Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee

The Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee is a pressure group founded to demand the trial of war criminals from Bangladesh Liberation War. It advocates for secularism in Bangladesh.[1]

History

Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee was founded on 19 January 1992 by 101 Bangladeshi activists to seek justice for the genocide carried out during the Bangladesh liberation war led by Jahanara Imam.[2][3][4] Operating in Bangladesh and Britain they claim the policies of the Jamaat-e-Islami are similar to those of the British National Party.[5] The London branch protested against the arrival of Delwar Hossain Sayeedi at a Mosque in East London and demanded his British visa be revoked.[6]

In 2000, the committee's leaders established the secular heritage group Swadhinata Trust to raise youth awareness of, and pride in, Bengali history and culture.[6]

In 2015, leaders of the committee, Justice Mohammad Gholam Rabbani, Shahriar Kabir, and Muntasir Mamun criticised Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia for questioning the number of dead in the Bangladesh Liberation war.[7] Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee in 2016 asked the government to make denial of Bangladesh genocide a crime.[8] It established a European chapter with Tarun Kanti Chowdhury as its president.[9]

Shariar Kabir was elected president and Kazi Mukul was elected general secretary of the committee in 2017.[10] Justice Mohammad Golam Rabbani was elected president of the 31 member advisory board.[10] The general executive board had 61 members.[10]

In 2020, the President of the committee, Shahriar Kabir, asked UN Human Rights Commission to resettle the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to a third country.[11] Describing them as victims of genocide it collected the testimonies of 10 thousand Rohingya refugees.[12] It criticized Muslim extremists who dug out the body of a Ahmadiyya baby from a Muslim graveyard in Brahmanbaria District.[13]

In April 2022, the committee called for the release of a Hindu college teacher detained for "insulting" Islam describing the charges as a conspiracy by religious extremists.[14] It called for a judicial committee to investigate the incident.[15] The committee created People's Inquiry Commission on Fundamentalist and Communal Violence (Gono Commission) with the Parliamentary Caucus on Indigenous and Minorities to investigate religious violence and published a white paper which identified 116 Islamic scholars as money launderers and financiers of terrorism.[16] In response, the Islamic Cultural Forum Bangladesh asked the government to investigate the wealth of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee members.[16] The Minister of Home Affairs, Asaduzzaman Khan, initially supported the report but later changed his position.[16] In June it organized an event criticizing the Digital Security Act and highlighting victims of its use.[17]

Notable members

References
  1. Staff Correspondent (2019-06-27). "Establishing secularism still a challenge". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  2. Shehabuddin, Elora (15 August 2008). Reshaping the Holy: Democracy, Development, and Muslim Women in Bangladesh. Columbia University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0231141574.
  3. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Bangladesh: Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee; its existence in Dhaka; its structure; whether it is national; its aims and objectives; and how it is viewed by the authorities". Refworld. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  4. Staff Correspondent (2013-06-26). "Jahanara Imam's 19th death anniversary today". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  5. Wemyss, Georgie (1 December 2009). The invisible empire: white discourse, tolerance and belonging. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0754673477.
  6. Kibria, Nazli (15 May 2011). Muslims in Motion: Islam and National Identity in the Bangladeshi Diaspora. Rutgers University Press. pp. 104–105. ISBN 978-0813550565.
  7. Report, Star Online (2015-12-22). "'Khaleda still loyal to Pakistani forces'". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  8. Report, Star Online (2016-01-28). "'Endorse Liberation War Denial Crimes Act'". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  9. Staff Correspondent (2016-04-03). "Europe chapter of Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee formed". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  10. Staff Correspondent (2017-01-21). "Shahriar president, Mukul GS of Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  11. Report, Star Online (2020-09-20). "Nirmul Committee urges UN to resettle Rohingya refugees in another country". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  12. Staff Correspondent (2020-09-21). "Nirmul Committee collects 10,000 Rohingya testimonies". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  13. Staff Correspondent (2020-07-12). "'Punish culprits who dug up baby's grave'". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  14. Staff Correspondent (2022-04-08). "Free Hriday Mondal". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  15. Correspondent, Our; Munshiganj (2022-04-16). "Hriday Mondal: Run judicial enquiry into the incident". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  16. Staff Correspondent (2022-06-24). "116 Islamic speakers: ACC to decide on enquiry after review of 'white paper'". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  17. Staff correspondent (2022-06-12). ""Relieve us of this nightmare": Plead those accused in DSA cases". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  18. Murshid, Tazeen M. (2001). "State, Nation, Identity: The Quest for Legitimacy in Bangladesh". In Shastri, Amita; Jeyaratnam Wilson, A. (eds.). The Post-Colonial States of South Asia: Political and Constitutional Problems. Curzon Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-136-11866-1.
  19. Mookherjee, Nayanika (26 November 2009). Sharika Thiranagama, Tobias Kelly (ed.). Traitors: Suspicion, Intimacy, and the Ethics of State-Building. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0812242133.
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