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Neither hartal nor repression to help

Worried leading citizens press govt, opposition for talks

Staff Correspondent
Twenty-four eminent citizens of the country yesterday expressed grave concern over the confrontational politics on formation of a polls-time government and its outcome.
The crisis can be solved through dialogues and understanding between the government and the opposition, they observed in a joint statement under the banner Bangladesh Rukhe Darao, a platform of progressive and pro-liberation forces.
All the 24 personalities are conveners of the platform. They include academician Prof Anisuzzaman, rights activist Sultana Kamal, former adviser to a caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan, cultural personalities Kamal Lohani and Ramendu Majumder, veteran politician Ajoy Roy and child-education activist Rasheda K Chowdhury.
They said because of the confrontational politics, people's lives were at risk and so was the country's economy. It impacted negatively on the education sector and on day labourers, while scores others were forced to join work risking their lives.
Many had sustained burn injuries and become disabled in the recent political violence across the country. The commoners had become
FROM PAGE 1 hostages to this situation, reads the statement signed by one of the conveners Sarwar Ali, also a trustee of Liberation War Museum.
It also said, "The government has made the situation even more volatile by arresting leaders of the opposition instead of facing it politically."
The citizens observed that neither the opposition alliance's hartals and subversive activities, nor the arrests and suppressive initiative by the government would help end the political crisis.
Such hostility at the end of every government's tenure endangered public lives and impeded democratic progress, they added.
The platform also said the people were quite clear about Jamaat-Shibir-Hefajat's eagerness in violence during hartals.
The minority communities had become vulnerable in different districts including Pabna, Sirajganj, Lalmonirhat, Laxmipur and Barisal, said the statement, adding that it seemed the prime target of the attacks was to force the minority people to leave the country
and foil the war crime trials.
It said, "Their [Jamaat-Shibir] goal is to turn Bangladesh into a communal state and if possible, a land of fanatics and militants."
The citizens demanded that the government ban Jamaat-e-Islami as per the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009.
However, the government had failed to ensure proper probe into the attacks on minorities and punish the culprits, they said, adding, "We demand punishment of all the culprits regardless of their political identities."