Banshkhali Firing: Chinese govt can’t evade responsibility
Say 81 noted citizens in letter to Chinese envoy
Eighty-one noted citizens yesterday urged the Chinese government to bring to book Chinese companies involved with SS Power I Plant in Chattogram's Banshkhali upazila, where seven workers were killed after police opened fire during demonstrations on April 17.
The citizens' group, consisting of academics, lawyers, university professors, rights activists, politicians, filmmakers, writers, cultural activists, NGO executives and journalists, made the demand through a letter to Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming.
They raised concerns over the killings since the initiation of the project -- once in 2016 when five locals were killed in police firing and the recent one on April 17.
The letter said the coal-fired power plant in Banshkhali is a joint venture where SEPCO-111 Power Construction Corporation and China& HTG Development Group Company Limited are involved with investment from The China Development Bank, Bank of China and China Construction Bank, which amount to 71.71 percent of the total budget.
"The project profiles confirm that the government of China cannot evade its responsibility for the killings and violent incidents that we have been witnessing since the initiation of this energy project," it said.
"We note that the Chinese government has decided to abandon coal-fired plants in China in future. But the same government is doing the opposite in the coastal areas of Bangladesh," the letter read.
It said the demands of the workers who died in police firing on April 17 on the premises of SS Power I Plant were straightforward and not illegal in any sense, and were ensured under Bangladesh's Labour Act, 2006.
The citizens condemned the killings and urged the Chinese government to ensure justice for the workers by bringing those responsible in the Chinese companies to book as per the law of the People's Republic of China.
The letter also shed light on the squalid and unhygienic living conditions of the workers, which put them at risk of contracting Covid-19.
Prof Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University, economist Anu Muhammad, Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, human rights activist Sultana Kamal, Nijera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir, Executive Director of Research Initiatives Bangladesh Meghna Guhathakurta, Prof CR Abrar, DU Associate Professor Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan, Chief Coordinator of Gana Samhati Andolon Zonayed Saki, among others, signed the letter.