’71 spirit springs from Shahbagh

The unprecedented uprising led by secular, tech-savvy youths at Dhaka's Shahbagh and ignited by the life sentence for war crimes convict Abdul Quader Molla in February tugged at the patriotic heartstrings seldom seen in Bangladesh.

Many dubbed it the 'Bangla Spring', comparing the demonstration with the ones against the dictators in several Arab countries, but the largely apolitical movement was about rejuvenation of the spirit of 1971.

Anger erupted on the social media on Feb 5 after the Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary was not given a death penalty for his atrocities during Bangladesh's Liberation War.

The flashing of a victory sign by the 'butcher of Mirpur' -- as Molla was known during the War -- had added fuel to the fire.

A number of youths initially gathered at Shahbagh intersection in the city at the call of 'Blogger and Online Activists' Network' on the day.

They formed a human chain in front of the National Museum in the afternoon demanding death penalty for Quader Molla.

After a brief rally there, the demonstrators decided to stay put at Shahbagh until Molla was given the highest punishment.

And the movement was born. Afterwards, the government amended the Act under which the war crimes trials were being conducted. Molla has been punished to death under the amended Act.

The number of protesters had kept growing with each passing minute. A procession from the Dhaka University joined the gathering around evening brandishing torches.

Hundreds of people started thronging the key intersection in small processions. Everyone was angry with the light sentence for the war crimes convict.

As the night fell, the gathering had turned to be of thousands. Slogans were raised, songs sung, poems recited, fims screened to enliven the cultural muscle of Bengali nationalism.

Initially, the organisers had decided to call it a day at 10pm but the participants, imbibed in the spirit of the Liberation War, protested. The sit-in continued overnight.

At sunup, thousands of people from all classes, gender, religion and professions, from a 3-year old to octogenarian freedom fighters, joined the demonstrations.

Cricketers, musicians, performers and many other people with no involvement in politics appeared at Shahbagh protest and expressed their solidarity with the young people.

The spot where the stage for the demonstration was set up was rechristened as the ‘Prajanma Chattar’.

Hundreds of thousands of people had taken part in the platform's movement from the third day.

On Feb 12, in its eighth day, the occupation had become one of the biggest protests in the country's history and the first triggered by social media when protesters in their tens of thousands poured into one of the busiest ntersections.

History was made as the sit-in continued until Feb 21, the International Mother Language Day. On the day, the sit-in was called off through announcement of a six-point charter of demands.

The movement that had initially begun seeking Molla's death penalty now demanded maximum penalty for all convicted war criminals.

The platform's demands struck a chord with millions of other Bangladeshis as the ripples crossed over from its terrain and reached the length and breadth of Bangladesh and even the shores of Europe and America.

Replicas of the Mancha were set up across Bangladesh.

Millions had taken part in the platform's programmes like the torching of the candles of hope and hoisting of the national flag.

Organisers of the movement collected signatures of over 10 million people from across Bangladesh in a campign. The demand - maximum penalty for the convicted war criminals and outlawing of the Jamaat -- accused of committing war crimes as an organisation.

The signatures were sent to Parliament. A separate platform, the Shaheed Rumi Squad, had staged a hunger strike at Shahbagh demanding a Jamaat ban.

Amendment of the tribunal's Act made it possible to probe the party's role during the Liberation War. In several of its verdicts, the two international crimes tribunals had observed how the party had opposed Bangladesh's birth and had acted as a 'criminal organisation' during the war.

Blog activist Ahmed Rajib Haider, one of the organisers of the movement, was hacked to death on the second day of the movement.

Several other demonstrators were killed across the country. The centre of the demonstration, Shahbagh crossway, itself had come under bomb attacks on several occasions.

Chittagong-based Hifazat-e Islam, widely believed to be funded by the Jamaat, had tried in vain to take hold of Shahbagh during its May 5 rally at Dhaka's Motijheel.

The government, following the mass protests, took initiative to amend the International Crimes Tribunal Act. The bill was tabled in Parliament on Feb 13 and passed on Feb 17 by voice votes.

The bill became a law on the following day after the President signed it.

The amended 1973 International Crimes Tribunal Act also armed the government with the right, equal to defendants, to appeal against verdicts by the tribunals for 'crimes against humanity' during the War of Independence.

Section 21 (4) of the amendment said, an appeal must be settled in 60 days of its filing. Section 21 (1) of the law said, a convict may appeal against his sentence.

Sections 21 (1) and 21 (2) said the appeal has to be filed in 30 days after the verdict was delivered.

In the original 1973 ICT law the prosecution was not given the right to appeal against a verdict. The provision was incorporated through amendments in 2009, but only in case of acquittal of an accused.

The Awami League-led alliance made the amendment after assuming power with three-fourths majority in line with one of its major electoral pledges of trying war crimes.

After the Act was amended, the prosecution appealed against the life imprisonment verdict. The Supreme Court's Appellate Division on Sept 17 raised Abdul Quader Molla's life in prison sentence to capital punishment.