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Ban Jamaat, protect minorities
 [Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat-e-Islami, in collaboration with BNP, had been attacking the minorities in a planned way as it had done in 1971 and 2001 to force the Hindus leave the country, alleged Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee yesterday."There is no alternative to banning Jamaat right now to protect the minority communities, eliminate militancy and accelerate socio-economic growth," said acting president of the Nirmul committee Shahriar Kabir. He was addressing a press conference on "Recent communal violence of Jamaat and duties of the government and citizens" organised by the committee at Dhaka Reporters' Unity. Religious fanatics have been attacking minorities at different places of the country since February 28, the day International Crimes Tribunal-1 awarded Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee death sentence on charge of committing crimes against humanity during Liberation War in 1971. In the last 11 days, at least five Hindu people had been killed in more than 2,000 incidents of communal violence across the country, said Shahriar Kabir. He emphasised forming "mass resistance committee" at every neighbourhood to defend against communal attacks. "Resistance committees, comprised of officials of local administration, local MPs, political leaders, and social and cultural organisations, and imams of mosques, should be formed," Kabir said. On war crimes trials, he said it was urgent to pass the witness protection act to safeguard the witnesses, especially those of the war crimes cases. "Some Hindu witnesses have already fled. If protection cannot be ensured, no witness will turn up in the tribunals," said Kabir, adding that none involved with the trial process were safe. Prosecutor of an international crimes tribunal and Nirmul Committee law affairs secretary Tureen Afroz also stressed the need for the witness protection act. Posted by: Fred 2013-03-12 |
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