Shaheed Rumi Squad members and their fellows who have since March 26 been on fast-unto-death at Shahbagh on Sunday sought the prime minister’s ‘specific direction and unambiguous words’ about banning Jamaat-e-Islami and its student organisation Islami Chhatra Shibir and threatened to continue with the fast-unto-death, otherwise.
The protesters made the statement in an open letter addressed to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in the 100th hour of the fast-unto-death about 2:30am on Sunday.
‘We still have faith in you
[the prime minister] that one day you would be able to eliminate Jamaat and Shibir from the country. We want your specific direction and unambiguous words about this matter [ban on Jamaat and Shibir],’ the letter said.
‘We would like you to know that we will not call of our fast-unto-death until we hear from you [about the ban on Jamaat]. We know at this point of our movement, we are headed for either victory or death.…’ the letter added.
‘We had faith in you that you would begin the legal process to ban Jamaat by March 26 the deadline Ganajagaran Manch gave. But you have not done anything even four days after the deadline. Your silence keeps questioning our faith in you,’ Rumi Squad said in the letter.
At least 10 protesters on hunger strike at Shahbagh on Sunday were given saline after they had felt weak.
The protesters who were earlier admitted to BIRDEM Hospital, meanwhile, joined the protest again, their fellow protester Syed Faiz Ahmed said.
Seven members of the Shaheed Rumi Squad, named after independence war martyr Shafi Imam Rumi, son of Jahanara Imam who held a people’s trial of war crime suspect Ghulam Azam in 1992, began the fast-unto-death on Tuesday seeking that Jamaat and Shibir should be banned. The number of protesters on fast-unto-death increased to 26 by Sunday evening.
They began the protests as the government did not initiate any process to ban Jamaat and Shibir by the deadline of March 26 the Shahbagh protests earlier gave the government.
A group of cultural activists of Ganajagran Sangskriti Mancha is also observing the hunger strike for 144 hours expressing solidarity with Rumi Squad.
People in Khulna, Sylhet, Rangpur, Jessore and Khulna University of Engineering and Technology are also on hunger strike expressing their solidarity with Rumi Squad protests
The Shahbagh protests broke out February 5 hours after International Crimes Tribunal 2 sentenced Jamaat’s assistant general secretary Abdul Quader Molla to life in prison, demanding death penalty for all war criminals. (Source)
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