Ganajagaran Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarkar has said Hindus will stay in Bangladesh, while leaders and activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir have to quit the country for Pakistan.
He was addressing a street rally at Ramna in Tangail on the way to Thakurgaon in an anti-communal-violence road march on Friday.
Imran said: “Jamaat and Shibir acted against Bangladesh in 1971 and they’re still doing that. Pakistan is still harbouring them. They’re unleashing communal violence with their (Pakistan) support.”
He said Jamaat and Shibir loyalists needed to prepare to leave Bangladesh for their ‘place of shelter’.
“Our message to the oppressed people is that Bangladeshis are with you, and not with Jamaat and Shibir.”
Reiterating the Mancha demand for execution of all war criminals and a ban on Jamaat, Imran said they won’t go back home until their demands were met.
At another street rally at Elenga in Tangail, he said the Jamaat was out to divide the people of the country by using religion.
“They tortured the people in 1971 using the religion as a weapon. But they didn’t succeed that time and they will fail this time too.”
He urged all to resist the ‘anti-liberation’ Jamaat and Shibir activists.
The Mancha started the march for Thakurgaon at 9:30am protesting against the post-poll violence on Hindus in various parts of Bangladesh.
Earlier, it held a similar anti-communal-violence road march to Abhoynagar’s Maloparha in Jessore on Jan 11 and 12.
Before the march to Thakurgaon, Imran had told reporters: “We’ve undertaken this road march for our three demands.”
The demands are enactment of a separate law against communal violence, the setting up of a tribunal for speedy trial of those behind such violence and compensation for the victims, he said.
On its way to Thakurgaon, the Mancha held several rallies at Sirajganj, Pabna and Sherpur. Its first day’s programme will end with the holding of a rally at Satmatha in Bogra.
The Mancha activists will stay the night there. They will hold a rally at Thakurgaon Central Shaheed Minar on Sunday noon before starting for Dhaka.
Ganajagaran Mancha was formed in Shahbagh following a youth-led mass uprising in Feb 2013.
Source: Bd news24
Yes. I have an idea. Let Jamaat/ Shibir go to Pakistan, Hindus and Hindu-lovers including AL and “Kujanma Chakkra” go to India and let the people of Bangladedh live in peace.
True that Jamat/Shibir did not support break up of Pakistan and worked against the movement for creation of Bangladesh. But that was Jamat-E-Islami Pakistan not the Jamat of Bangladesh that has registered itself since as a political party within the framework of interdependent Bangladesh and therefore, like others it has every right to function as a legitimate political party in the country, with a political ideology that may or may not suit others.
A democracy is a platform of multiple ideas and ideologies.where It is up to the voters to decide what to accept and what to reject. Any one that advocates banning of a political party for ideological incongruities is someone who neither believes in nor subscribes to the fundamentals of democracy.
Having said this it is also important to mention that even though Jamat-Islami-Bangladesh does not have a history of disregarding the concept of an independent Bangladesh the very fact that bulk of their current leadership has been part of and actively worked against the independence movement they must apologize to the nation for their wrong-doing and ask for forgiveness and indeed, those who committed actual war time crimes must be brought to justice (as this government has done already though the process might not be right) and duly punished.
Finally, one must remember that democracy is about inclusion.Exclusion because of differences of views have no place in it.
Demand of the so-called Gonojagoron Moncho that Jamat be banned and that Jamatis be banished to Pakistan speaks of state of a mind that is sick .that threatens the unity of the nation.
Very rightly said, ADK. Having said and agreed with that, It’s also to note if a vested quarter in the bogey of Gonojagaran etc is pushing the country into the hegemony of a big neighbor. By creating a smog of anti-Jamaat and anti-Pakistan out of proportion, there seems to be a very clandestine but strong effort to push us into the fold of some other bigger ‘party’. Various newspaper reports about getting finances from our closest neighbor deepens the doubt about that.
ADK’s observations are totally valid in terms of the basic spirit of democracy. The greatest crisis of Bangladesh today is to establish the true democratic principles, defending the sovereignty and bringing back the voting right. Jamat is only a secondary issue. Once the democracy is established, voters of Bangladesh will be able to freely choose to reject Jamat once and for all, if needed.