Grief has been criminalised in B'desh: Hasina's son condemns Bangabandhu anniversary crackdown

Dhaka, Aug 18 Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed has accused the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government for unleashing violence across the country and "criminalising grief" after murals depicting the sacrifices of the 1971 Liberation War were vandalised, prayers were disrupted, and several citizens were arrested for mourning on the death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, considered 'Father of the Nation' in Bangladesh, was brutally assassinated on August 15, 1975, along with several of his family members.

The Yunus regime had scrapped the status of August 15 as the 'National Mourning Day', as it continued to suppress the activities of the Awami League.

Wazed, Former Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, said that on the eve of August 15, Yunus's press secretary openly threatened citizens against organising mourning events.

However, when people defied the warning, he alleged that Yunus-backed police forces "struck with fury," and overnight, teachers, imams, professionals, and community leaders were thrown behind bars. Wazed claimed the innocence of the people jailed and said that "their only crime was loyalty to memory and truth."

Wazed asserted that under the "iron grip" of Yunus, ordinary people, including teachers, students, religious scholars, women, and even rickshaw pullers, have been reduced to "helpless victims, crushed under the weight of his vengeance."

What was once a day of unity and mourning, he said, has now been turned into a "battlefield of fear."

"Across Bangladesh, grief has been criminalised. On August 15, the day that marks the assassination of the nation's founding father, citizens who dared to remember their liberator found themselves hunted, silenced, and dragged into darkness," Wazed posted on X.

He recalled that for decades, the death anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was observed with prayers, when mosques were filled with supplications and communities came together to feed the hungry.

He mentioned how the Liberation War murals stood tall to remind future generations of the sacrifices made to form a free country. But under Yunus's rule, he said, "these sacred traditions have been stolen from the people."

Wazed said that through an "unconstitutional ban", Yunus declared mourning illegal, and when citizens defied his order, choosing dignity over fear, they were made to pay the price.

In Dhaka, he revealed that Yunus's loyal enforcers unleashed terror where livelihoods were torn away as arbitrary arrests swept through neighbourhoods.

Wazed further said that under this "climate of oppression", anyone who mourns the nation's founding father is branded an "enemy of the state -- a cruel irony wrapped in the false pretence of fighting fascism."

"Yunus's goal is chillingly clear -- to erase the memory of the Liberation War, to rewrite history, and to present himself as the so-called 'reset liberator' of Bangladesh," he said.

Raising concerns, Haisna's son also warned that Bangladesh now stands at a dangerous crossroads, adding that the crackdown on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's supporters shows that the "very soul of the Republic is under siege."

Stressing that history stands as a testament to the freedom struggle, Wazed said, "On August 15, Yunus may have tried to bury memory with repression, but in every arrested teacher, every silenced imam, every broken mural, the legacy of Bangabandhu burns brighter still."

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