AL asks workers to get ready to resist coalition 'repression'

"The oppressors will not be able to escape justice," AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil told a rally in the city yesterday.

He said, "Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will be brought to justice for repression on opposition activists during her 20 months rule." Jalil accused the ruling BNP of killing, in a planned way, probable candidates of the AL for the next general elections.

As part of a countrywide programme, the City Awami Jubo League organised the rally in front of the party office on the Bangabandhu Avenue to protest the killing of former AL lawmaker Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed in Natore.

Jalil said, "Just within three days of Mamtaz Uddin's killing, the hoodlums of the ruling BNP attacked Mujibul Haq Mujib, another former AL lawmaker and whip of the Jatiya Sangsad from Comilla."

Jalil also criticised BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan for his comments on the killing of Mamtaz.

A judicial inquiry committee would have been formed if the government had the good intention of finding out the killers of Mamtaz, he said. "Seeking our opinion on the issue amounts to ridiculing the people," Jalil said while quoting Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan who had told a press conference on Monday that the government was ready to form an inquiry committee if the AL wanted it.

"Why should the government seek the Awami League's opinion on the issue?" asked Jalil. "It's the government's responsibility to trace the killers."

City AL President Mohammad Hanif urged the workers to resist the 'atrocities' of the government through counter measures. "The days to protest repression are gone and now it is time to resist them," he said.

The rally demanded trial of the ministers who had "directed the BNP hit men to kill Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed".

Presided over by Abul Bashar, the rally was also addressed by Dr Mizanur Rahman, Fazlur Rahman Chowdhury, Saidur Rahman Khan, Harunur Rashid, Subrata Pal, Fazlul Haq Atique and Mofazzal Hossain Maya.