JU students burn Sayedee effigy over obstruction to freedom fighter Manik Pashari’s burial

Students at Jahangirnagar University (JU) staged a protest and burned an effigy of convicted war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee over allegations that Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists obstructed the burial of freedom fighter Manik Pashari because he had testified against Sayedee at the International Crimes Tribunal.

The protest took place at the university’s Bottola around 8:30pm on Monday (26 October).

Students and representatives at the programme strongly criticised the decision to bury the freedom fighter discreetly under police guard rather than publicly accord him state honours with a guard of honour.

Sohagi Samia, an organiser of the JU unit of Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, and programme moderator Abu Raihan Kabir Russell, a student of the Bangla department’s 49th batch, said using religion as a political shield to obstruct the burial of a Muslim freedom fighter and attempting to erase the history of 1971 were deeply reprehensible. They said the law and justice system had become hostage to those who mobilise mobs.

Manik Pashari, a gazetted freedom fighter from Chitalia village in Pirojpur, was a key witness against Sayedee in the case over crimes against humanity committed in 1971. Following his death on 24 October, local obstruction forced his burial to take place late at night in a highly restricted ceremony attended by police and relatives.