Dhaka, Nov 25 (bdnews24.com) – The state minister for law has called for a popular movement against those who want to hinder the war crimes trial, viewing it as the 'second Liberation War'.
Qamrul Islam made the call at a discussion programme organised by Bangabandhu Shanskritik Jote to mark the seventh death anniversary of the poet Tridiv Dastidar at the Public Library Auditorium on Friday.
"A united mass movement, comprising people from all walks of life, has to be waved against those who are making efforts to thwart the trial, scaring the witnesses and delaying the proceedings."
Qamrul also pointed out that 88 percent people are in the favour of conducting the trial"
The government on Mar 25 last year formed the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) and the investigation agency to conduct the trial of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of 1971.
The trial of five Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Matiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Delwar Hossain Sayedee , Mohammad Kamaruzaman, Abdul Kader Molla and BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdul Alim are being held under ICT.
"BNP and its ally Jamaat leaders are against the tribunal," he added.
He rejected the BNP claim that the government was staging a farce by arresting opposition leaders in the name of war crimes trial. "Victory shall certainly be ours, however powerful our enemies are."
Dastidar, one of the founders of Bangabandhu Shanskritik Jote, died on Nov 25, 1994. He played important roles during the 'Six Point Demand' in 1966, uprising in 1969 and was also a student leader during the liberation war.
Qamrul added that the poet wrote poems to protest the assassination of the nation's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975. "We had failed during the movement after 1975. His poetry used to inspire us."
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