34 eminent citizens concerned over harassment of Dr Yunus

Country’s 34 eminent citizens have expressed deep concern over the government’s action towards Nobel Peace prize winner Dr Mohammad Yunus.

They called upon the government to stop all sorts of harassment and unilateral slur against the Nobel laureate in a statement sent to the media today.

Those who signed the statement are Abul Kasem Fazlul Haque, Hafizuddin Khan, Hamida Hussain, Ali Imam Majumder, Debapriya Bhattacharya, Badiul Alam Majumder, Shahdeen Malik, Sharmin Murshid, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Ali Riaz, Asif Nazrul, Shahidul Alam, CR Abrar, Parveen Hasan, Firdous Azim, Shireen Haque, Rehnuma Ahmed, Bina D’Costa, Swapan Adnan, Shahnaz Huda, Tasneem Siraj Mahbub, Rushad Faridi, R Razi, Saima Khatun, Naila Z Khan, Subrata Chowdhury, Tabarak Hossain, M Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Sadaf Noor, Nova Ahmed, Rozeena Begum, Nasser Bakhtiar Ahmed, Mahbub Morshed and Rakhal Raha.

The statement said Dr Younus and some of his colleagues from Grameen Bank have been sued in a criminal case with labour court on charge of violation of labour law. His lawyers said the allegations brought in the case are civil in nature but the government has filed a criminal case. The government’s role to dispose of the case abnormally hastily has become evident recently.

The statement alleges that Dr Yunus has already been subjected to harassment in the name of seeking the information of his bank account, investigation and interrogation.

“Simultaneously, a slurring campaign against him from different levels of the government has been going on. Under this circumstance, we think there is a rationale to assume that the criminal case filed against him in the labour court is motivated. We express deep concern over it,” the statement adds.

The statement said Dr Yunus has established himself as a respected personality throughout the world by working to improve the condition of ultra-poor and neglected people. He has brought a rare honour for Bangladesh by winning the Nobel Peace Prize, US Presidential Medal of Freedom, Congressional Gold Medal and many other accolades.

Harassing him in the garb of legal and administrative measures is hampering his work and sending a negative message to the world, the statement adds.