The Hefajat-e-Islami Bangladesh has called a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in Chittagong for Mar 13, the day Shahbagh’s Ganajagaran Mancha is set to hold two rallies in the port city.
Party’s central Joint Secretary General Maulana Moinuddin Ruhi on Saturday told bdnews24.com, “The strike in Chittagong has been called to resist Shahbagh’s atheist bloggers who show disrespect to Islam.”
The protesters from the capital’s Ganajagaran Mancha are scheduled to hold a rally at the port city’s Laldighi Maidan on Mar 13, followed by another on the Chittagong University premises the same day.
Ruhi said, “The atheist bloggers, including Imran H Sarker, have already been declared unwanted in Chittagong.”
President of the Nejame Islami Party Mufti Ijaharul Islam Chowdhury also told bdnews24.com that his party and some other like-minded parties had already extended their support to the shutdown called for Mar 13.
The protesters of Shahbagh’s Ganajagaran Mancha decided to hold their first-ever programme outside Dhaka on Mar 13 after over a month-long protest in the capital.
The organisers of the youth uprising are drumming up support for their demand to execute all war criminals and ban the Jamaat-e-Islami for its war crimes.
Shahbagh came under spotlight on Feb 5 when a few youths, led by Blogger and Online Activist Network, sat at the intersection protesting what they called ‘lenient sentence’ of life sentence to war crimes convict Abdul Quader Molla, also the Jamaat Assistant Secretary General.
The protest drew support from people of all walks of life spreading across the country, with the ‘Ganajagaran Mancha’ replicated in different districts and divisions.
The demonstrators also held six rallies in different parts of Dhaka with the last one taking place at the Suhrawardi Uddyan on Mar 7.
Imran H Sarker, the Ganajagaran Mancha spokesperson, on Friday announced the new protest programmes after the Nari Jagaran Rally that ended successfully at Shahbagh even after two explosions near the stage.
It was announced that the next rally of the Mancha would be organised on Mar 10 at the intersection at Uttara’s Sector 11, followed by two rallies in Chittagong and another one at Ashulia on Mar 13 and 15, respectively.
All educational institutions across the country are also likely to organise rallies on Mar 16 in support of the Mancha.
Source: bdnews24
