Youngsters pay tribute to ‘Shaheed Janani’

Tens of thousands of people demonstrating at "Projanmo Chattar" at Shahbagh for the ninth consecutive day since Feb 5 demanding death penalty for war criminals stood up in silence for a minute on Wednesday to pay their tributes to ‘Shaheed Janani’ Jahanara Imam.

The portrait of Jahanara Imam, an eminent litterateur and the crusader against war criminals and fundamentalism, was set up at the street towards Matsya Bhaban, at Shahbagh intersection at 7pm.

Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu, freedom-fighter and President of the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, urged all the people from the main podium of the mass movement at Shahbagh, christened 'Ganajagaran Mancha', to stand up in silence for a minute in her honour.

The huge gathering at Shahbagh fell silent for a minute as the protesters stood up in response.

In 1992, the country’s civil society began an unprecedented movement under the leadership of Jahanara Imam. Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee (Committee for Resisting Killers and Collaborators of Bangladesh Liberation War) was formed in demand for trial of the war criminals and ban on communal and fundamentalist politics in the country.

Mother of martyred freedom fighter Rumi, Imam passed away on Jun 26, 1994 but her followers continue the movement.

Blogger and Online Activist Network initiated the nonstop protest at Shahbagh intersection hours after the International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Feb 5 sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami leader Molla to life in prison for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life expressed their solidarity with the young men and women by joining a massive rally last Friday. They also took an oath to continue their movement until Molla is awarded death sentence and vowed to fight anti-liberation forces like Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir.

They also pledged to boycott all business and social organisations, including media outlets, of the party.

The movement has already spread across the country and even to the Bangladesh diaspora abroad.

Meanwhile, the 'International Crimes (Tribunals) (Amendment) Bill, 2013, was placed in Parliament on Wednesday with a provision of allowing the prosecution and defence to appeal against inadequate sentences and orders of acquittal against 1971 war criminals to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.