BNP, Jamaat called shutdown together: Hanif

Dhaka, Dec 4 (bdnews24.com)—Ruling Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif said that Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP had jointly enforced Tuesday’s countrywide dawn-to-dusk shutdown to thwart the war crimes trials.

“The shutdown Jamaat-e-Islami called today was not just Jamaat-e-Islami’s alone,” he said.

“This hartal was enforced directly by one party and indirectly by another through issuing press release, this has become clear to the people of the country.”

Hanif was speaking at the discussion organised to mark the 73rd birth anniversary of Awami Juba League founding Chairman Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni at the party’s Bangabandhu Avenue office.

He called BNP’s ‘moral support’ to the shutdown ‘dual policy’ and said, “I ask you to leave the side of the war criminals and try your best to help their trials if you are supporters of the War of Independence.”

Apart from Hanif, State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam was also present at the discussion along with others.

Jamaat called the lockdown on Monday to mount pressure on the government to release its top brass currently standing trial on war crime charges. Its key ally, the BNP, also extended support to the hartal call.

Leaders and activists of Awami League and affiliated organisations from different parts of the capital had started gathering in front of the party central office at Bangabandhu Avenue since the morning amid the shutdown.

Source: Bd news24