DHAKA — Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir will mobilize on the streets to prevent any sabotage, the group’s president, Jahidul Islam, said Wednesday. Shibir also intends to stand with all anti-fascist forces, he said.
Speaking at an urgent news conference in the Abdus Salam Hall of the National Press Club, Jahidul said Shibir would hold a protest march and sit-ins in Dhaka on Thursday demanding trials for all mass killings including those in July, a legal foundation for the July Charter, and to counter what he called sabotage by the banned Awami League.
The protest march will begin at 7 a.m. from Dhaka College, circle several major roads and end with a rally at the Raju Memorial Sculpture on Dhaka University campus. After the march, Shibir leaders and activists will hold sit-ins at 14 key points in the capital, including Uttara BNS, Khilkhet, Bashundhara Gate, Gabtoli, Mirpur 10, Dhanmondi 32, Science Lab, Shahbagh, Rampura, Mohakhali, Gulistan, Bahadur Shah Park, Jatrabari and Chittagong Road. Sit-ins will also be held at key points in every divisional and district city, Jahidul said.
He called on students and patriotic citizens to take a firm stand against Awami League sabotage and arson. “The International Crimes Tribunal will deliver its verdict against the killer Hasina today,” he said. “Against this backdrop, some leaders and activists of the banned Awami League have called a ‘Dhaka lockdown.’ We want to make clear to them that there is no place for fascism or anarchy in the new Bangladesh. Students and citizens will resist any attempt to disturb public order.”
“Islami Chhatra Shibir is ready to give a fitting response to any anarchy alongside the country’s students and citizens,” Jahidul said. “After long sacrifice under a fascist clique, we have a new Bangladesh. It is our collective duty to protect it. Vendettas, pettiness and mudslinging can bring fascism back. We are calling on all political parties to abandon extortion, corruption, abuse of cases and all forms of violence, and to move the country forward together through a rational political reform built on the spirit of July.”
The news conference was hosted by Shibir Secretary General Nurul Islam Saddam. Other speakers included central office secretary Sibgatullah, publicity secretary Azizur Rahman Azad and human resource management secretary Saidul Islam, along with leaders from the central and Dhaka metropolitan units.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report