Ganajagaran Mancha starts 'Jagaran Jatra'

Secular movement 'Ganajagaran Mancha' has kicked off its 'Jagaran Jatra' to press for a six-point charter of demands including the scrapping of presidential clemency for war crimes convicts.

Mancha activists took out a procession at Shahbagh on Friday morning before setting out on a journey across Bangladesh.

Four buses packed with movement supporters started for the Rajshahi Division in the north at around 9:30am.

The Mancha emerged as a protest movement against what it described as a 'lenient' life sentence given to war criminal Abdul Quader Molla in February last year. Hundreds of thousands converged at Shahbagh at the heart of Dhaka, demanding the death penalty.

Faced with the popular uprising, dubbed the 'Bangla Spring', the government amended the law under which war crimes suspects were being tried, to provide equal appeal rights to both the prosecution and the defence.

Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarkar said the commuting of war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee's death sentence could not bring relief among the people.

"We launched the Jagaran Jatra in the light of the recent situation," he said.

The movement has demanded a constitutional amendment to deny war criminals presidential pardon in future.

But Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday ruled out any such possibility.

Sarkar said their present programme would proceed in two phases.

The first phase will end in Meherpur. They will hold rallies at Jhenaidah's Paira Chattar, Chuadanga's Shaheed Hossain Chattar and Meherpur's Shaheed Shamsuzzoha Park.

On Saturday, they will start for Dhaka after rallies at Kushtia, Iswardi, Natore, Rajshahi's Putia and Alupatti Morh.

"The Jamaat-Shibir has made the country insecure," Sarkar said.

"We have embarked on this journey to highlight people's safety concerns and give them courage," he added.