War crimes trial gateway to secularism: Inu
President of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) Hasanul Hoque Inu said here yesterday that the accomplishment of the trial of war criminals would be the gateway to a secular society.
Terming religion a very personal matter, he said the state itself did not belong to any religion. "You can change your religion but not your identity".
The JSD chief was speaking at a roundtable, “War crimes, Politics and Religion”, organised by LEERHO, a non-government organisation, at Theatre Institute Chittagong (TIC).
He said the defeated forces of 1971 were accumulating power to implement their hidden agenda. They talk of democracy verbally but cherish fanaticism, he added.
The anti-liberation forces wanted to make Bangladesh another Pakistan or Afghanistan, but the grand-coalition has saved the country from that eventuality, Inu said.
Dr Muntasir Mamun, a history professor at Dhaka University, said there was no scope for injustice in any religion. “We want the trial of war criminals as they did injustice”.
Bangladesh is the only country in the world where there are two groups--the pro-liberation one and the anti-liberation one--though it is an independent country, he said.
Awami League lawmaker Waresat Hossain Belal, among others, spoke at the roundtable, while LEERHO Executive Director Nurjahan Khan was in the chair.
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