Last weekend as hundreds marched from College Street to Esplanade to protest against the alleged rape and murder of a student and the intolerance of the state government towards any form of agitation,among those who participated was Khaledur Rahaman Shakil. It was a coincidence that Shakil,a prominent leader of the Shahbag movement in Dhaka,happened to be in Kolkata and chose to be a part of the agitation. He found resonance of the Shahbag movement in Kolkatas protest march. In February,Shakil and other student leaders had staged a non-stop protest for 17 days in Dhaka. They were joined by thousands who demanded death for war criminals. Much like this rally,one of the principal charges the war criminals are facing in Bangladesh relate to abusing and torturing women. The rally in Kolkata is an inspiration for me to renew my revolve to fight against such crimes and to realise that all over the world,protests against atrocities on women have a unanimity, said Shakil as he walked with the procession. The 34-year-old leader was here to build up support of the Bangalis on this side of the border for his movement in Bangladesh. Shakil has planned a couple of progammes in Kolkata and Siliguri to highlight the issues for which a large number of students in Bangladesh are fighting and also demanding capital punishment for war criminals. Our movement,which began on February 5,was not for our country alone. It is a movement against fundamentalism all over the world. We have started campaigning in several European countries and America. The youth of Bangladesh will not rest till they defeat fundamentalists who are present in every country, he said. Prior to the Shahbag movement,Shakil had organised protests against fundamentalists in Dhaka that lasted for many days. Shakil is the convenor of the Juddhaparadhi Bichar Mancha,a forum demanding justice against war crimes. The movement started in the University of Dhaka in 2009 when Shakil and others demonstrated for 30 days,demanding that war criminals be tried and death penalty be awarded to convicted criminals. Shakil is the son of a mukti yoddha (freedom fighter),Shahidul Rehman. Shakils commitment to the cause has taken him to 11 European countries where he has organised conventions to spread awareness about the movement against war criminals and to drive home the point that the issue is an emotive one for Bangladeshs youth,who have not seen the actual war but witnessed its trauma during family discourses. In 11 European countries like the UK,Sweden,Switzerland we have units of the Mancha. Every committee has at least 30 members who collect funds for the organisation. We have more than 10,000 members who have donated for the cause, he said. Shakil admits that the movement has subdued a bit and the results of four city corporations polls,in which fundamentalist forces scored over the ruling Awami League,has been a setback. But he says that the same passion can be ignited among people in case the Bangladesh government fails to punish war criminals. We have 1,795 war criminals on the list and 14 of them are being tried. The government has announced death penalty for two,which is a success of the Shahbag movement. It is a matter of time before the orders are executed. We want the government to implement the courts orders as soon as possible, said Shakil. Shakil,who was stabbed by alleged Bangladeshi JEI activists in 2011,is aware that the JEI has followers in West Bengal. He is also aware that Jamat-e-Islami had organised rallies in Kolkata against the arrest of alleged war criminals in Dhaka. This is one more reason for my visit to meet as many people as possible and explain why fundamentalist forces need to be uprooted from both sides of the border. I am hopeful of the support of Kolkata and its people. We are divided only by a political border; we speak the same language and have the same sense of justice, added Shakil.
