One year elapsed since the radical Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh had claimed that thousands of its activists were killed in a combined operation of law enforcers to drive them out of the capital, but not a single name of the dead had so far been revealed.
Hefazat men turned up in the heart of the capital’s Motijheel area on May 5 last year to stage a rally in support of their 13-point demand.
Despite repeated entreaties by the law enforcers to leave the commercial hub, the Islamist group vowed to continue their seizure of the capital till their demand was met.
The obduracy of Hefazat activists led the lawmen to use force to drive them out, but the fundamentalists claimed that law enforcers’ action cost thousands of avid supporters their lives.
From that time on, Hefazat was repeatedly asked to provide a list of people killed in the joint forces operation, but it failed to name any.
“We have yet to draw up a complete list of those dead,” Hefazat Secretary General Junaid Babunagri said.
Asked why make no list so far, he said they were continuously subject to police harassment and their activists were always on the run because of false cases filed against them.
“The making of a list is not a fact here. What matters most is thousands of innocent lives were lost and all know about it,” he said. The list would be placed before the media shortly after making, added the leader. Although the Hefazat leader gave an account that their rally in the capital was peaceful, the scenario was entirely different on the fateful day.
According to eyewitnesses, Hefazat activists were locked into clashes with police around 11am in Paltan and Baitul Mukarram Mosque areas, Motijheel, Bangabandhu Avenue and at Dainik Bangla intersection.
After 6pm on the day, the Hefazat men vowed to stay in Motijheel even at night and the lawmen smelt rat in their resolution.
In an emergency meeting, law enforcement officials decided to clear the area considering safety and security of the city’s commercial hub.
The Dhaka Tribune met a Hefazat leader who was at the hotspot right at that time. No one was killed in the lawmen’s drive, he said.
A Lalbagh Madrassa student Mamun Hossain, also a Hefazat activist, said the drive was launched at 2:45am and ended within 10 minutes. He saw police fire tear gas, entering the vicinity from all sides excepting Tikatoli and Bangladesh Bank corridor, which were kept open for Hefazat men to escape.
The entire area was cleared out within just 20 minutes, and he did not see anybody die at that time.
The Dhaka Tribune investigation also found no trace of bodies during the overnight operation by the joint forces.
In the next day of May 6, after the law enforcers drove out Hefazat activists from the capital, the disappointed Islamist forces resorted to vandalism and were locked into clashes with police at Kanchpur and Narayanganj, leaving 20 individuals including three law enforcers killed.
Source: UNBConnect
I think it will take some years to know what happened. but for sure there was a massacre thats being covered up.
http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/who-massacre-investigated-bangladesh-2013-massacre/