Mourning day observed to protest killings in Phulbari

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The National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas-Mineral Resources-Electricity-Port observed mourning day yesterday across the country paying tribute to the innocent people who perished as law enforcers opened fire on a demonstration in Phulbari coalmine area in Dinajpur on Saturday.

The committee will organise countrywide agitation today and observe a half-day countrywide hartal tomorrow demanding immediate cancellation of Phulbari open-pit coalmine project and expulsion of Asia Energy Corporation (AEC), the UK based company operating the Phulbari coalmine project, from the country.

Wearing black badges and carrying black flags, hundreds of the people from all walks of life gathered at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital yesterday and observed a two-minutes silence to commemorate the dead as part of the countrywide mourning programme.

The committee’s Member Secretary Anu Muhammad said the northern part of the country would turn into a desert if open-pit mining were done in Phulbari.

He also said people tried to lay siege to the office of AEC in Phulbari peacefully but law enforcers intercepted the demonstrators about half-a-kilometre from the AEC office. The police and BDR fired shots to kill the participants of the programme when they were starting to return.

“The law enforcers opened fire on agitated people without any provocation,” alleged Anu Muhammad, also a professor of the department of economics at Jahangirnagar University.

Eminent academician Serajul Islam Chowdhury said thousands of people in the area will be without shelters, while the environment and water level in the surrounding areas will be seriously damaged if the AEC extracts coal by open-pit mining method.

Committee Convenor Engineer Shahidullah presided over the mourning rally where Communist Party General Secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal Convenor Khalekuzzaman, leftist leader Nirmal Sen and members of civil society were present.

Activists of Awami League’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), Workers Party, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) and Ganomukti Andolan also participated in the rally.

The committee also demanded investigation into the killings, punishment for the people responsible and compensation for the injured and families of the deceased.

The committee also expressed solidarity with the locals call for indefinite hartal in Phulbari and its adjacent areas.

A mourning procession was brought out following the rally that marched different streets of the capital.

CONDEMNATION
Seven human rights and environment organisations yesterday condemned the excessive use of force and killing of demonstrators in Phulbari. They issued a protest statement signed by Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) Executive Director Sultana Kamal, Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) Executive Director Shamsul Huda, Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (Bela) Director Syeda Rezwana Hassan, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (Blast) Executive Director Taslimur Rahman, Centre for Sustainable Development (CFSD) Secretary General Mahfuz Ullah, Nari Pakkha Convener Maheen Sultana and Nijera Kari Co-ordinator Khushi Kabir.

They urged the government to cancel the open-pit-mining in Phulbari area for the greater interest of the country.

Different political, social, cultural, human rights and environmental organisations including Dhaka University Teachers Association (Duta), Bangladesh Sramajibi Kendra, Society of Justice, Environment and Social Development Organisation, Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Bangladesh Jubo Union, Gono Mukti Andolan, Bangladesh Awami Jubo League, National Front of Teachers and Employees, left-leaning five-party and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) demanded investigation into the killings, punishment for the people responsible and compensation for the injured and families of the deceased.

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