Goyeshwar demands list of martyrs

BNP leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy has demanded that the government publish names of all 30 lakh martyrs of the Liberation War.

“It is not a big deal who says what about the number [of the martyrs]. Publish the names of all 30 lakh martyrs and then file as many cases against Khaleda Zia as you wish,” said the BNP standing committee member.

“Thirty lakh or 60 lakh, whatever it is, we have a responsibility to them. Why is there no list of them?” he said, calling for constructing monuments in every area for the martyrs by mentioning their names.

Gayeshwar was speaking at a programme organised to mark the first death anniversary of Khaleda's younger son Arafat Rahman Koko at the party's Nayapaltan central office yesterday.

On December 25, the BNP leader described the martyred intellectuals as “anti-liberation elements” who “died like fools” and drew salaries and allowances from Pakistan until the end of the war.

The BNP high-ups and grassroots leaders believe the sedition case and the summon issued against party chief Khaleda Zia were a part of conspiracy to hamper preparations for the upcoming sixth national council of the BNP.

Khaleda and her lawyers were yet to decide about their next course of action.

The party leaders alleged that the government had always obstructed any reforms in the BNP since the beginning of its tenure fearing strong anti-government movement.

A Supreme Court lawyer on Monday filed the sedition case with the court, praying for issuing an arrest warrant for Khaleda for her remarks about the number of martyrs of the Liberation War.

The SC took the case into cognisance and asked Khaleda to appear before it on March 3.

A summons was also pasted at the gate of Khaleda's Gulshan home.

Party sources said an arrest warrant was issued against Khaleda early last year during the nonstop blockade apparently to mount pressure on her. The government had taken the same strategy again, they claimed.

A BNP standing committee member said, “When we announced the council in 2013, the government arrested several senior leaders. Police raided the party central office and took away computers where we stored all documents, forcing us to suspend the council preparations.

"We apprehend more such actions against the BNP within March," he added.

Khaleda on Tuesday sat with the pro-BNP lawyers at her Gulshan office and discussed how to deal with the case.

Asked, Sahaullah Mia, one of Khaleda's lawyers told The Daily Star that they were not worried about the case. Everyone observed that the government had filed the case only to harass her.

He, however, refused to make any comments over her appearance before the court.           

BNP has decided to hold its sixth council on March 19 and applied for three probable venues -- Suhrawardy Udyan, Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh and Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

They however have not yet got any response from the authorities concerned.