Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-ameer ATM Azharul Islam said on Tuesday that the history of extrajudicial killings and “crossfire” in independent Bangladesh began with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He said such killings started with the death of the leftist leader Siraj Sikder, and that Sheikh Mujib himself had boasted about it in parliament.
He was speaking as a special guest at a discussion and prayer meeting at Kakrail in the capital on Tuesday afternoon (27 October). Jamaat organised the event to remember those killed in the Paltan clashes of 28 October 2006.
“The Awami League talks of democracy, but its whole history is one of killing, terror and repression,” Azharul Islam said. “After independence, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman came to power, killed democracy and set up the one-party BAKSAL, and shut down every newspaper in the country except four. He also started the culture of crossfire in independent Bangladesh. After Siraj Sikder was killed, it was said with arrogance in parliament: ‘Where is Siraj Sikder now?’ The bloody history of extrajudicial killing and crossfire began in this country through the Awami League.”
Recalling 28 October 2006, he said: “That day Awami terrorists were not content with beating people to death with poles and oars as if they were snakes; they danced on the bodies. Such barbaric acts are rare in world history. The Awami League is not really a political party; it is a terrorist, bloodthirsty organisation.”
He said that under the previous “fascist” government, Jamaat’s top leaders were killed through judicial process, hundreds of activists were subjected to enforced disappearance and murder, and the party was banned and stripped of its registration. Despite all that, he said, Jamaat could not be erased from the country or from people’s hearts.
Warning the present government, Azharul Islam said that after the student-led mass uprising of 2024, the people would not let anyone succeed in rehabilitating the Awami League or building a new fascism. He demanded swift trials for the killings of 28 October 2006 and for all mass killings and extrajudicial killings of the last 15 years.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report