Chalo, chalo
Shahbag chalo
http://dawn.com/2013/02/22/chalo-chalo-shahbag-chalo/
24
Photo
courtesy: Flickr
There are only a few occasions when I really miss ‘East Pakistan’. These days are one of those. Had we been
together, Shahbag would have
won at least a two-column on page 3 and chalo chalo Shahbag chalo graffiti on
some town walls. Maybe the Dhaka bureaus of
few channels would have covered the massive youth gathering there and
improvising further on my wish list, perhaps the demands of the Shahbag mass
could have triggered a parallel youth movement over here. But pity me, I came
to know about what’s happening in that Dhaka city compound through New York
Times despite the fact that it is related to us — Pakistanis — in more than one
direct ways.
It started on 5th February, the day Bangladesh’s
International Crimes Tribunal awarded life sentence to a person nicknamed
‘Butcher of Mirpur’ for his part in the mass murder and rape of Bengalis in
1971. He is a leader of Bangladesh’s
Jamaat-i-Islami. The sentence was the second from the Tribunal. The first one
had awarded death sentence to another Jamaat leader who was tried in absentia —
the police suspects he had escaped to Pakistan sometime back.
The international community is not happy with the death
penalty and also found the trial falling short of meeting the international
standards of justice. Many also see the whole matter of trying war criminals as
a ploy by the ruling Awami League to divert the Bangladeshi public’s attention
from its abysmal performance over past four years. The country will go to polls
early next year. Awami League will face the four party alliance led by Khaleda
Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party with Jamaat as its second largest partner.
Hence, hitting at Jamaat will also supposedly batter the opposition alliance.
All of this may be true, but only partly. The crowd
at Shahbag has shown some characteristics that distinguish it from what a
conspiratorial power can assemble. Starting with a small spontaneous gathering powered by social
media, it has sustained itself to date and its ranks have been swelling
continuously. Moreover, I feel that the energy emanating from it can’t be
artificial. But if you think I am getting carried away, do compare it with the
crowd that had gathered in Islamabad
a few weeks ago to purge the country of yazids. The two are in complete
contrast and their stark differences can exemplify conspiracies and movements.
Critics are also skeptical of the main demand of the Shahbag
movement — death for war criminals, no less and nothing else. This should,
however, be viewed in the light of the fact that Jamaat has a history of
dodging efforts for a war crime trial in Bangladesh. But this time around,
it seems they are left alone and exposed. After the first death sentence by the
Tribunal, the government and the court were publicly criticised by western
countries and the pressure is likely to have softened the second sentence to
life imprisonment. One can expect that the next sentences would be even milder and
in the end the initiative of settling the issue of war crimes would fizzle out,
again.
The Shahbag youth, I believe, is not frustrated at the
‘leniency’ of the verdict as much as it is infuriated by the Jamaat getting
away with murder. Jamaat’s volunteer corps were known to be the ears and eyes
of the Pakistan Army in 1971 and served as its point men at the time. But what
surprises me most is the absence of Pakistan from the Shahbag protest.
One can understand the legal limitations and diplomatic expediencies of the
Bangladeshi government but the same does not hold true for the ‘vengeful
crowds’. You don’t hear any slogan against Pakistan,
see no flag or effigy burning, not even some pressure for the government of Pakistan
to offer an apology. I have scoured through the internet and have found no
trace of Pakistan at Shahbag — just that the star and the crescent appears on
the caps of hated clerics in posters and placards. The Bangladeshis are
strictly observing the protest as an internal affair — the matter is between
the people and the Jamaat, Pakistan
comes only as a reference. So the context may be historical, the fight is all
about the present and the youth does not need any forensic evidence as their
daily lives can stand to witness as to what Jamaat and Shibir mean to their
freedom (the student wing of Jamaat is called Jamiat in Pakistan and Shibir in
Bangladesh).
