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The coordinator believes people in Bangladesh should stage the highest degree of protest against this act
Published : 16 Aug 2024, 03:57 PM
The Anti-discrimination Student Movement will expel any of its coordinators or deputy coordinators if they were involved in the untoward incident that erupted at the Bangabandhu Museum when some people came to pay their tribute to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, says Sarjis Alam, one of its coordinators.
“Some elderly people were forced to squat holding their ears, while some were stripped off. Many people’s phones were checked and women were beaten. Some journalists were attacked on Thursday,” he said at a briefing on Friday.
“Some student participation was there [in those acts] but we aren’t sure about the ideology they nurtured. We can’t define them. However, we’re trying to find out if any of our coordinators or deputy coordinators were involved in it. We’ll expel them immediately from our committee even if a single coordinator or deputy coordinator is found involved.”
Within four years of winning independence from Pakistan, Bangabandhu, along with most of his family members, was assassinated by a group of rogue army officers on Aug 15, 1975.
The self-confessed killers did not even spare 10-year-old Sheikh Russel on one of the darkest nights in Bangladesh's history. Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana survived at that time as the two were abroad.
In commemoration of Aug 15 trangedy, hundreds gathered to honour the memory by lighting candles at the Shaheed Bedi in front of Bangabandhu Bhaban on Wednesday night.
National award-winning actress Prachi participated in a demonstration near Bangabandhu's residence, calling for justice for all victims of violence earlier.
Soon after, a group of young men arrived with sticks and attacked some attendees, including Prachi. The attackers were seen forcibly removing Prachi from the scene.
Anyone attempting to bring flowers to lay in front of the portrait of the nation’s founding father or identifying themselves as part of the Awami League was removed from the area. Several people were allegedly beaten.
Meanwhile, members of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement ‘detained’ 30 of those coming to pay respect to the independence architect in a college. Later, the army and BGB rescued them.
“During the rule of Awami League Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was lauded with every adjective starting from being called Bangabandhu. Also, the historical accounts were often written with hyperbolic details. But Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Ziaur Rahman to Tajuddin Ahmad, none of them got the honour they deserved,” said Sarjis.
“When discussing Bangladesh, everyone should be given the honour they deserve according to their contributions. But if you think about implementing political vengeance even after a mass uprising, we don’t support that.”
“We believe that people in Bangladesh should stage the highest degree of protest [against this act]. People are ready to boycott those responsible. Even if one of us does this, they should be boycotted. There’s no issue,” the student movement coordinator said.
On Thursday, Sarjis warned that the Awami League will ‘be exterminated’ if they try to opt for a counter-revolution against the students and public.
To prevent a counter-revolution, the student movement platform organised peaceful sit-in programmes in Dhaka and elsewhere on that day. Sarjis and some other coordinators were present at Shahbagh.
"If a counter-revolution occurs now, it will be a conspiracy against the people, and we cannot allow that to happen. However, some law enforcers approached us expressing concerns that holding our programme here would exacerbate the public suffering. So, we decided to relocate to the area near the National Museum," Sarjis explained.
