<i>Gain, loss in 17 days</i>

People sing the national anthem at Shahbagh in the capital yesterday ahead of the grand rally demanding death penalty for all war criminals. Photo: Rashed Shumon

The unprecedented Shahbagh movement calling for death penalty for war criminals has made significant progress but lost its two comrades along the way.
A recent amendment to the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, allows the government to file appeals against inadequate punishment and also empowers the tribunals to put political parties on trial for links to crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
It is indeed an achievement for the protesters in their journey together for the last 17 days non-stop.
Enraged by a life sentence passed on Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah for war crimes, a handful of activists under the banner of Bloggers and Online Activists Network initiated the protest at Shahbagh on February 5. As the days went by, people from all walks of life and ages poured in, expressing solidarity.
The manifestation of strength and unity was such that the protest within this time proved wrong the idea that the war crimes trial was only an agenda of the ruling Awami League.
Probably the biggest non-partisan movement in the nearest past, it succeeded in uniting the nation against the Jamaat-e-Islami, a key ally in the BNP-led 18-party opposition, and also in making people aware of its misdeeds during and after the Liberation War.
But nothing happened without any cost.
Ahmed Rajib Haidar, a blogger and activist of Shahbagh movement, was found stabbed dead on February 15 while Tariqul Islam Shanto, a cartoonist and staunch supporter of the demonstration, died of cardiac arrest on February 18.
On February 10, the protesters submitted to the Speaker a six-point demand, including death penalty for all war criminals and an amendment to the 1973 act, allowing appeals from the government, informants and complainants against any verdict of the war crimes tribunals and making mandatory disposal of appeals from both the defence and the prosecution within three months of their filing.
In the quickest move, the government decided to amend the act and the cabinet approved the amendment on February 11.
While passing the amendment on February 17, the House also incorporated a provision to empower the war crimes tribunals to hold trial of any organisation for involvement in war crimes.
On Tuesday, State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam said the government would lodge an appeal next week against the life sentence of Quader Mollah with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
The protesters at yesterday's grand rally at Shahbagh vowed to continue their movement and announced a series of programmes to pressure the government to fulfill their other demands.