‘Govt now avoiding Nirmul Committee’

Leaders of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee yesterday said the government has been “avoiding” them lately.

The civic platform -- that rallies for trial of war criminals -- organised a discussion at Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) in the capital yesterday, on the occasion of its 28th founding anniversary.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was expected to be present as chief guest at the event, but he could not attend the programme due to his schedule, which disappointed the committee leaders.

They criticised various activities of the Awami League-led government and indicated that a rift is taking place in the relationship between the government and the committee -- which is known to be pro-Awami League.

“I think people who are in power recently either don’t like the Nirmul Committee or don’t feel comfortable to be with it,” Prof Muntassir Mamoon, a vice-president of the committee, said in his speech.

It happened as the AL is now highly influenced by right-leaning politicians, who have unease over the Nirmul Committee and its President Shahriar Kabir, he observed.

“If the Awami League was in the power without Sheikh Hasina [as the prime minister], the trial of war criminals might not have happened,” said Prof Mamoon, also an eminent historian.

Expressing frustration over the home minster’s absence at the programme, he said, “You may insult, dislike and avoid the Nirmul Committee, but there is no chance that you can neglect it.”

Shahriar Kabir said he felt disheartened that the authorities did not feel comfortable with them nowadays, although the situation was the opposite before.

Vice-President of the organisation Shyamili Nasrin Chowdhury, lawmaker Aroma Dutta, Shirin Akhter and Fazle Hossain Badsha also spoke at the programme.