The organisers of the ‘Ganajagaran Mancha’ uprising at Shahbagh intersection remembered the Dark Night of the Mar 25, 1971 with a candlelit procession.
It started from the Central Shaheed Minar and marched down to the mass grave memorial at Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University.
On the 42nd Independence Day, 42 torches were lit at the Shaheed Minar.
The Mancha’s spokesperson Imran H Sarker handed over the first torch to the Liberation War widow Shyamoli Nasrin Chowdhury. She then spread the light to other torches. As the torches were being lit, Udichi Shilpi Goshthhi artists sang, ‘Muktiro Mandira Sopano Tole Koto Pran Holo Bolidan, Lekha Aachhe Oshrujole’ and the famous ‘Aguner Poroshmoni Chhnoao Prane’.
Deputy Commander of the Liberation War AK Khandaker, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Tajul Islam, State Minister for Cultural Affairs Promod Mankin, Bangladesh Workers’ Party President Rashed Khan Menon, Bangladesh Communist Party President Mujahidul Islam Selim, one of the key organisers of the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra Kamal Lohani, General Secretary of Sector Commanders’ Forum Harun Habib, among others, took part in the programme.
Three of the foreigners who had received Friends of Liberation War Honour were present there. They are – Indian General Shankar Roychowdhury, Pakistan’s Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s son Zabed Kazi and Begum Naseem Akhter, member of Pakistan National Awami Party in 1971.
Torches were then put off and a candlelit procession began that dispersed at the Jagannath Hall memorial. They torched the lights at the memorial.
Roychowdhury, Kazi and Naseem Akhter did not take part in the procession for security reasons.
At a rally held at the Shaheed Minar before the torches were lit, CPB chief Selim said the country had achieved its independence 42 years ago. “The anit-independence force, the Jamaat and Shibir, is destroying the memorials of victory and taking them over. We must recover them.”
He said the associates of the Pakistan army had not surrendered and added that the people of Bangladesh have to make them surrender.
Indian General Roychowdhury said he had been astonished by the courage of the youths during the war. Their lungis and undervests were torn. They had to work during training sessions. Despite all pains, when they went to have snacks during breaks, they used to chant ‘Joy Bangla’. “It’s been days since I heard that Joy Bangla. The war was mainly of Joy Bangla.
He urged everyone to rekindle the spirit.
In her speech, delivered in Urdu, Naseem Akhter said she had seen how the Pakistan army indiscriminately killed and tortured Bengalis. “The Pakistan army was devoid of humanity. The Bengalis had won against oppression.”
Zabed Kazi said the way the Pakistanis had attacked was the worst genocide in the world. He demanded observing Mar 25 as the International Genocide Day.
The Shahbagh movement that was triggered by the ‘lenient’ life sentence of Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Molla on Feb 5 for crimes committed during the nation’s Liberation War, has rolled into the 50th day.
Source: Bd news24