Jamaat-Jamiat seem to stand against everything that most of
the youth loves — arts, culture, freedom and friendship. To me, they signify a
force that wants to obscure knowledge, stifle creativity and dissent; a force
that intrigues, maneuvers, manipulates and conspires. The happenings of 1971
seem to epitomise what the party stands for and that was also the time when
Jamaat was at its fiercest. If it can be seen to get away with the most heinous
of its acts, nothing should stop it from ruling over every aspect of the
present-day lives of Bangladeshi youth.
The fundamentalist narrative of Islam has come to dominate
the lives of middle classes across the Muslim world for over half century now.
It was presented to them as a viable option to build egalitarian societies
while staking claim to a unique identity in compensation for their traditional
ones that they had lost to colonial machinations. Its champions, the
Jamaat-i-Islami included, have deceived the populace and have traded our dreams
for the clergy’s vested interests, pushing us into the lairs of blood thirsty
dictators and auctioning our souls to the highest bidder in the geopolitics bazaar.
What was once ‘East Pakistan’ has seen the most merciless of
the faces of religious nationalism and ‘West Pakistan’
is still bleeding from the thousand cuts it has endured from the same. As a
matter of fact, middle classes across North Africa, Middle East and Far East are suffering in various ways and degrees from
the myopic narrative of political Islam that bars them from accepting who they
are and stopping them from living lives to the fullest.
A counter narrative raises its head only occasionally. It
has proven to be meek and elusive. It has dropped some hints, tweeted a few
times, but has largely remained confined to academic circles. Can Shahbag be
seen as a step to take the debate to the populist realm, an attempt to make
familiar the alternative intellectual discourse? I wish it to be so.
Challenging the conservative narrative in bold terms and brave ways shall give
way to a new discourse on what role religion should have in our collective
national lives. And if it has to start with a few bold steps in Dhaka, so be it, and let us chalo, chalo Shahbag chalo.
The writer works with Punjab
Lok Sujag, a research and advocacy group that has a primary interest in
understanding governance and democracy.
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Dhaka war crimes protest gains ground
By Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-02-150213.html
DHAKA - Demands from a mass protest for all war criminals convicted of
committing atrocities in Bangladesh's 1971 independence struggle to be
given the death penalty have won the support of millions of Bangladeshis as
the demonstration enters its tenth day.
The protest which began on February 5 at the Shahbagh intersection in
Dhaka, has spread beyond the capital amid reform demands that include a ban
on Bangladesh
Jamaat-e-Islami, a
member of the 18-party alliance that forms the opposition. It was sparked
on the same day by a 31-year jail term handed to the party's general
secretary, Abdul Quader Mollah, who was convicted of war crimes that
included mass murder and rape.
The demonstration enjoyed the first fruits of success on February 11 when
the country's cabinet gave the nod to a bill that would allow the
government to challenge courts over sentences given under the International
Crimes (Tribunal) Act.
Protesters at Shahbagh had initially demanded that Mollah be hanged along
with other people who committed war crimes in 1971. During the bloody
independence most of the top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami collaborated with
the Pakistani armed forces to wreak havoc on the Bangladeshi populace.
Jamaat, a faction of the original political party in Pakistan, in 1971 officially rejected Bangladesh's desire to split from Pakistan (at that time was known as West Pakistan).
Jamaat-e-Islami acting secretary general Rafiqul Islam Khan in a press
statement released before the February 5 judgement on Mollah, said,
"Do not push the country into a civil war by delivering one-sided
verdicts against our leaders. If anything happens against Quader Mollah,
every house will be on fire."
Hours after Mollah was sentenced under the country's International Crimes (Tribunal)
Act, a group of bloggers under the platform "Bloggers and Online
Activists Network" decided to form a human chain near Shahbagh
intersection of Dhaka, one of the busiest junctions in the city. The
verdict infuriated millions of Bangladeshis, who were waiting for news of
another capital punishment similar to the first historic war crimes verdict
on January 21, against Abul Kalam Azad, another war criminal and former
Jamaat-e-Islami leader. Azad, who allegedly has fled the country, was tried
in absentia for crimes against humanity.
Protesters were joined by thousands of people on February 5, and over the
next few days demonstrators from other parts of the country travelled to Dhaka to take part. Most are still at the
demonstration site.
