BANGLADESH NEWS
The government was scrutinising the laws to ban Jamaat-Shibir, as their
terrorist and militant activities had wreaked havoc across the country,
said Foreign Minister Dipu Moni yesterday.
“There have been strong demands from different quarters for banning the
politics of Jamaat and its student wing Shibir,” she said.
Briefing foreign diplomats at the her ministry in the evening on the
recent violence and atrocities by Jamaat-Shibir and their allies, Dipu
Moni said the government was not thinking of deploying army to tackle
the ongoing violence.
She said the government was also investigating whether there was any funding for the terror acts.
Meeting sources said ambassadors and high commissioners of Russia,
Canada, the UK and the Philippines raised several questions on the
ongoing situation.
Talking to reporters after the diplomatic briefing, the foreign minister
said the diplomats had enquired mainly about three things — plan to ban
Jamaat, possibility of army deployment and funding behind violence and
its source.
On deployment of army, she said, “It seems the situation does not
require it. But the government will take whatever steps necessary to
protect the lives and property of the people.”
Dipu Moni said the foreign diplomas while asking the questions implied
that there had been a huge funding behind the Jamaat-Shibir violence and
if so, what had been the source, and also whether the government was
investigating that.
“There have already been a lot of discussions on the matter in public
domain and some independent researchers are working on it,” she added.
Emerging from the briefing, German Ambassador Albrecht Conze expressed grave concern over the loss of lives and property.
“The loss of innocent lives and public and private property is a matter
of great regret,” he said, adding, “In the rundown of election in 10
months, I don’t know how this country can sustain, as in the coming
months 10 verdicts and 13 appeals will happen. If the appeals are
rejected, there will be more violence.”
The German ambassador said constitutionally available options were the best way to resolve the problems.
British High Commissioner Robert Gibson also expressed worry about countrywide violence and deaths.
Meanwhile briefing the diplomats, the foreign minister hoped that the
international community would appreciate a new paradigm being set by
Bangladesh to conduct the trials of 1971 war criminals and a strong
sense of national ownership.
She said the government remains open to any constructive and legally
feasible suggestions to ensure further international standards in the
trials.
Dipu said the international community should also react to the
fabricated propaganda run by the Jamaat-Shibir and their allies that the
International Crimes Tribunals had been an excuse to politically
undermine and persecute leading Islamist leaders and thinkers.
“It is unfortunate that such a false and malafide notion had gained some
sympathies within the political circles and media establishments of
some of our friendly countries without delving into the antecedents of
the accused and the convicted criminals,” she said.
Dipu said, “We have seen how such misguided demonstration of support in
certain foreign countries has been used by the Jamaat-Shibir to drive
home their point among their local sympathisers about these trials being
a pretext for political persecution only.”
The Foreign Minister urged all friendly governments to show respect to
the popular demand for justice and join in their condemnation of those
who have been found guilty of committing crimes against humanity.
Dipu said the difficult course of righting the wrongs that Bangladesh
has taken up would not just signal an end to the culture of impunity but
also have profound implications for opening up the possibility for
justice for the genocides or ethnic cleansings in other parts of the
world.
“’… our law enforcement agencies would maintain an uncompromising stance
against any form of violence or terrorist acts under the pretext of
political activities to save convicted criminals,” she said.
Dipu Moni said the government has largely been able to contain the
spread of violence, which remains concentrated in certain identified
pockets of the country.
“We have heightened intelligence operations and deployed additional
police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) forces in the violence endemic
areas,’ she told the diplomats.
The district administrations have started distributing relief to the
affected families and households including those of the Hindu
minorities.
“We believe that the strongest firewall against the Jamaat-Shibir
violence has been built by our youth at the Projonmo Chattar in
Shahbagh. Their peaceful rallies and demonstrations have stood in sharp
anti-thesis and rejection to the path of violence, murder, arson and
vandalism chosen by Jamaat-Shibir and their allies,” Dipu Moni said.
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