Leftists back Saturday strike

All the leftist parties, including the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Workers Party, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB) have lent their support to the 24-hour nationwide shutdown beginning at 6pm on Friday.

Twenty-five organisations, including the Sector Commanders Forum and Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, on Wednesday called the shutdown to resist Hifazat-e-Islam’s long march towards Dhaka and press for a ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami.

The CPB and SPB expressed solidarity with the shutdown through a joint media statement released on Thursday noon.

Hifazat-e Islam, a Jamaat-e-Islami-backed radical group based in Chittagong, had announced the long march for Apr 6 demanding justice against ‘atheists and blasphemous bloggers’.

In the statement, CPB President Mujahidul Islam Selim, General Secretary Syed Abu Zafar Ahmed and SPB General Secretary Khalequzzaman urged the people to intensify their movement for speeding up the ongoing war crimes trials and a ban on Jamaat and its student affiliate Islami Chhatra Shibir.

They also made a call to the Awami League-led government to move away from the ‘slippery path of compromise’.

They said the decision to reach a compromise with Jamaat, Shibir and communalism would be suicidal for the country.

The statement also urged the people to make the shutdown a success.

Ten leftist parties, including Workers Party and Ganatantri Party, lent their support to the programme on Thursday morning.