Before giving blanket indemnity, each incident must be investigated: Anu Muhammad

Gonotantrik Odhikar Committee member and former Jahangirnagar University professor Anu Muhammad believes that before giving blanket indemnity regarding the July mass uprising, each incident must be investigated specifically.

When a journalist questioned about indemnity for the killings of police officers in between July and August 2024, he said, “Specific investigations are necessary so that it can be understood whether those incidents happened as part of the mass uprising or as the result of an individual’s criminal activity”.

He made the remarks this morning at the National Press Club while chairing a press conference, titled “Manifesto for People’s Peace, Comfort, Security, and Democratic Rights.”

The press conference was organised to present a manifesto containing 25 recommendations from the Gonotantrik Odhikar Committee.

In the first point of the manifesto, the platform said that within three years, the next elected government must complete full trials of Sheikh Hasina and all leaders and activists of the Awami League, as well as bureaucrats, police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and members of the armed forces who were responsible for the killings during July uprising.

The manifesto also called for a transparent judicial investigation into how more than 600 Awami League leaders and activists fled to India, and for bringing those who helped them escape under the law.

At the press conference, the manifesto was read out by Gonotantrik Odhikar Committee members Akram Khan, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, and Sushmita S Preetha. Prof Samina Lutfah of Dhaka University was also present.