Govt’s stance is clear, no more mob justice: Chief adviser’s special assistant Mahfuz Alam

Special assistant to chief adviser of the interim government Mahfuz Alam has said the government’s stance on mob justice is very clear and no mob justice will be allowed to happen anymore. 

“Those who launched attacks and were involved in such incidents will face legal actions,” he said while replying to a query from a journalist at a press conference at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka Sunday.

Prior to this, chief adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus exchanged views with the representatives of various student organisations, universities and colleges at the Chief Adviser’s Office in the capital’s Tejgon.

Mahfuz Alam briefed the journalists on the event. Chief adviser’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam also addressed the briefing.

At the briefing, a journalist asked a question that they had learned the students placed three recommendations.

Firstly, the students wanted that there should be no politics in the country using religion; secondly, teachers and students cannot be involved in politics on campus; and thirdly, several incidents of mob justice took place and students made recommendations to stop it. What is the position of the government and the chief justice on these three issues?

In reply, Mahfuz Alam said the government’s position is very clear on mob justice and it by no means would be allowed to happen.

He further said legal actions will be taken on all kinds of attacks including mob justice and attacks on various shrines as well as on individuals for personal vendetta.

The special envoy stressed if there are agents or friends of the autocrat or fascist regime, the mob will not try them and those people must be handed over to the law.

Various steps have been taken in this regard so that the trial could take place as per law, but people must not resort to mob justice, he reiterated.

Regarding politics using religion, Mahfuz Alam said a student spoke about doing politics using religion, but he did not say anything about religion-based politics.

“Students urged the government to stay alert on this matter. Since the issue is related to Bangladesh’s constitution and many other institutions, students were informed of no decision.”

Regarding stopping politics of teachers and students on campus, Mahfuz Alam said a broader discussion is underway on all campuses so that the type of politics of the Awami League and Chhatra League that was done by the teachers and t students respectively could by no means come back.

He said it was a speech from students, no specific guidelines have been formulated by the state or the government yet. But, everyone from the campuses expressed a firm determination in this regard.

Debates and dialogues are underway everywhere to find out the type of politics if there is no student politics here. There was a discussion on this issue in Dhaka University last week and talks are underway in other places, he added.

Mahfuz Alam said, “We want these discussions to be held in various segments of society, as well as inside and outside campuses and the government will express its stance based on the perception that will arise through these debates and dialogues.”

Replying to another query on the spree of filing of lawsuits on a myriad allegations, Mahfuz Alam said this is also like mob justice.

“Randomly filing lawsuits in such a manner, accusing many people in a single case and loading cases against someone out of personal reasons are by no means accepted,” he added.