Trial of 17 years of crimes to be completed by elected govt: Dudu

Shamsuzzaman Dudu, vice-chairman of BNP addressing a discussion meeting organised by the Bangladesh Ganatantrik Sangskritik Jote on Sunday.

BNP vice-chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu said on Sunday that election will be held according to the road map announced by the Election Commission while the trial of crimes committed during the last 17 years completed by the next elected government.

Addressing a discussion meeting on hindrances and prospects of the forthcoming election at the National Press Club he said that certain quarters were trying to project the parties that demolished the democratic aspirations of the people for 16 years and subjected them to repressions as equal partners, although they need to be meted out justice.

The discussion meeting was organised by the Bangladesh Ganatantrik Sangskritik Jote with its chief Humayun Kabir Bepari in the chair. Mostafa Kamal Majunder, editor, GreenWatch Dhaka, Cultural personality Monir Khan, Information secretary of BNP, Rezabuddaulah Chowdhury and former MP from Kurigram, Omar Faruque, among others spoke at the function.

Shamsuzzaman Dudu said the Interim Government has started the process of holding trial of those who perpetrated crimes against humanity and the next elected government will complete it. 

He posed a question to present sympathisers of fascists and their colaborators, who were those people responsible for the thousands of extrajudicial killings, thousands of enforced disappearances, 60 lakh fabricated cases against people people of the country during the last 16 years. And how democracy can be restored in the country without bringing them to justice, he asked.

He said that a political party which opposed the creation of Pakistan as well as Bangladesh and engaged itself in mass killings were about to commit another mistake by opposing election. They are talking of opposing election if PR system of voting is not introduced. How they can press for something which is neither in the Constitution nor in the ordinary law of the land, he asked.

He urged the people to remain united to make the coming election a sucess and facilitate the nation's march to progress and prosperity.

Mostafa Kamal Majumder said that the political parties vying for election should refer to the reforms that have been agreed upon in the National Consensus Commission and not mix their own stands on reforms with those. They have the freedom to take people's mandate on their own reform plans but should not obstruct those that have been agreed upon. 

Election is the only solution to political diferences, because in the absence of the democratic process of taking decisions to forge ahead, there can only be confusion. For democracy parties should submit to the democratic process, he said.

He said that this is the time for the parties which supported fascism for long 16 years without remorse to admit their mistake and apologise to the people. They should realise that the people who suffered during all these years deserve to have their injuries healed.

Monir Khan said that the BNP as a party was pledge-bound to restore the indigenous culture that was sacrificed through the promotion of alien culture during the last 16 years when patriotic cultural workers had no access to state-run organisations and institutions.

Rezabuddaulah Chowdhury said that the people of the country are not familiar with the PR system election. The experiment with this in Nepal is 8 governments in 9 years. Such instability will be harmful to Bangladesh, he added. - GW News Desk