Nahid Islam condemns obstruction of burial in Pirojpur

Nahid Islam, chief whip of the opposition in the Jatiya Sangsad and convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP), has condemned an incident in Pirojpur in which a burial was obstructed.

In a post on his verified Facebook page on Monday night, October 26, he expressed the condemnation. He said the right to hold a janaza and bury a body is every person's minimum human and religious right.

Nahid Islam said the fascist Awami League had taken away even that minimum right in Bangladesh. He said he did not want to see such a scene again in Bangladesh after the July mass uprising.

He said that in the past, Mujibists did not allow the bodies of Pias Karim and Al Mahmud to be taken to the Shaheed Minar and did not allow ordinary people to pay their respects. He also noted that the janaza of many opposition leaders was not allowed to be held in Dhaka.

Nahid Islam said that after the mass uprising, the janaza of Tofayel, described as a leader of the Rakkhi Bahini, was held in Dhaka. The janaza of Awami League leader A K M Rahmatullah was also held in his own area, and condolences were expressed in line with parliamentary practice.

He said they had spoken and would continue to speak for the human rights of fascists as well, because justice must be done even to an enemy. He also said they stood for the human dignity and human rights of all citizens.

On human rights, he said many people were now speaking about human rights, which was good. But for the past 16 years, many had not spoken on the issue.

Referring to killings across the country after the verdict against Delawar Hossain Sayeedi, Nahid Islam said many human rights activists in Dhaka were silent at the time. He said that when the question of human rights arose, those killings would also have to be tried.

In the post he also said they had seen celebrations over bodies, vandalism of graves and incidents of janaza being prevented become normalised in the past. They were still seeing how consent was being built for exhuming the grave of Shaheed Osman Hadi, he said.

Nahid Islam said that despite all this, they could not follow the path of the fascists. Justice had to be established against fascism, and that was why he condemned the obstruction of the burial in Pirojpur.