Mob vandalises 1971 veterans' discussion, police detain several attendees

Dhaka, Aug 28 (PTI) Bangladesh police on Thursday detained at least one 1971 Liberation War veteran and several others gathered for a meeting which was vandalised by a mob who termed the participants as accomplices of the “fascist regime” of the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Witnesses and media reports said several 1971 freedom fighters, academics and former bureaucrats under the banner of newly formed 'Moncho 71' had gathered at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity Auditorium for a scheduled discussion when a group of angry people stormed the scene.

The 'Moncho 71' platform was launched earlier this month with an announcement that it would uphold the “1971 Liberation War, Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the 1972 Constitution, the national flag and the national anthem.” On Thursday, the protestors alleged that accomplices of Hasina's fallen Awami League regime had rallied at the venue to conspire against last year’s movement, dubbed as ‘July Uprising’.

Hasina was ousted after a massive student-led movement last year. She fled the country on August 5, 2024, three days after which Muhammad Yunus took over as the Chief Advisor of the Interim government.

The group that came storming the auditorium where the 1971 veterans' meeting was going on identified themselves as ‘July warriors’ as they tore down the banner of the discussion titled 'Our Great Liberation War and the Constitution of Bangladesh.' The agitators chanted slogans such as “Let the weapon of July roar again”, “Catch a league (Awami Leaguer), send him to jail” and shouted ‘July warriors” would not allow any such conspiracy to be hatched.

“Freedom fighters of all political backgrounds were invited to the event. Soon after the programme started, over 25 young men came to the scene and created chaos,” 1971 veteran Golam Mostafa told reporters.

Police reached the venue and detained over a dozen of participants, including Dhaka University law professor Hafizur Rahman. Prominent among them was Latif Siddique, a 1971 veteran and former minister in the past Awami League, who was expelled from Hasina's cabinet and the party for breaching discipline in 2014.

Dhaka police’s deputy commissioner Masud Alam told reporters the detainees were taken to custody to “protect them from public unrest” and a decision “on the next course” of action would be taken later on.

Police said the detainees were kept at their detective branch office but did not name any person other than Siddiqui.

Elderly lawyer and Liberation War veteran ZI Khan Panna, a key-organiser of 'Moncho 71' – literally 'Platform of 1971' – had not joined the event due to health issues. But, in a video message posted on social media, he blasted the “mob attack” during the meeting.

Panna called the agitators “a group of miscreants” and said the assault “reflects what ‘freedom of expression’ now exists in the country” under the interim government of Muhammad Yunus.

The development came a day after secretary general of former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s BNP Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged efforts are underway to erase the 1971 Liberation War from people's memories, asserting that those who “helped enemies” are now “speaking aloud.” “Many efforts are going on to make people forget 1971... those who helped the enemies at that time are now speaking loudly,” the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader said, apparently referring to the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party, which had opposed the 1971 independence from Pakistan.

“We fought in the (independence) war of 1971. We have not forgotten 1971. It is not possible to forget,” he added. PTI AR NPK ZH NPK NPK