The February 5 judgement said that a small number of Bangalees, Biharis,
other pro-Pakistanis, as well as members of a number of different
religion-based political parties, particularly Jamaat-e-Islami and its its
student wing, joined or collaborated with the Pakistan occupation army to
resist the formation of an independent Bangladesh, and that most of them
committed and facilitated the commission of atrocities in violation of
customary international law. Alongside Mollah, other senior Jamaat leaders
being tried under the international crimes act, include Delwar Hossain
Sayedee and Ghulam Azam.
The Shahbagh protesters are demanding capital punishment for all crimes
against humanity in Bangladesh in 1971 when, according to the prosecution
during Mollah's trial, "some three million people were killed, nearly
a quarter-million women were raped and over 10 million people were forced
to take refuge in India to escape brutal persecution at home, during the
nine-month battle and struggle of the Bangalee nation". Bangladesh, which was then East Pakistan,
was being ravaged by military forces from West
Pakistan.
The Bangladesh cabinet on February 11 noted protest demands by giving the
nod to a bill for the amendment of Section 21 (2) of the ICT Act, which if
approved by parliament in its present session would give the government a
right to appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against any
inadequate sentence or order of acquittal pronounced by the International
Crimes Tribunal for any of the accused. The court would then have 90 days
to dispose of the appeal or order an acquittal.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in parliament on February 10 that she
would do everything to amend the relevant law if there were any weakness in
it. The government has not officially said anything about changing Mollah's
verdict once the bill is passed.
Jute and Textiles Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui has said that a bill
seeking to ban the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing would be placed in
the current parliament in line with the demand of the ongoing nationwide
mass movement. The minister took part in a three-minute silence on February
12 to demand the death penalty of war criminals.
Back at the Shahbagh intersection, protesters are keeping the demonstration
alive by chanting slogans, burning effigies of war criminals and collecting
signatures for petitions, among other means of projecting their grievances.
"Dhaka university film associations are screening films, there are
people singing songs, reciting poetry; it's an exhilarating
experience," Mahbubul Haque Bhuiyan, a recent post-graduate student in
journalism from Dhaka University who joined the protest on day one, told
Asia Times Online. "Till now, the bloggers have been able to keep the
protests free from politics."
Other protesters said that attempts by politicians from the ruling Awami
League (AL)
to steer the protests to their advantage were ongoing.
Top AL leaders, including the deputy
leader of the parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Forest
and Environment Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, and Post and Telecommunications
Minister Sahara Khatoon, tried to speak, only to be heckled by the crowd.
On February 7, protesters hurled stones and empty water bottles at special
assistant to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and joint AL general secretary Mahbubul Alam
Hanif, forcing him to leave the protest site.
Protesters have also told Asia Times Online that activists from the ruling
party's student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League's (BCL), have been trying
to take control by paying the tabs, providing food, and steering protests
inside the Dhaka University campus and other ways. "But we hope to
keep the protests entirely neutral till the end," said a blogger from
the BOAN, who did not want to be identified.
People outside of the capital city as well as non-resident Bangladeshis
living in other parts of the world have also demonstrated solidarity with
the Shahbagh movement, with protest pictures posted online.
While sharing similarities to Arab Spring protests and the recent sit-in in
Islamabad,
the Shahbagh protests have some distinctive features. Dr Fahmidul Haq,
associate professor of mass communication and journalism department of the
University of Dhaka, said, "In regard to Arab Spring and others, we
have seen the protesters used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to continue
their protests but here the protest has been called by a group of
bloggers."
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) remarked on Tuesday
that the "rally is losing neutrality" due to a liberation war-era
slogan being chanted again and again. The slogan "Joy Bangla" has
been associated with the ruling AL
since 1971. However, BNP welcomed the youth movement.
While these events are breathing down Jamaat-e-Islami's neck, the party has
already termed the protests "a government plot to create anarchy"
and force the tribunals to "deliver verdicts as per its dictate."
