Ganajagaran Mancha erupted in cheers after the top court upheld death sentence for Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for 1971 war crimes.
Published : 06 Jan 2016, 02:45 PM
Activists of the platform took out a procession from the Shahbagh intersection after the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict.
The movement, which came into being in 2013 after war criminal Quader Molla got life from the tribunal, said Wednesday’s ruling was a slap in the face to those who had made Nizami a minister.
The Jamaat Ameer served as the agriculture minister until 2003 and thereafter as industries minister until 2006 during the BNP-led coalition government.
“This verdict is a befitting reply to those politicians who had given these Razakars (collaborators) the opportunity to flaunt the national flag on their car,” Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarkar told a rally after the verdict.
In its 2014 verdict on Nizami’s trial, the war crimes tribunal had made a similar observation.
“We are led to observe that the appointment of the accused as a Minister, by the then government, who happened to be an anti-liberation leader, was a great blunder as well as a clear slap on the face of the Liberation War as well as three million martyrs and two lakh women who sacrificed their chastity for the Liberation of Bangladesh,” it had said then.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld death for Nizami, who planned the killings of Bangladesh’s intellectual through his vigilante militia Al-Badr.
“The apex court’s verdict brought relief to the people. We demand quick implementation of the verdict,” said Sarkar.
Referring to Islamabad asking Dhaka to withdraw a diplomat, he said: “Today’s verdict is an appropriate response to that.”
The Mancha spokesperson urged the government to close down the Pakistani mission in Dhaka.
“And we want to remind Pakistan that we did not comprise on the issue of self-esteem in 1971 and we will not do it in 2016 as well.”