Jamaat calls hartal
Jamaat-e-Islami has called a 24-hour nationwide hartal from today morning protesting the Supreme Court Appellate Division verdict that upheld the death penalty of Jaamat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid for his wartime crimes against humanity.
Makbul Ahmad, acting ameer of the party, announced the shutdown yesterday through a press statement soon after the Appellate Divisions verdict was pronounced in the morning.
The hartal will begin at 6:00am today and end 6:00am tomorrow, said the press statement. Hospitals, ambulances, pharmacies and vehicles carrying journalists will be out of the purview of the hartal.
The Appellate Division, in its verdict yesterday, upheld the death penalty to Jamaat leader Mujahid awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal for killing intellectuals during the War of Liberation in 1971.
In his statement, the Jamaat ameer termed the war crimes case against Mujahid false, fabricated, and imaginary and demanded immediately release of their leaders including Mujahid. He also accused the government of attempting to eliminate Jamaat and staging farcical trial by filing false and imaginary cases against their leaders.
Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid is a victim of government conspiracyMujahid has been deprived from justice. Countrys people are frustrated over the verdict, he said.
He called upon people from different spheres of life including intellectuals, professionals, lawyers, educationists and workers to make the hartal a success.
The statement said that Mujahid would file a review petition against the verdict of the apex court and hoped that Mujahid would be acquitted from the charges if justice is ensured.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir yesterday brought out sudden processions in Maghbazar and Motijheel areas protesting the upholding of the death penalty of Mujahid and in support of todays hartal.
A crude bomb was exploded at Motijheel during the Shibir procession but no one was hurt. Jamaat leaders and activists of Ramna zone brought out the procession at Maghbazar intersection after the verdict of the apex court.
Meanwhile, Dhaka Roads Transport Owner Association has rejected todays hartal and took a decision yesterday to ply bus and minibus in the capital and its adjacent districts during hartal hours.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) teams have been deployed at different strategic points in the capital to maintain law and order during todays Jamaat called shutdown.