Skirmishes occurred between Jamaat activists and police in Dhaka's Tejgaon,
Karwan Bazar and Motijheel areas and other parts of Bangladesh,
on Tuesday and Wednesday and also in different parts of the country on
Thursday.
Syed Tashfin Chowdhury is the Editor of Xtra, the weekend
magazine of New Age, in Bangladesh.
(Copyright 2013 Asia Times Online
(Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales,
syndication and republishing.)
|
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Students in Bangladesh rally to back war crimes
trials, demand death for defendants
(Pavel Rahman/ Associated Press ) - Bangladeshis wave flags and shout
slogans demanding death to Islamic political party leaders who are on trial for
alleged war crimes during the country’s 1971 independence war, in Dhaka, Bangladesh,
Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Eight top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s
largest Islamic party, are being tried on charges of mass killings, rapes and
arson allegedly committed during Bangladesh’s nine-month war of separation from
Pakistan.
By Associated Press,
Feb
24, 2013 01:48 AM EST
AP Published: February 24
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Thousands of students rallied in Bangladesh’s capital on
Saturday demanding death to Islamic political party leaders who are on trial
for alleged war crimes during the country’s 1971 independence war.
Eight top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamic party,
are being tried on charges of mass killings, rapes and arson allegedly
committed during Bangladesh’s nine-month war of separation from Pakistan.
Earlier this month, a tribunal convicted party leader Abdul Quader Mollah of
mass killings during the war and sentenced him to life in prison, a sentence
that many Bangladeshis considered lenient.
On Saturday, about 5,000 students shouted “Death to the killers” as they
rallied in Dhaka.
The government says it will appeal Mollah’s sentence before the Supreme
Court this coming week, asking for the death penalty for the 65-year-old.
Saturday’s protest came a day after activists from Jamaat and an alliance of
12 other Islamic parties clashed with police across the country, leaving four
people dead and around 200 injured, including about a dozen journalists.
After Friday’s violence, the Islamic party alliance called a nationwide
general strike for Sunday, accusing the police of foiling their protests and
alleging that the government is planning to ban religion-based political parties.
The government denies that religion-based parties will be banned.
The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by former
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, said it would back Sunday’s strike.
Sunday is a working day in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, where strikes are
common opposition tactics to highlight demands.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
2 dead as Bangladesh
police clash with Islamic party protesters over war crimes trials
Published February 22, 2013
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/22/2-dead-as-bangladesh-police-clash-with-islamic-party-protesters-over-war-crimes/
Associated Press
DHAKA, Bangladesh – Police across Bangladesh clashed
Friday with protesters from Islamic political parties denouncing war crimes
trials linked to the country's 1971 independence war, killing two demonstrators
and injuring dozens of people, police and witnesses said.
The nationwide protests were held separately by
Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamic party, and an alliance of 12
other smaller Islamic parties. Jamaat called the demonstrations to denounce the
war crimes trials of its top leaders.
Earlier this month, a special tribunal convicted Jamaat's
assistant secretary, Abdul Quader Mollah, of mass killings during the
independence war against Pakistan
and sentenced him to life in prison. Another eight leaders of the party are on
trial on charges of atrocities during the nine-month war.
The alliance of 12 parties accuses the government of
plotting to ban Islamic parties, an allegation denied by the government.
Even though the alliance does not back Jamaat, protesters
from both sides mingled Friday in the capital, Dhaka,
according to an Associated Press reporter and photographer at the scene.
In Jhenaidah town, 128 kilometers (80 miles) west of Dhaka, clashes between Jamaat activists and police killed
one protester, said local police official Hasan-uz Zaman. He provided no
further details.
Another protester was killed in Sylhet city, 192 kilometers
(120 miles) northeast of Dhaka, when police
opened fire on several hundred activists from the Islamic party alliance, a
policeman said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted
to speak to the media. Dulal Chandra, a doctor at the state-run Sylhet Medical
College Hospital,
said a man arrived there dead from the scene of the violence.
In central Dhaka, police
fired tear gas when about 2,000 stone-throwing members and supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami
took to the streets and tried to overrun police barricades, witnesses said.
