Staff Correspondent

The Awami League on Sunday demanded that the government should announce the date for the upcoming general elections and withdraw the state of emergency immediately to create a congenial political atmosphere for campaigning before the polls.

It also demanded immediate trial of all the political murder cases, including the murder case of former finance minister and AL leader SAMS Kibria, to uproot the politics of assassination from the country for ever.

‘Lift the state of emergency; withdraw the ban on politics and announce the date for the upcoming general elections,’ said Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, an AL presidium member, at a discussion meeting in the afternoon.

The AL organised the meeting to underscore its demand for the arrest and trial of the real killers of Kibria at its Bangabandhu Avenue office, with Sajeda Chowdhury in the chair. ‘We demand the trial of the killings including that of Kibria, and the interim government should not sidestep the issue as the previous government did,’ said Sajeda, adding that the people would not like it if the interim government turned a deaf ear to the demand.

She also demanded that the government should begin the dialogues with the political parties immediately and they should be held without any preconditions.

‘The killing of Awami League leaders and grenade attacks on the party’s rallies were the continuation of the killing of intellectuals, and the government should ensure that all the perpetrators of the political killings that took place since December 14, 1971, should be brought to book,’ said Amir Hossain Amu, another presidium member.

He also demanded immediate release of all the leaders and activists of AL and its front organisations, especially of the party’s president Sheikh Hasina and general secretary Abdul Jalil. Amu urged the party’s leaders to accept all decisions taken by the working committee and presidium to uphold the unity of the party.

‘If any one expresses views outside the party forum that are different from the party’s decision, it is clear that the person wants to foil the party’s unity intentionally,’ said Amu. Presidium member Abdur Razzak said that the BNP-Jamaat, during its last five-year tenure, planned the murders to turn AL into a leaderless party.

‘The BNP-Jamaat government wanted to save its party men from the charge of Kibria’s murder…The present government should identify the real killers and bring them in front of the country’s people,’ said presidium member Tofail Ahmed, adding that the government could ask the United Nations to cooperate to ensure fair investigation.

‘The BNP-Jamaat engineered a false charge-sheet of Kibria murder case to save its party men. The interim government should arrest those who were involved in preparing the false charge-sheet,’ said Suranjit Sengupta, another presidium member. He demanded that the government should disclose the names of the killers to the public and submit the charge-sheets of the cases within one month.

Presidium member Matia Chowdhury said that the country’s people want Hasina’s release and the government should free her immediately. ‘The government can do many things quickly if it wants. It should implement the verdict of Bangabandhu murder case and ensure trial of all killings, including jail killings, Kibria murder and grenade attacks on the Awami League rally,’ said Syed Ashraful Islam, the acting general secretary.

He also said that political killings would not be stopped even in a thousand years if the government failed to ensure trial of the previous killings.

Reza Kibria, son of SAMS Kibria, accused the BNP-Jamaat government of implicating the so-called activists of militant groups in the murder instead of the real killers, while the real killers, including a reformist leader in the BNP, remain untouched.

‘It was the responsibility of the Awami League leaders to wage a movement to demand trial of the Kibria murder case, but I cannot understand why they did not do that,’ said Reza Kibria.

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