The sentencing of Abdul Quader Molla to life in prison is the result of an understanding between the government and Jamaat-e-Islami, Krishak Sramik Janata League president Abdul Kader Siddiqui said on Saturday.
He made the comment at the inauguration of the party’s council on Saturday.
The biennial council of the Krishak Sramik Janata League is being held at the auditorium of the Engineering Institution in the capital.
Siddiqui said, “The government has compromised with Jamaat so it can be re-elected.”
The verdict awarded to Molla on last week’s Tuesday has been rejected by people across the nation. There has been a continuous sit-in protest at the capital’s Shahbagh area ever since the day of the verdict. On Friday, hundreds of thousands of protesters rallied in Shahbagh and demanded executions for Molla and other war crimes suspects.
He blamed both Awami League and BNP for the harassment of political leaders in the hands of the protesters at Shahbagh.
“These two parties are responsible for destroying politics”, he said.
He said BNP harboured ‘war criminals’ for having Jamaat-e-Islami in the opposition 18-Party Alliance and claimed Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir is also a ‘war criminal’.
“How did Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir remain an Additional District Commissioner (ADC) during the time of the liberation war?”
“I can prove that he was a Razakar,” he said.
Wartime hero Siddiqui has been hosting a talk show on Diganta Television, a private television channel allegedly owned by people tied to Jamaat-e-Islami. Demands have been made from the movement in Shahbagh to reject the tv channel.
Founding chairman of ‘Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh’ AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury speaking at the council welcomed the youth protesting at Shahbagh.
“The youths had risen during the liberation war, now they have risen in Shahbagh.”
He addressed politicians claiming that the Shahbagh protest is at the risk of being ‘politicised’ by Awami League.
“Please don’t do it. The youths have gathered here. Let them stage their protest.”
BNP Vice-chairman Abdullah Al Noman also spoke in the conference, but did not mention anything about the mass uprising of Shahbagh.
“The country is at an all-devouring crisis, and the government is creating this,” he claimed.
