Nur Jahan, Chittagong
Top Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah was sentenced to life imprisonment instead of capital punishment for committing crime against humanity during the Liberation War. People have become outraged and demonstrating at Shahbag intersection for the last two weeks demanding capital punishment for him and other war criminals as well. A killer must be punished, whether he kills one person, or many.
We laud the younger generation for becoming vocal on the lenient punishment awarded to Quader Mollah. It is heartening to see people becoming united to protest against the unjust decision. We saw in the language movement of 1952 and in the Liberation War of 1971 how victory was achieved by the united movement of the people.
But people should also protest the pardoning of 22 murderers, who were sentenced to death, by the president. They should demand punishment of those who killed Bishwajit Das; demand death sentence for the rapists; demand arrest of the murderers of Sagar-Runi; demand arrest of the kidnappers who kill for money; and ask the government to rescue people who have disappeared mysteriously in the last couple of years.
The Padma Bridge scam is another issue. The young generation must raise the question of why Syed Abul Hossain has become more important than the bridge that the people have been dreaming of.
Source: The Daily Star
