Call to expedite functioning of war crimes tribunal

15 July 2010, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

Political leaders yesterday urged the government to expedite the functioning of war crimes tribunal without any hesitation and not to politicise the issue. They made the call at a seminar on a study on "War Criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee's Waz Mehfil and Women's Empowerment," organised by Karmajibi Nari at the Jatiya Press Club. The leaders said the war crimes trial cannot be an issue to gain political bargaining chips. Since a planned genocide was carried out in 1971 against a nation, its perpetrators must be tried in accordance with the stature and graveness of that crime. They also claimed Jamaat has been preparing to confront the tribunal very systematically. Any wrong move from the government would eventually rebound, warned the politicians. Chairman of Workers Party of Bangladesh Rashed Khan Menon MP said a certain level of hesitation is noticeable in the government about the issue. "The war criminals would wreck havoc on the entire nation if they (Awami League) fail to bring the war criminals to justice this time," added the lawmaker. He also demanded banning the NGOs working as the funding sources of the Islamic militants. The study was conducted on 15 audio tapes of waz mehfil (religious sermons) by Sayedee. It focuses on how waz mehfil spreads the messages of hatred about progressive beliefs, education, secularism and women's empowerment. Terming his messages as repulsive and provocative, speakers urged banning of Sayedee's waz mehfil. Industries Minister Dilip Barua said these are planned messages to create antagonism against the nation with long lasting plans to reinstate the fundamentalists' power that they lost in 1971. President of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal Hasanul Haque Inu MP said empowerment of women is a precondition for democracy. He pointed out fundamentalism as the main obstacle towards women's empowerment. Uprooting fundamentalism and bringing the war criminals to justice are necessary to free the nation of its shame of not being able to try the war criminals before, he added. Manjurul Ahsan Khan, chairman of Communist Party of Bangladesh, Ajay Roy, coordinator of Platform Against Fundamentalism-Militancy, Shirin Akter, president of Karmajibi Nari, also addressed the seminar.