks’.

Courtesy of New Age

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