'Mother' spurs protests on at Shahbagh

The protesters on Wednesday vowed to ‘hang all the war criminals’ after unfurling the portrait of ‘Shaheed Janani’ Jahanara Imam at "Projanmo Chattar" at Shahbagh.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 13 Feb 2013, 02:24 PM
Updated : 13 Feb 2013, 02:45 PM

The portrait of the crusader against war criminals and fundamentalism was set up at the street towards Matsya Bhaban at Shahbagh intersection at 7pm moments before the nonstop agitations entered its 200th hour.

Youths like Shahadat Hossain Niloy’, ‘Shuvro’, ‘Showmik’ in association with some architects of BUET and some 30 volunteers had worked tirelessly for some 72 hours to complete the portrait.

Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu, freedom-fighter and President of the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, urged all the people from the main podium of the mass movement at Shahbagh, christened 'Ganajagaran Mancha', to stand up in silence for a minute in her honour.

The huge gathering at Shahbagh stood up and fell silent for a minute.

As many as 14 lights are shining on the 30-foot-by-15- foot portrait.

In 1992, the country’s civil society began an unprecedented movement under the leadership of Jahanara Imam. Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee (Committee for Resisting Killers and Collaborators of Bangladesh Liberation War) was formed in demand for trial of the war criminals and ban on communal and fundamentalist politics in the country.

Mother of martyred freedom fighter Rumi, Imam passed away on Jun 26, 1994 but her followers are taking the movement forward.

Blogger and Online Activist Network initiated the nonstop protest at Shahbagh intersection hours after the International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Feb 5 sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Qader Molla to life in prison for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life expressed their solidarity with the young men and women by joining a massive rally last Friday. They also took an oath to continue their movement until Molla is awarded death sentence and vowed to fight anti-liberation forces like Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir.

They also pledged to boycott all business and social organisations, including media outlets, of the party.

“We hold the ideals of Jahanara Imam. Today’s uprising is nothing but a result of the movement she had initiated,” Mahmudul Haque Munsi, member of the Blogger and Online Activist Network which started the protest, told bdnews24.com.

Niloy said he first shared the idea to make the portrait on his Facebook account.

“I got huge response from people. We achieved our primary goal (for the purpose) after collecting money from people,” he said.

“We have rented the portrait and with the money we have, we can keep it in that place till Feb 21. But we don’t want to remove it,” he added.

“Jahanara Imam did know that it was impossible to remove religious-based politics from the country without uniting the people against it,” he added.

“We will not achieve the ultimate victory in our movement if we cannot ban religion-based politics,” he added.