AL leaders to file defamation suit

Motiur Rahman

Thirty-one leaders of AL and its front organizations including the party's central leader Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Mymensingh district AL president Principal Alhaj Motiur Rahman, Jubo League district unit president Prof Golam Sarwar, it's vice-president Advocate Azaharul Islam, AL leaders Babul Roy, Momtaz Uddin and BCL leader Mohitur Rahman Shanta were arrested after a series of bomb blasts in packed Ajanta, Chhayabani, Aloka and Purobi cinema halls on the day of Eid-ul-Fitr on December 7, 2002 that left 21 people dead and over 100 people injured. Twenty of the injured later became maimed and disabled for life.

Recently Abdur Rahman, Chief of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), confessed to the interrogators of Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) in Dhaka that his cadres carried out the bomb blasts in four cinemas at Mymensingh town.

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AL President Motiur Rahman said, he along with three other AL leaders were arrested on December 9 and detained in Mymensingh Central Jail. Soon after his arrest, an army officer told him that his younger brother Momtaz Uddin procured bombs from neighbouring India or carried out the attacks on four cinema halls.

" I was asked about the matter but I straightly denied our involvement saying, neither my brother nor any AL leader and activist can do so, Rahman, also ex-chairman of Mymensingh municipality told The Daily Star.

Later the AL president was shifted to Kashimpur jail in Gazipur and was taken to Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) in Dhaka.

"The interrogators tortured me and desperately tried to extract answers in favour of their claim but I repeatedly said that AL is not involved with the henious acts of bombings in anyway", said Rahman. " I was released after languishing two months in jail", said the leader.

Motiur Rahman, a veteran freedom fighter, said, "My arrest in such false cases has severely tarnished my political and social image and affected my family life".

"Now I am preparing to file a defamation case of Tk 5 crore against the government. Other arrestees will file similar cases and we have been consulting with legal counsels", he added.

Following the cinema blasts in Mymensingh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia blamed the opposition at a public meeting at Nandail upazila headquarters here recently. But at a public meeting she blamed JMB for the carnage.

"But which of the two statements is true", Rahman posed question and terming the Prime Minister's earlier claim as politically motivated and baseless.

The AL leader also blamed the four-party coalition government for patronising militancy to harrass AL leaders and activists throughout the country.

In the name of probe, the government tried to hold AL responsible for bomb blasts and to divert public attention from the government's failures in all sectors, he said.

He also regretted that proper rehabilitation was not made for cinema blasts victims even after three years of the incident.