Hundreds of protesters yesterday formed human chain in Dhaka protest against the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia’s comments on the number of 1971 freedom fighters.
Zia has drawn widespread flak after she questioned the number of martyrs of Liberation War.
Freedom fighters, political and cultural activists joined the protest began at 10am.
They were chiming slogans: “My motherland won’t be allowed to become Pakistan, no space for Pakistan lovers in Bangabandhu’s Bangla and others.”
Police stopped the protesters several hundred metres away from Zia’s residence.
Police stopped the protesters as Zia’s house is located in the diplomatic enclave where processions are not allowed without prior permission.
The protesters then returned to the Gulshan-2 crossing and started a sit-in.
Three days ago, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had told pro-liberation forces to protest near the residence of Zia for her comments.
On December 21, the BNP chief, in her first public address in more than a year, said, “There are controversies over how many were martyred in the Liberation War. There are also many books and documents on the controversies.”
“Zia has insulted the Liberation War and its martyrs – it is tantamount to sedition. She should be tried under sedition charge,” said former Supreme Court judge Shamsuddin
Chowdhury Manik.
Zia’s comments came in wake of Pakistan’s denial last month of committing any war crimes or atrocities in the nine-month bloody war.
Ferdousi Priyabhashini, a 1971 war heroine, urged the media to boycott Zia, saying: “It is nothing new for her. She is an agent of Pakistan. She should be ousted from the country… tried for sedition.”
Pro-ruling party Sammilita Sangskritik Jote president Nasiruddin Yousuf Bachhu echoed similar words and added that pro-liberation forces will not allow Zia to do politics in
Bangladesh.
Tarana Halim, the state minister for post and telecommunications, said the government will soon formulate a liberation war denial law. “We have tolerated enough, no more.”
Former prime minister Zia is already facing sedition charge, where a Dhaka court has asked police to probe allegations against her, and a legal notice asking her to apologise for her statement.