‘Ranga must apologise’

Jatiya Party Secretary General Mashiur Rahman Ranga referring to Shaheed Noor Hossain as an “addict” has stirred protests.

Staging a sit-in in front of Jatiya Press Club, Noor Hossain’s family members yesterday demanded that the JP lawmaker apologise for his remarks.

“My son did not even smoke. How could he [Mashiur Rahman Ranga] say this?...My son embraced martyrdom for the country. He took to the streets for the sake of countrymen,” Noor Hossain’s mother Moriam Bibi said.

“He [Ranga] has to apologise. As an elderly woman, even if I have to endure sufferings, I will not move from here otherwise,” she said.

On Sunday, Ranga reportedly said, “Who was Noor Hossain? An addict... a yaba abuser, a Phensedyl abuser.”

“Two democratic parties -- Awami League and BNP -- are elated about him. This day is being observed as Noor Hossain Day,” he said at a discussion arranged by JP north city unit at the party’s Banani office on Sunday.

A video clip of his speech has gone viral on social media.

The country on Sunday observed Shaheed Noor Hossain Day.

On November 10 in 1987, Noor Hossain, a young pro-democracy activist, sacrificed his life to end the autocratic regime of HM Ershad.

Noor Hossain was killed when police opened fire near Zero Point in the city while participating in a pro-democracy procession.

He had the slogan “Swairachar nipat jak, Ganatantra mukti pak” (Down with autocracy, let democracy be freed) inscribed on his chest and back when a bullet pierced through his body.

His death strengthened the movement and expedited the fall of the autocratic ruler.