Shahbagh movement completes one month

The Shahbagh movement demanding death penalty to all convicted war criminals completed one month on Wednesday as it spread across the country with the spirit of the protesters remaining upbeat.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 6 March 2013, 09:01 AM
Updated : 6 March 2013, 09:17 AM

People from all walks of life, even ministers and lawmakers, have expressed their solidarity with the protesters, who took to the streets in the capital on Feb 5 after the International Crimes Tribunal awarded life sentence to Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla for his crimes against humanity during Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

The demonstrators were protesting against the verdict which they termed as ‘too lenient’. They vowed to hoist the national flag in educational institutions and homes across the country to free the nation from the ‘stigma’ attached to war crimes.

The protest, started by the youngsters and bloggers, has already turned into a mass uprising, spread across the country and eventually among the expatriate Bangladeshis.

The demonstrators at Shahbag, now christened ‘Prajanma Chattar’, are also demanding a ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami, which opposed Bangladesh’s war of independence, for perpetrating crimes against humanity in 1971.

School students, freedom fighters and other professionals held candlelight vigil expressing solidarity with the Shahbagh protests. Even rickshaw pullers from surrounding areas showed their support for the protest as they carried many passengers to Shahbagh during mass rallies.

Thousands of students and youths also came to the streets to put up strong resistance to the shutdowns called by the Jamaat demanding dissolution of the war crimes tribunals.

Amid the heat of Shahbagh protests this month, the government has already made changes to ICT laws providing equal scope for both the prosecution and the defence to appeal against a verdict and also for trying organisations for crimes against humanity.

But the protesters are still on the streets and have renewed their pledge to continue with the movement until the last war criminal is executed.

The protesters are running a signature campaign in a gesture to draw support to their demand of capital punishment of all the war criminals.

The protesters staged flag rallies at capital’s 'Rayerbazar Mass Killing Ground' and five other places in support of their demand.

They will hold a Nari Jagaran Samabesh (Women Resurgence Rally) at the Shahbagh Prajanma Chattar on World Women's Day on Mar 8 to pay homage to those women who were tortured and repressed during the 1971 Liberation War.