'Illegal protest' under AL flag to face legal action: Press Secy
Chief adviser's press secretary Shafiqul Alam has warned that if anyone dares to stage an 'illegal protest' under the Awami League's flag, they will have to face legal action.
In a post on the social media platform Facebook on Wednesday, he also said, "We will not allow any attempt to push the country towards the violence."
In the wake of the Awami League's announcement in its verified Facebook page that the party would organise leaflet distribution, blockade and hartal in February, Shafiqul Alam issued the warning.
The fall of the authoritarian Awami League government took place on 5 August following the July mass uprising. The party president and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India. Many of the party’s leaders and activists are abroad, while those remaining in the country have gone into hiding. In this situation, the party announced its programme on Facebook.
Shafiqul Alam wrote: “Since assuming office in August, the interim government has not shut down or banned any lawful protests. We believe in the freedom of assembly and organizational activities. A media report this morning stated that over the past five and a half months, at least 136 protests have taken place in Dhaka alone. Some of these protests caused significant traffic jams. Yet, the government has never imposed any restrictions on protests or gatherings.”
Raising the question of whether the fascist Awami League should be allowed to protest, Shafiqul Alam wrote: “Video footage from July and August clearly shows that Awami League activists participated in the killing of peaceful protesters. In their orchestrated killings, several hundred young students, including minors, were martyred. The government led by Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League is responsible for the genocide, murder, and rampage during the July mass uprising.”
“Yesterday (Tuesday), quoting interviews with several prominent human rights activists, New York-based Human Rights Watch reported that Sheikh Hasina had directly ordered executions and forced disappearances during her 16-year rule as an autocrat. She has led a kleptocracy and a murderous regime. An independent panel has stated that under her leadership, close associates of Sheikh Hasina have embezzled $234 billion (23,400 crore) and investigations are now underway against Hasina’s family for stealing millions of dollars from corrupt deals,” added Shafiqul Alam.
The press secretary to the chief adviser wrote: “Nearly three thousand individuals have been forcibly disappeared, and around three thousand others have been extrajudicially executed. Genocide was committed against protesters after the Shapla Chattar rally and the judicial ruling on Maulana Sayeedi. During Hasina’s reign, the police force became a wing of the Awami League. Under her dictatorship, nearly six million opposition leaders and activists were subjected to fake and fabricated charges. Even the country’s first Hindu chief justice was brutally beaten, forced to resign, and sent into exile.”
“Until the Awami League apologizes for this genocide, killings, and blatant corruption, until its unjust leaders and activists surrender to the judiciary and begin the process of legal accountability to atone for their crimes, and until the Awami League distances itself from its current leadership and fascist ideology, they will not be allowed to protest,” Shafiqul Alam stated. He posed the question: “Did the Allied Forces allow Nazis to protest?”
He further wrote: “Would any country allow a group of murderers and corrupt criminals to return to power? No country allows such a return to normalcy without accountability. The people of Bangladesh will give a strong response if these murderers attempt to protest or hold gatherings. The interim government represents the people of Bangladesh.”
“We will not allow any attempts to push the country toward violence. If anyone dares to stage an 'illegal protest' under the flag of the Awami League, they will have to face the law," Shafiqul added.
It is noted that the Awami League's Facebook page has announced several programmes 1 from February to 18 February, including the distribution of leaflets or pamphlets (1-5 February), a protest march and gathering on 6 February, a protest procession and rally on 10 February, a blockade on 16 February, and a nationwide dawn-to-dusk general strike on 18 February, to protest oppression and persecution and demand the establishment of the rights of the people of the country.