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Bangladesh: A people’s movement at Shahbagh square

17 February 2013

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Xtra - New Age - February 15, 2013

A people’s movement

AKM Atikuzzaman and Iqbal Mahmud write about the Shahbagh protests

People across the ages kept pouring into the Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka
for the ninth straight day on February 13. Demanding death penalty to the perpetrators of crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation war, the Shahbagh rally has become home to the protestors, with the number increasing over the past week.

Before this, scores of thousands of people joined a grand rally on February 8 at Shahbagh and vowed not to leave the streets until all war criminals were sentenced to death.

The protests was first called by a group of online activists and soon joined by the public out of sheer anger and frustration to the second verdict of the international crimes tribunal that sentenced Abdul Quader Molla life imprisonment instead of the death sentence for his widespread war crimes in Dhaka and its outskirts, during the war.

Subjected to widespread and manifold controversies earlier with the trial process, most of the people were seemingly least bothered, even on the morning of February 5, the day of the latest verdict, with the trial.

As the Bloggers and Online Activist Network (BOAN) threw a protest rally at Shahbagh that very afternoon after the verdict, a cross section of people spontaneously joined them, increasing in number as the night approached. They decided to stay and block the busy intersection until Quader Molla, who is assistant general secretary of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, is awarded the highest punishment of the land.

With the break of the dawn, the rally started taking an unprecedented and unparallel turn making it a ground of peaceful protests demanding capital punishment to Quader and others alleged to be war criminals. The rally also protested, though in a low profile, the alleged negotiation of the government, or Awami League (AL), the major party in the government, with Jamaat for their political goals.

The generation, youth to be precise, which was blamed for their alienation to and inaction in the social, political, economic and cultural causes, took the lead to make the crowd bigger as each day passed. Freedom fighters and their family members joined the protests attended by a cross section of people. Over the past one week, the protests have taken a festive look.

Multifaceted protests

‘Fashir ray 10 taka, Fashir ray nen 10 taka (The verdict of hanging is Tk 10, take the verdict of hanging Tk 10),’ Fazlur Rahman, a mid-aged vendor of head-bands demanding death to war criminals, was shouting this in front of Ruposhi Bangla Hotel, the entrance point of Shahbagh intersection on February 11.

While the statement may baffle most people, Rahman clarifies to Xtra, ‘This is my participation in the protest. It looks wonderful that people are binding their heads with these bands demanding death sentence.’

Like Rahman, other unique protest methods are being applied by people in and out of the capital. People from all the part of the country regardless of class, religion, or profession, are participating in the movement. They are shouting chants like, ‘Jamaat-Shibir rajakar, ei muhurte Bangla char (all the collaborators from Jamaat-Shibir, leave Bangladesh instantly).’

The protests are marked by mostly young men and women shouting slogans, staging sit-in and candle-light vigil, staging dramas, torch processions, singing songs, screening films etc. The fever and fervour had also gripped other major cities and towns across the country while the number of cities, where non-resident Bangladeshis are also holding protests abroad, are on the rise.

Md Akbar Hossain (63), a freedom fighter came all the way from Faridpur to participate in this unprecedented protest. Hossain, who fought at Khulna, Sector-9 in 1971, has been staying at Shahbagh for the last four days. He compares this movement to the 1971 liberation war. ‘I observe the agitation, anger and desperation in the eyes of the youth and I can recall seeing the same in the eyes of young freedom fighters during 1971,’ says Hossain.
Hossain considers, ‘It is a good opportunity for all the political parties to exclude Jamaat-e-Islami from the political scene in Bangladesh. Both parties and alliances used Jamaat as their tool for power. Jamaat used that as their opportunity to exist in the political scenario in Bangladesh. This is a golden opportunity as the people have revived against these mindsets. So there is a possibility of national accord to displace Jamaat from their position and ban them.’

From partisan to public agenda

The most influencing feature of the protests is the participation of the youth in it. Sanjoy Chondo, a BBA student of New Model University College of Dhanmondi, has been continuing protests since February 6. To Chondo, this movement would have a huge impact for reshaping the country’s future. ‘Prior to Shahbagh movement, war crimes trial was merely the government’s political agenda. The Shahbagh movement has transformed this to a public agenda,’ states Chondo.

Bulbul Hasan (25), a student of Dhaka University, considers himself fortunate as he managed to attend the mass gathering at Shahbagh on February 8. ‘I was puzzled by the judgement. What was even more embarrassing for us is the “V†sign shown by Abdul Quader Molla. He is a convicted war criminal and he should admit it. The way Molla has reacted after the verdict has provoked the mass demand to hang all war criminals. I will stay here till the end,’ he says.

Teenagers, school-boys and whole families are also coming to the protests. Some people are taking it as an opportunity to educate their children about the history of Bangladesh.

Bonna Hassan, a bank employee from Uttara, has regularly joined the movement every night along with her family members. ‘We hardly get opportunity to come here during the day. Since we have an emotional attachment with the movement, we try to visit at night,’ she shares with Xtra.

Moreover, Bonna continues, this is a chance to educate children about the history of the liberation war, Bangladesh’s struggles and its prospects. ‘Sometime later in their lives, our children will be proud for being able to be a part of such a movement.’

FULL TEXT HERE: http://tinyurl.com/cth54rt