Dhaka Office: The Maayer Daak members have alleged that they faced restrictions from the police while holding a human wall programme in the capital’s Shahbagh area on Saturday.
It is an organisation formed by family members of forcibly disappeared individuals.
They attempted to form the human wall before the national museum at Shahbagh, marking International Human Rights Day on 10 December, but the police threatened to beat them up and disperse them, they alleged.
The restriction prompted them to leave the spot and hold the programme in the National Press Club area.
”We have been at the peak of human rights violations. The government does not have the courage to hear our words
Maayer Daak coordinator.”- Sanjida Islam
However, the police denied the allegation of exerting force on the Maayer Daak members, saying they did not allow the programme at Shahbagh intersection due to fear of traffic congestion. The participants willingly moved to the National Press Club area without facing any pressure.
Sanjida Islam, coordinator of Maayer Daak, said, “We have the right to stand anywhere in the country, but we have not been allowed today to stand before the national museum at Shahbagh. The government and its law enforcement agencies know better which law empowered them not to allow our programme at Shahbagh.”
She further said, “We have been told that we will not be allowed to stand and speak here (at Shahbagh.) Still, we maintained our position there, but were moved away later through police interventions.”
”If people sit in a crossing in the name of a programme, it leads to traffic congestion in the entire area. Whenever there is a risk of holding sit-ins there, they are moved from the spot.” – DMP DC Ashraf Hossain
The Maayer Daak coordinator went on saying, “The government is not only refraining from trials in cases of enforced disappearance and murder, but also carrying out unjust torture and mass arrests. We have been at the peak of human rights violations. The government does not have the courage to hear our words,” she added.
Ashraf Hossain, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Ramna Division), said nobody is allowed now to hold such programmes at Shahbagh given it is a busy area.
“If people sit in a crossing in the name of a programme, it leads to traffic congestion in the entire area. Whenever there is a risk of holding sit-ins there, they are moved from the spot,” he added.
In the face of clarification that Maayer Daak did not take positions at Shahbagh intersection, rather before the museum, the police officer said they did not allow the programme there as some other organisations held sit-ins at the crossing at different times.
