Govt urged to take steps against war criminals
Ekattorer Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee, also known as Forum for Secular Bangladesh, yesterday urged the government to put on red alert all exit points including the land borders so that war criminals could not flee the country.
It also urged all foreign missions in Dhaka not to issue visas to self-declared and identified war criminals and not to invite them in any programme organised by them.
"We will send a list of identified and self-proclaimed war criminals to all foreign missions and request not to issue visas to them," Kabir Chowdhury, president of the advisory council of the Nirmul Committee, told a press briefing in Dhaka.
"The caretaker government will have to understand that the whole nation is now united in demanding trial of war criminals," Kabir added.
"Caretaker government would have to file cases to try war criminals because they committed crimes against the state, not against any individual," Kabir said.
"The present government has done a number of good deeds, which were not done in the last 36 years. So it is high time to take initiative to try the war criminals," he added.
Justice KM Sobhan, Prof Ajay Roy, Lt Col (retd) Abu Osman Chowdhury, acting president of the committee Shahriar Kabir and Ferdousi Priyabhashini, among others, spoke at the briefing.
They urged the government to form a commission to prepare a list of war criminals and a special tribunal to try them.
Shahriar Kabir urged the government to cancel citizenship of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, who spoke against the liberation war and the constitution. He also asked all to boycott war criminals socially, economically and politically.
He said the Nirmul Committee along with other pro-liberation socio-cultural organisations would jointly demand trial of war criminals next week.
Justice Sobhan said, "Why the government is reluctant to file case against war criminals when there are instances of filing theft or robbery cases by the state?"
"What the Jamaat leaders and their aides are saying about the liberation war should be considered as violation of the constitution," he added.
"Filing a case by an individual would not stand in the court...so the government will have to do this," Ajay Roy said.
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