About 40 people, including 12 journalists, were injured in
the Dhaka clashes, private television station
Ekattor TV and ATN News reported.
The alliance of Islamic parties called a nationwide general
strike for Sunday, accusing police of foiling their protests
Students in Bangladesh
rally to back war crimes trials, demand death for defendants
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/23/students-in-bangladesh-rally-to-back-war-crimes-trials-demand-death-for/
Published
February 23, 2013
Associated
Press
DHAKA, Bangladesh – Thousands of students have rallied
in Bangladesh's capital demanding death to several Islamic political party
leaders who are on trial for alleged war crimes during the country's 1971
independence war.
Eight top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest
Islamic party, are being tried on charges of mass killings, rapes and arson
during Bangladesh's nine-month
war of separation from Pakistan.
Earlier this month, a tribunal convicted party leader Abdul
Quader Mollah of mass killings during the war and sentenced him to life in
prison, a verdict considered lenient by many Bangladeshis.
On Saturday, about 5,000 students shouted "Death to the
killers" as they rallied in Dhaka, the
capital.
The government says it will appeal Mollah's sentence before
the Supreme Court this coming week, asking for the death penalty for
65-year-old.
Hundreds of
thousands rally in Bangladesh
to demand executions of 1971 war crimes suspects
Published
February 08, 2013
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/08/hundreds-thousands-rally-in-bangladesh-to-demand-executions-171-war-crimes/
Associated
Press
Bangladeshi activists attend a rally to
demand executions for people convicted of war crimes involving the nation's
independence war in 1971, in Dhaka,
Bangladesh,
Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. The protesters in Dhaka
urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to review a verdict sentencing a senior
leader of Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami to life in prison for killings and
other crimes. The protesters said the life term was not enough as Abdul Quader
Mollah was found by a tribunal guilty of five charges, including playing a role
in the killing of 381 unarmed civilians. Placards read "we demand death
penalty for war criminals," right, and "Liberation war has not ended.
Bangladesh
will fight again." (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman) (The Associated Press)
Bangladeshi activists cycle around an
effigy of senior leader of Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami Abdul Quader Mollah
during a rally to demand executions for people convicted of war crimes
involving the nation's independence war in 1971, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday,
Feb. 8, 2013. The protesters in Dhaka urged
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to review a verdict sentencing Mollah to life in
prison for killings and other crimes. The protesters said the life term was not
enough as he was found by a tribunal guilty of five charges, including playing
a role in the killing of 381 unarmed civilians. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman) (The
Associated Press)
Bangladeshi activists attend a rally to
demand executions for people convicted of war crimes involving the nation's
independence war in 1971, in Dhaka,
Bangladesh,
Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. The protesters in Dhaka
urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to review a verdict sentencing a senior
leader of Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami to life in prison for killings and
other crimes. The protesters said the life term was not enough as Abdul Quader
Mollah was found by a tribunal guilty of five charges, including playing a role
in the killing of 381 unarmed civilians. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman) (The
Associated Press)
DHAKA, Bangladesh
– Hundreds of thousands of people rallied in Bangladesh's capital on Friday to
demand executions for people convicted of war crimes involving the nation's
independence war in 1971.
The protesters in Dhaka urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
to review a verdict sentencing a senior leader of Bangladesh's largest Islamic party,
Jamaat-e-Islami, to life in prison for killings and other crimes.
The protesters said the life term was not enough since a tribunal
had found Abdul Quader Mollah guilty of five charges, including playing a role
in the killing of 381 unarmed civilians.
The government will appeal the sentence. A lawyer said the
defense would also appeal, seeking an acquittal for Mollah, whose verdict is
the second after Hasina came to power through a 2008 election and formed a
tribunal to try those suspected of war crimes. Both sides have 30 days to
appeal to the Supreme Court.
The life sentence comes after a former party member was
sentenced to death last month.
The exact number of protesters was difficult to know, but
streets near Dhaka
University were filled
with 1971 fighters, students, political activists, teachers and people from
other walks of life. Some organizers put the number at up to 200,000, and Anjan
Roy, a television talk show moderator who lost more than a dozen family members
and relatives in the 1971 war, told The Associated Press that more than 100,000
people had joined the rally.
