War crimes trial campaigners yesterday reiterated their demand that the government ban Jamaat-e-Islami for its anti-liberation role during the Liberation War.
Speaking at a discussion in the city's Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, they said parliament has to be free from “razakars” and the government must make sure that minority community people can cast their votes in the next national election without fear.
Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, a platform campaigning for the trial of war criminals, organised the programme, marking its 26th founding anniversary.
Reading out a keynote paper, committee President Shahriar Kabir said they have been campaigning for a razakar-free parliament since 1996. The committee usually conducts campaigns ahead of the national elections at 50 parliamentary constituencies where a large number of religious minority people are voters, he added.
He said the communal forces have changed their strategy to inflict torture on the minority community people.
“In the past, they used to lead from the front. Now they engage civilian people to attack minority community members in the name of religion.”
Journalist Shaheen Reza Noor called upon the government to attach special importance to ensure Jamaat's trial as an organisation.
Eminent historian Prof Muntassir Mamoon said the Nirmul Committee's movement played a key role in ensuring trial of war criminals.
He urged the government to engage citizens, who uphold the spirit of the Liberation War, in the process of ensuring trial of anti-liberation forces like the Jamaat.
Shafiqur Rahman, president of Jatiya Press Club, called upon the journalist community to come under one umbrella and uphold the spirit of the Liberation War through their writings.
Speaking about the Rohingya crisis, security expert Maj Gen Abdur Rashid (retd) said Myanmar has to solve the crisis for its own interest. For Bangladesh, it would be easier to work bilaterally on the issue, he observed.
Addressing the programme as chief guest, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said the government was committed to ensure the trial of war criminals.
He called upon the people to keep faith in the Awami League, saying that the government already ensured convictions of some war criminals and would continue trying the perpetrators of war crimes.
Former Supreme Court judge Justice Shamsul Huda also spoke at the programme.
