Parliament has betrayed martyrs by ‘glorifying’ convicted war criminals: Student Union-Student Front protests

BD Digest Report

Bangladesh Chhatra Union and Samajtantrik Chhatra Front have strongly condemned and protested against the inclusion of condolence motions in the names of convicted war criminals in the first session of the 13th National Parliament .

The leaders of the two organizations have alleged that this is a betrayal of the martyrs of the great Liberation War of 1971 and an attempt to ‘glorify’ war criminals.

In a statement on Thursday, Mahir Shahriar Reza, president of the central parliament of a section of the student union, and Bahauddin Shuvo , general secretary , said that the names of war criminals have been included in the condolence motion in parliament without paying due respect to the martyrs of the Liberation War.

They said that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) , which formed the government with the people’s vote by claiming to be pro-liberation forces, has betrayed the people by agreeing to this condolence motion.

The statement further said that through this, BNP has essentially repeated its old policy regarding war criminals. They strongly condemned and protested against the inclusion of the names of convicted notorious war criminals in the condolence motion.

Names of war criminals included in condolence motion in Parliament

On the first day of the 13th National Parliament on Thursday, after a brief recess following the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the condolence motion was presented as per tradition.

At that time, a proposal was made to include the names of Matiur Rahman Nizami , Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid , Abdul Kader Mollah , Muhammad Kamaruzzaman , Mir Kasem Ali and Delwar Hossain Sayedee in the condolence motion.

Later, Speaker of the Parliament Hafiz Uddin Ahmed announced their inclusion. He also included the name of former BNP MP Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury in the condolence motion. The condolence motion was adopted after discussion in the Parliament.

Student Front says ‘shameful precedent’

In a separate statement condemning the incident, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front Central Committee President Mukta Baroi and General Secretary Raihan Uddin said that while accepting the condolence motion, the ruling party Chief Whip asked for a condolence motion in the name of the Razakars and war criminals recognized as collaborators in the genocide, and later the Speaker approved it.

According to them, this has set a shameful precedent of trampling on the public consciousness that has emerged from the long struggle of the people of Bangladesh.

The statement further said that the country’s student community strongly condemned the incident. They also alleged that a political process is being carried out to re-establish public enemies by trampling on the spirit of the mass movements of the past few decades, including the great liberation war of 1971.

The two organizations have immediately demanded that the names of war criminals be deleted from the 13th National Parliament’s condolence resolution.