Hours after Tuesday's verdict by an International Crimes
Tribunal, protesters burst into the street, denouncing the verdict. They
protested nonstop since while planning for Friday's mass rally.
Many of the younger protesters said they were not happy with
the verdict.
"We will not return home unless we get justice,
complete justice," said Shakil Ahmed, a college student. "I did not
see 1971, but those who killed our people and helped Pakistani troops in their
effort to halt the creation of Bangladesh
should be hanged."
Hasina's government initiated a process in 2010 of trying
those accused of committing crimes against humanity during the war.
Jamaat-e-Islami — a partner in a former Bangladeshi
government — says the charges are politically motivated, but authorities deny
the claim.
Jamaat campaigned against Bangladesh's independence war and
stands accused of forming several groups to help Pakistani troops in killing,
rape and arson. Until it gained independence in 1971, Bangladesh was the eastern wing of Pakistan, and Bangladesh says Pakistani troops
aided by local collaborators killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women.
The war forced 10 million people to seek shelter at refugee camps in
neighboring India.
Last month, the tribunal sentenced former party member Abul
Kalam Azad to death in the first war crimes trial verdict.
International human rights groups have raised questions
about the conduct of the tribunals, including the disappearance of a defense
witness outside the courthouse gates.
Jamaat-e-Islami was a partner in the former government of
Khaleda Zia, a longtime political rival of Hasina. Zia has called the tribunal
a farce, while Hasina has urged Zia to stop backing those she says fought
against independence.
Five other leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami have been accused of
committing atrocities during the nine-month war.
2 Killed as Bangladesh
Police, Protesters Clash
By
FARID HOSSAIN Associated Press
DHAKA,
Bangladesh
February 22, 2013 (AP)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/killed-bangladesh-police-protesters-clash-18564986
Police in Bangladesh
clashed Friday with protesters from Islamic political parties denouncing war
crimes trials linked to the country's 1971 independence war, killing two
demonstrators and injuring dozens of people, police and witnesses said.
The nationwide protests were held separately by Jamaat-e-Islami, the
country's largest Islamic party, and an alliance of 12 other smaller Islamic
parties. Jamaat called the demonstrations to denounce the war crimes trials of
its top leaders.
Earlier this month, a special tribunal convicted Jamaat's assistant
secretary, Abdul Quader Mollah, of mass killings during the independence war
against Pakistan
and sentenced him to life in prison. Eight other leaders of the party are on
trial on charges of atrocities during the nine-month war.
The alliance of 12 parties accuses the government of plotting to ban Islamic
parties, an allegation denied by the government.
AP
An Islamic activist
shouts during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Police
fired rubber bullets and tear gas Friday to disperse thousands of rampaging
protesters from Islamic parties. The nationwide protests were held separately
by Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamic party and an alliance of 12
other smaller Islamic groups to denounce the war crimes trial of its top
leaders. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman) Close
Even though the alliance does not back Jamaat, protesters from both sides
mingled Friday in the capital, Dhaka,
according to an Associated Press reporter and photographer at the scene.
In Jhenaidah town, 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Dhaka,
clashes between Jamaat activists and police killed one protester, said police
official Hasan-uz Zaman. He provided no further details.
Another protester was killed in Sylhet city, 190 kilometers (120 miles)
northeast of Dhaka, when police opened fire on
several hundred activists from the Islamic party alliance, a policeman said. He
spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the
media. Dulal Chandra, a doctor at the state-run Sylhet Medical
College Hospital,
said a man arrived there dead from the scene of the violence.
In central Dhaka, police fired tear gas
when about 2,000 stone-throwing members and supporters of Jamaat took to the
streets and tried to overrun police barricades, witnesses said.
About 40 people, including 12 journalists, were injured in the Dhaka clashes, private television station Ekattor TV and
ATN News reported.
The alliance of Islamic parties called a nationwide general strike for
Sunday, accusing police of foiling their protests.
