Freedom fighter assaulted by Jamaat men files GD
The freedom fighter who was assaulted Friday by Shibir cadres for demanding the trial of Jamaat leaders responsible for war crimes during the liberation war filed a general diary (GD) yesterday.
Sheikh Mohammad Ali Aman, the war veteran, filed the GD with Ramna Police Station on charges of beating and keeping him confined.
Police registered the GD as a case following investigation.
Meantime, the Sector Commanders' Forum (SCF) threatened to go for nationwide protests if the government balks at bringing the Jamaat and Shibir men responsible for the attack on Ali Aman to trial.
"If the government does not take immediate steps to identify and try the people responsible, we'll go for movement along with all other patriotic people," SCF President Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khandker said at a press briefing in Dhanmondi yesterday.
"The war criminals were involved in killing hundreds of thousands of people during our liberation war; now they're assembling using the banner Jatiya Muktijoddha Parishad," he said.
"If the government does not act to probe into the incident and punish the offenders accordingly, we'll know for sure that the administration is biased towards the Jamaat," he said.
SCF chief coordinator Lt Gen (retd) Harun-ar-Rashid said the government has got to try the attackers, adding that humiliating a freedom fighter amounts to disgracing the whole nation.
The freedom fighters will stage nationwide protests if the offenders are not arrested and given exemplary punishment, he said.
Freedom fighter Aman, who was present at the press conference, said, "I went to the Jatiya Muktijoddha Parishad meeting in the hope of meeting other freedom fighters, not knowing that it was actually a Jamaat-backed front."
He said he and a few other freedom fighters left the venue soon after the organisers showed their true colours by demanding the trial of sector commanders.
"Some people began kicking me as I demanded trial of war criminals in an interview outside the meeting venue," he said, adding that the attackers had kept him confined in a room for about three hours.
CONDEMNATION CONTINUES
Different socio-political organisations and 401 teachers of Dhaka University (DU) yesterday strongly condemned the assault on the veteran freedom fighter by Jamaat-Shibir activists.
They demanded exemplary punishment of the identified attackers and activists of Jamaat-Shibir.
Awami League (AL) yesterday demanded punishment of the attackers. It will organise a protest rally at 4:00pm tomorrow at the party's Bangabandhu Avenue office.
"The defeated force of the 1971 Liberation War is so clever that they have formed a platform in the name of freedom fighters. How dare they manhandle an elderly freedom fighter for his statement against war criminals. The government must punish the miscreants," AL acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said.
A total of 401 teachers of different departments and institutes of DU said the Jamaat-Shibir cadres' attack on the freedom fighter and journalists at a so-called freedom fighters' meeting wounded the whole nation.
In a statement, they said, "Such barbaric attack on freedom fighters is nothing new and this dark force directly opposed the Liberation War and killed freedom fighters by establishing Al-Badr, Al-Shams and Razakars."
"We demand exemplary punishment of the Jamaat-Shibir cadres responsible," the statement added.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad also strongly condemned the attack on a freedom fighter. They said it proves that the anti-liberation war forces are still active.
They said, "They [anti-liberation war forces] are doing such things frequently but the administration remains indifferent."
They demanded the government starts the trial process of war criminals immediately and urged political parties to refrain from giving nomination to identified members of the anti-liberation war forces.
A total of 151 leaders of Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote said it is the duty of the state to try the people who assault the golden sons of the soil.
They demanded arrest and exemplary punishment of the attackers and Jamaat-Shibir be banned.
Dhaka City AL, Mahila Muktijoddha Sangsad, Gono-Sangskriti Front and JSD Chhatra League also condemned the incident.
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