People want freedom from extortionists and mafias, Inqilab Manch says at Chattogram March for Justice

The people of Bangladesh want freedom from extortionists, tender manipulators and mafias, said Abdullah Al Jaber, convener of Inqilab Manch.

On Friday (6 November) at noon, Inqilab Manch brought out a protest march from the premises of the Andarkilla Shahi Jame Mosque in Chattogram city as part of its 'March for Justice' programme. The march ended at Jamal Khan crossing, where Jaber made the remarks while addressing a rally.

At the rally, Abdullah Al Jaber said that after spending Tk 3,000 crore of people's VAT and tax money to build a highway, it is now being said that a mistake was made. Yet a garment worker who works day and night and asks for a salary of Tk 30,000 is kicked and beaten.

He said Tk 3,000 crore was spent on building the Dhaka-Gazipur highway. After the work was almost finished, it is now being said that there was a flaw in the highway's design. Yet with that Tk 3,000 crore, at least one million garment workers could have been paid Tk 30,000 each for a month.

He alleged that people's tax money is being used to build houses in Begum Para and to send children to study in New York.

He added, 'You will beat my sister, you will make my brother disappear, you will extort my business, and then sit in power and make a mockery of it — I will put a complete end to that mockery.'

The Inqilab Manch convener also criticised the Home Minister over the law and order situation. He said the Home Minister's claim that no enforced disappearances or murders have taken place in the country in the last eight months does not match the real situation.

He said the Home Minister has failed to bring the law and order situation under control; in the minister's own constituency, an incident took place in which 50 vehicles were stopped and robbed. Even so, claims of improvement in law and order are being made.

Raising allegations that hospitals and studios in different parts of the country were demolished because of extortion, Abdullah Al Jaber said that during the interim government, a man was beaten to death with stones for not paying extortion money. Ordinary people are living in insecurity because of such incidents.

Referring to attacks on women, he said the police cannot control the law and order situation and cannot restore people's rightful entitlements, yet women are being attacked.

In his words, 'If we cannot break the hand that was raised against my sister, then this July has not succeeded.'

Present at the programme were Inqilab Manch Member Secretary Fatima Tasnim Juma, former General Secretary of the Rajshahi University Central Students' Union (RUCSU) Salauddin Ammar, and other leaders and activists of the organisation.