The state minister for information, Mohammad A Arafat, said on Wednesday that everyone involved in recent violence would be brought to justice following a thorough investigation by the judicial inquiry commission.
鈥榃hen I say anyone and everyone that should include everyone, I think that should be clear enough,鈥� the state minister told a group of Dhaka-based correspondents for foreign media while responding to a question about whether members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League, will face investigation for their role in the recent incidents.
鈥榃e don鈥檛 want to distinguish by naming or branding any particular group鈥攁nyone and everyone鈥攂ecause every death, every causality, every injury, everything that went against the peace of the country, that went against the development of the country, that went against the government at the time... For our own interest and also for the greater interest of the country, people of the country, it has to come out,鈥� he said.
鈥業t will come out only through an independent judicial inquiry. We want to find out the truth and let the whole world know the truth,鈥� he added.
The state minister refuted the allegation of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which claimed that to hide its brutality from the global community, the government, in a planned way, shut down the internet.
鈥楾he government鈥檚 position is completely clear. We clearly said the data centre was totally damaged; they burned down the fibre optics cable in some of the places where it was on the surface, somehow they found out,鈥� 聽he said, showing the international media the damage was done to the BTV building.
鈥榃e tried our best to bring it back. And in fact, because of the internet, we became the victims of it... Because of that, some people could manage to spread disinformation, they managed to hold a disinformation campaign against us,鈥� he said.
鈥榃hatever BNP is saying, we are not going to take anything into cognisance,鈥� he said.
Arafat also clarified his comment made in a views exchange meeting between the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and business leaders on Monday, suggesting some of the protesters were drugged.
The state minister said that he did not mention a particular incident.
鈥楽tudents were not there, those who were into violence, many of them, in my constituency also鈥he way they approached, it seemed that many of them were probably under drug,鈥� he said.