At Kushtia long march closing, Jamaat ameer says one-point movement inevitable if seven points are not accepted

Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer and Leader of the Opposition Dr Shafiqur Rahman has said that if the seven-point demands are accepted, there will be no need for a one-point demand; if they are not accepted, a one-point movement will become inevitable. He said they had not come with party demands, but with the people's demands.

He made the remarks after midnight in his closing speech for the 11-party unity long march at Abrar Fahad Stadium in Kushtia. He said they would be forced to call that one-point movement in order to protect the people's rights.

The Jamaat ameer said a new Bangladesh had been achieved at the cost of the blood of 1,400 martyrs by removing fascism, and that they speak for those martyrs. But, regrettably, the government does not honour the martyrs; if it did, it would implement their aspirations, he said.

Earlier, at 11pm on Saturday, he spoke at a wayside rally in front of the main gate of Islamic University in Kushtia during the 11-party unity's Dhaka-Khulna-Jhenaidah-Kushtia long march. There he said the government had cheated the nation by not implementing the people's verdict in the referendum.

At the wayside rally, the Jamaat ameer said 70 percent of the people of this country had said 'yes' in the referendum, one of the two votes held on February 12. The current ruling party and everyone else had been committed to accepting a 'yes' victory letter by letter if it won, but the government had not accepted it, he alleged.

He said a government spokesperson had stood in parliament and called the July Charter a document of endless deception. But now, he said, they themselves had committed endless deception against the nation and would not accept the referendum. Questioning why they would not accept it, he used a proverb to criticise the government's position.

The opposition leader said their seven points were clear. Not one of them was a party demand; each one was a demand to restore the rights of Bangladesh's 180 million people.

He added that history bears witness that whenever the people's verdict has been insulted and disregarded, those responsible have had to bear history's harsh consequences. He said they would not bow to any injustice and that threats would achieve nothing.

Around the same long march programme, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar also criticised the government. He said the government had destroyed the country in just eight months. In his words, where the fascist Awami League had been, Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal had now taken its place; only the name had changed, the character was the same. He also mentioned crises over prices, terrorism, extortion, occupation, fertiliser, gas and electricity.

Addressing young people, Mia Golam Parwar urged them not to listen to anyone's deception and to be ready for greater sacrifice, saying another inevitable revolution was knocking at the door. He said the government was cheating the people by not implementing the referendum verdict and that their movement would continue until the people's rights were secured.