614 operatives of outlawed parties to surrender today

A total of 614 operatives belonging to different outlawed parties will surrender in Pabna stadium today.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal will conduct the programme, confirmed Advocate Samsul Haque Tuku, lawmaker of Pabna-2 constituency. 

The government wants to ensure normal life for all its citizens so they can take part in the ongoing development works of the country, said Tuku, also the president of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Home Affairs. 

“Forest robbers in the Sundarbans and drug peddlers in Cox's Bazar have already responded to the government's initiative and surrendered. Now members of outlawed parties are going to follow them,” he added.

Most of the operatives, to surrender toady, belong to factions of outlawed parties Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-Lal Pataka), New Purbo Banglar Communist Party, Nakshal, Purbo Banglar Sarbahara, and north Bengal-based Kadamati.

The parties were active mostly in Pabna, Natore, Sirajganj, Bogura, Naogaon, Joypurhat, Rangpur, Kushtia, Jashore, Jhenidah, Rajbari, Satkhira, Narail, and Tangail districts.

Speaking with The Daily Star, Bablu Baperi, a key organiser of PBCP (Lal Pataka) and accused in dozens of criminal cases, said, “I never imagined there will come a day when I'll be given the opportunity to return to normal life.” 

Bablu is among Lal Pataka faction's 90 operatives who are expected to surrender today.

Another organiser of the faction Iqbal Hossain, from Harinarayanpur village in Pabna Sadar upazila, said he had been a fugitive for 17 years and living a miserable life hiding in jungles and remote islands in different rivers.

He is eager to end the misery and integrate with the society to live a normal life, he added.