A vested quarter is creating anarchy resorting to acts of violence and burning innocent people to death in their bid to save the war criminals, speakers told a discussion yesterday.
Speaking as chief guest, Barrister Amir-ul-Islam, an architect of the country's constitution, blamed the successors of the perpetrators of the 1971 genocide for these killings.
"The miscreants have ganged up and are trying to destabilise Bangladesh in their bid to transform the country into a neo-Pakistan or Afghanistan," he observed.
The discussion was organised by an association of freedom fighters, Muktijoddha Oikya Parishad, at the capital's Jatiya Press Club in the run-up to Victory Day celebrations.
The eminent jurist called for identification and exemplary punishment of the persons responsible for creating crises in the country to save war criminals.
Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique said a vested quarter was frantically trying to create anarchy when the war crimes verdicts were coming one after another.
"The culprits behind the widespread violence should be brought to book and given the capital punishment to restore peace and stability in the country," he said.
In the beginning of the discussion, one minute of silence was observed in honour of South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela who passed away on Thursday.
Muktijoddha Oikya Parishad President Syed Rezaur Rahman chaired the discussion, while Secretary General Shahjahan Kabir (Bir Protik), senior Supreme Court lawyer Shamsul Alam and Mahila Muktijoddha Sangsad leaders Prof Dr Ferdousi Begum and Farida Khanam Saki spoke among others.
They underscored the need for forging greater unity of the pro-liberation forces, particularly of the organisations of the freedom fighters, to defeat once again the defeated forces of 1971.