SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013
Choice is yours
Khaleda asked to side either with youths or war criminals
SATFF CORRESPONDENT
The Gonojagoron Mancha organisers yesterday reiterated that their agenda was still restricted to their six-point demand as educational institutions across the country held rallies, expressing solidarity with the movement.
On March 8, the protesters urged all educational institutions to hold rallies to demonstrate their commitment to the movement for death penalty to all war criminals and a ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Their other demands include amending the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973, banning all the financial institutions run by Jamaat-Shibir men, bringing to book the political parties and organisations that have sided with the war criminals and arresting those war criminals who had been under trial or delivered sentences before 1975 and bringing them to justice.
At a rally organised at Dhaka University, speakers strongly condemned the recent communal attacks on the Hindus in different parts of the country and urged the government to punish the perpetrators.
Religious leaders of Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist communities addressed the rally. No religion allows its believers to attack people from other religions, they said.
Referring to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s comment about the movement, Imran H Sarker, spokesperson for Gonojagoron Mancha, said, “You (Khaleda Zia) have to decide whether you will support the youths whom you have branded as ‘atheists’ or the war criminals who committed crimes during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.”
Addressing a rally in Munshiganj, Khaleda Zia on Friday called the Gonojagoron Mancha that had been launched at Shahbagh a platform of “atheists and spoilt people”.
If conducting and supporting a movement that wants justice for war crimes means becoming ‘spoilt’, the youths have no problem in being branded as ‘spoilt’, he said.
“The youths you are dubbing as ‘spoilt’ were the ones who stood beside the victims after the communal attacks in Ramu. But you (Khaleda) weren’t there beside them,” Imran said. The protesters have respect for her as a leader of the opposition and the wife of a freedom fighter but her recent comments hurt and disappointed the youths of the country, he added.
Imran in a press release issued yesterday urged Khaleda to withdraw her statement.
Meanwhile, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman told reporters following a press conference, “It is totally unexpected from those who are holding responsible positions that they would try to create communal frenzy in the country, branding people atheists indiscriminately.”
The Shahbagh movement comprised of people from different communities, but there was no ideological conflict between the disparate groups, the Gonojagoron Mancha convener said at the DU rally.
Criticising the latest stance of the main opposition BNP on the movement, Farid Ahmad, president of the Dhaka University teacher’s association, said Khaleda was a newly-turned “Fatwa-baj (imposer of fatwa)”.
Sonia Nishat Amin, professor of the history department, said the movement at Shahbagh turned out to be more sustainable than the student movement in Paris or the recent ‘occupy’ movements around the world.
It was a rare movement in the recent history for that the protesters remained on the streets for 25 days, 24 hours a day.
Hafizur Rahman, from the law department, said both Bangladesh and the Shahbagh movement were imbued with the non-communal spirit.
In the history of Islam, no prophets ever resorted to violence to resolve conflicts; they have always resolved those peacefully, he said.
“Then what should we call those Jamaat-Shibir men who are causing mayhem in the country, justifying it in the name of religion?”
Representatives from different student wings also spoke at the rally.
The youths, who have been demonstrating at other points of the capital and outside it, will hold a grand rally at Shahbagh at 3:00pm on March 22.
Meanwhile, the mass signature campaign that began on February 22 continues and will end on March 22.
On March 8, the protesters urged all educational institutions to hold rallies to demonstrate their commitment to the movement for death penalty to all war criminals and a ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Their other demands include amending the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973, banning all the financial institutions run by Jamaat-Shibir men, bringing to book the political parties and organisations that have sided with the war criminals and arresting those war criminals who had been under trial or delivered sentences before 1975 and bringing them to justice.
At a rally organised at Dhaka University, speakers strongly condemned the recent communal attacks on the Hindus in different parts of the country and urged the government to punish the perpetrators.
Religious leaders of Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist communities addressed the rally. No religion allows its believers to attack people from other religions, they said.
Referring to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s comment about the movement, Imran H Sarker, spokesperson for Gonojagoron Mancha, said, “You (Khaleda Zia) have to decide whether you will support the youths whom you have branded as ‘atheists’ or the war criminals who committed crimes during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.”
Addressing a rally in Munshiganj, Khaleda Zia on Friday called the Gonojagoron Mancha that had been launched at Shahbagh a platform of “atheists and spoilt people”.
If conducting and supporting a movement that wants justice for war crimes means becoming ‘spoilt’, the youths have no problem in being branded as ‘spoilt’, he said.
“The youths you are dubbing as ‘spoilt’ were the ones who stood beside the victims after the communal attacks in Ramu. But you (Khaleda) weren’t there beside them,” Imran said. The protesters have respect for her as a leader of the opposition and the wife of a freedom fighter but her recent comments hurt and disappointed the youths of the country, he added.
Imran in a press release issued yesterday urged Khaleda to withdraw her statement.
Meanwhile, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman told reporters following a press conference, “It is totally unexpected from those who are holding responsible positions that they would try to create communal frenzy in the country, branding people atheists indiscriminately.”
The Shahbagh movement comprised of people from different communities, but there was no ideological conflict between the disparate groups, the Gonojagoron Mancha convener said at the DU rally.
Criticising the latest stance of the main opposition BNP on the movement, Farid Ahmad, president of the Dhaka University teacher’s association, said Khaleda was a newly-turned “Fatwa-baj (imposer of fatwa)”.
Sonia Nishat Amin, professor of the history department, said the movement at Shahbagh turned out to be more sustainable than the student movement in Paris or the recent ‘occupy’ movements around the world.
It was a rare movement in the recent history for that the protesters remained on the streets for 25 days, 24 hours a day.
Hafizur Rahman, from the law department, said both Bangladesh and the Shahbagh movement were imbued with the non-communal spirit.
In the history of Islam, no prophets ever resorted to violence to resolve conflicts; they have always resolved those peacefully, he said.
“Then what should we call those Jamaat-Shibir men who are causing mayhem in the country, justifying it in the name of religion?”
Representatives from different student wings also spoke at the rally.
The youths, who have been demonstrating at other points of the capital and outside it, will hold a grand rally at Shahbagh at 3:00pm on March 22.
Meanwhile, the mass signature campaign that began on February 22 continues and will end on March 22.
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