11th death anniversary of 'Shaheed Janani' Jahanara Imam Sunday.

Advisory: with photo

Dhaka, June 25 (BDNEWS) - The 11th death anniversary of 'Shaheed Janani' Jahanara Imam will be observed Sunday.

Known as iconic Shaheed Janani, martyr's mother, she spearheaded the movement for bringing the collaborators of the 1971 liberation war to justice, and banning communal politics in the country.

Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, Bangladesh Somajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh Chatra Union and Gonomukti and Jatio Sampad Rakha Sommilito Andolon have taken up elaborate programmes to observe the day.

Jahanara Imam (1929-1994) was a writer and political activist in Bangladesh. She insisted that the people responsible for war crimes against the people of Bangladesh in 1971 be tried. In 1992, she helped organise the Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee (committee to exterminate killers and collaborators).

In a controversial symbolic act, Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee set up mock trials known as Gonoadalot (Court of the people) and sentenced war criminals there. Jahanara Imam and 24 other intellectuals were charged with treason. The charges were never dropped.

Jahanara Imam was also a noted writer, and the publication of her diary as a book titled 'Ekatturer Dinguli' (Of Blood and Fire) is considered to be one of the most widely-read publication on the liberation war.

Jahanara Imam, who lost her son in the war of liberation, led a vigorous movement against war criminals in early 1990s. Under her leadership, a mock trial of war criminals was held in a 'people's court' on March 26, 1992.

Jahanara Imam was known as 'Shaheed Janani' (mother of the martyr) as her son Rumi joined the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 and died in the hands of the Pakistan Army. In 1986, Jahanara Imam published her diary as Ekattarer Dinguli (The days of seventy-one) which became a best seller in Bangladesh.

Jahanara Imam died on 26 June 1994 from mouth cancer.

BDNEWS/1741 hrs