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Published : 15 Oct 2014, 07:34 PM
Piash Karim's family denied permission to take his body to Shaheed Minar
“His comments used to embarrass the government. Which is why some organisations from the Awami League-led coalition threatened to stop Piash Karim from being honoured at Shaheed Minar,” said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at a press briefing on Wednesday.
“We believe this was done with help from the highest level of government,” said the BNP joint secretary general.
The BRAC University professor, who came to be known for his controversial commentaries on television talks shows, died of a heart attack on Sunday.
His family announced that his body would be kept at the Shaheed Minar on Wednesday so that mourners can bid him farewell.
But Dhaka University denied permission saying the memorial was already booked amid protests by student organisations outraged by the family’s plan.
A Facebook event was also set up which called for resistance saying – the sacred memorial cannot be made to bear the body of a Pak agent. A group of angry artists was painting the street near the Shaheed Minar on Tuesday in protest against Piash Karim.
The family renewed its plea seeking permission to keep the professor’s body at the memorial on Friday after his funeral was postponed because of relatives who were yet to reach home from abroad.
But the Dhaka University said the family told the media about their plans before the authorities which had already given permission to ‘Muktijoddha Sangsad Santan Command’ to hold programmes there on Thursday and Friday.
Meanwhile, the BNP has announced daylong mourning for Karim on Friday. The party’s press statement says he will be shown ‘last respects’ at Central Shaheed Minar from 10:30am.
Ganajagaran Mancha and several other groups said they will stop the plan to bring the body of an individual - ‘who sided with war criminals’ - to the sacred memorial for language martyrs.
Karim had criticised the mass uprising that started at Dhaka’s Shahbagh after notorious war criminal Abdul Quader Molla was awarded life sentence instead of death in May last year.
His father Advocate MA Karim was one of the influential members of the infamous Peace Committee in Comilla during the 1971 Liberation War.
“The government could never tolerate his existence and still can’t after his death. This is why they are plotting to keep hold of the Shaheed Minar as if it was their paternal property,” Rizvi said.
The BNP leader threatened to launch a ‘fierce movement’ to stop such ‘attitude’ towards late Piash Karim.
