‘Resign taking responsibility for killings’

Alleging that the government tried to suppress the just and logical movement of the students with unprecedented force, the Ganatantra Mancha today said the government must resign taking responsibility for the killings of students and masses.

The leaders of the Mancha made the call at a press conference at the office of the Rashtra Sangskar Andolan in the capital’s Paltan yesterday.

Biplobi Workers Party General Secretary Saiful Haque read out the written statement at the press conference.

The statement said, from July 16 to 20, there was a mass uprising of students and people in Bangladesh. The movement began as a student protest over quota reform, but it turned into a popular uprising of the students and the people.

“To hide the barbaric killings of the students and people, the government is now conducting a campaign to suppress the students and the opposition on the pretext of incitement and sabotage,” it said.

Since the Liberation War, no other movement in the country has resulted in so many innocent people losing their lives in this way, reads the statement.

“The movement started by students had common people’s sympathy, irrespective of their party affiliation. A sense of deprivation from many years of misrule also played a part. Extreme economic disaster, state-sponsored unlimited lootings and money laundering, not being able to vote for the last 15 years, unbridled corruption of those close to the government, high commodity prices, the snatching of people’s right to expression, disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and establishing a reign of fear through the monopoly of the ruling party have created the ground for protest and resistance by these people,” the statement read.

Claiming that the government and the ruling party have virtually declared war against the people, the written statement said that the government only wanted to suppress this mass movement by force.

“History has witnessed that the use of state force is always defeated by awakened people,” the statement added.

Speaking at the briefing, Abul Hasan, executive coordinator of Ganasanghati Andolan, said the government is engaged in character assassination of the students by giving them various ‘tags.’

“Having lost the people’s mandate, the government wants to hold onto power using armed forces,” he said.

Rashtra Sangskar Andolan Chief Coordinator Hasnat Quaiyum, Nagorik Oikya General Secretary Shahidullah Kaiser, JSD General Secretary Shahid Uddin Mahmud, and Bhasani Anusari Parishad Member Secretary Abu Yusuf, among others, were present at the press conference.

Daily Star