Awami League Will Not be Given a Chance to Protest: Press Secretary Warnings

Staff Reporter

The Awami League will not be allowed to hold any protests, said Shafiqul Alam, the press secretary to the chief advisor. He warned thin on his verified Facebook ID on Wednesday (January 29).

In the post, he wrote, ‘Since assuming office in August, the interim government has not stopped or banned any legitimate protests. We believe in freedom of assembly and freedom of organizational activities. A media report this morning said that in the last five and a half months, at least 136 protests have taken place in Dhaka alone. Some of these protests have caused massive traffic jams. Yet, the government has never imposed any restrictions on protests and gatherings.’

However, the seven college protests, including the recent protests demanding the salaries of Ibetadiya teachers, have been brutally suppressed by Dr. Yunus’ administration. The protests of candidates who were selected for the post of SI after completing their training were suppressed, while they were protesting, cold water was sprayed on sleeping candidates from water cannons on winter nights. The movement for Ansar’s job demands was violently suppressed by the army.

The news of 913 killings in three months has been reported in various newspapers, but the Press Secretary has no comment on it. Shafiqul Alam has become quite a funny person on social media by comparing the increase in exports in the EPZ area to the increase in exports of the whole country, despite the country’s overall exports having decreased. His quote on internal economy as Chaubachcha, been a hilarious talk of the town. Many are saying, “What is the Press Secretary’s job other than fact-checking and proving false the news of Indian newspapers?”

The Press Secretary of the Chief Advisor further wrote, ‘Until the Awami League apologizes for this genocide, murder and open corruption and until their wrongdoing leaders and activists surrender to the judicial system and take steps to atone for their crimes by starting the trial process and until the Awami League separates itself from its current leadership and fascist ideology, they will not be allowed to protest. Did the Allies allow the Nazis to protest?’

Analysts say, “The Chief Advisor is responsible for more killings and chaos in the country after August 5 than before August 5. Will he face justice for this?” Some political analysts also say,

“The Chief Advisor talked about political reforms to end the politics of revenge and build a pure country. However, the Chief Advisor’s press secretary is inciting the politics of revenge a hundredfold on his personal social media handle.”

“Many government employees have lost their jobs for posting far fewer protestors. How is the press secretary still on his job after spreading so much political hatred and Fascism in his post?” said a retired government official.

For the past 6 months, the spokespersons of the interim government, starting from the press secretary, have been talking about corruption and genocide, but so far they have not been able to present any evidence of corruption. They have not even been able to list those killed in the July protests as per the requirements of the UN Human Rights Commission. The list that has been seen on the website of the Ministry of Health also has many inconsistencies. The names of many of those killed by the unrest of the protesters have been found in the list of martyrs of the July protests.