A faction of the Supreme Court Bar Association on Thursday urged the government to stop arresting and harassing opposition leaders and activists without first identifying the perpetrators, responsible for the destruction of state properties during the student quota reform movement.
The faction, comprising pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawyers and led by the SCBA president AM Mahbub Uddin Khokan, made the call at a press conference held in the association鈥檚 auditorium.
Mahbub also asked the government to immediately disclose the names and addresses of those killed during the movement, as newspapers reported the deaths of several hundred protesters.
He claimed that several ministers from the ruling Awami League delivered incendiary speeches that incited activists and leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League to attack the peaceful protests of the general students.
Mahbub cited reports of the arrest of Biozitbostami Thana unit Shramik League president Didarul Alam on charges of setting three Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation buses on fire. Various newspapers reported this incident on July 24.
He said that Didarul admitted to the police that there was an agreement between him and a person named Sohel, in which Didarul would be paid Tk 4 lakh for setting the BRTC buses on fire.
In a separate news briefing, the association secretary, however, expressed doubts about whether the arrested individual was actually a ruling party leader.
He asserted that leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh were responsible for the destruction of state property during the student movement, which was subsequently used by the opposition to try to oust the government.