Thousands of demonstrators burst into fury and vowed to intensify the ongoing mass protests across the country as the body of cyber-warrior architect Ahmed Rajib Haider Shuvo lay in state at Shahbagh Projonma Chattar on Saturday afternoon.
The protesters also promised to avenge the killing of Rajib, who was chopped to death on his way home from the Shahabagh demonstration on Friday night, and some incidents of a backlash were already reported.
Touching the body of Rajib, brought to the venue by pallbearers around 5:45pm for Namaj-e-Janaza after Asr prayers, they also vowed to continue with their non-stop movement with a greater goal of rebuilding Bangladesh on the ideals and spirit of independence.
The protesters chanted various slogans in protest against the killing of Rajib, one of the organisers of the Shahbagh uprising, surrounding the body of the new-generation freedom fighter.Enraged over his death, they chanted fiery slogans like ‘Shaheed Rajib er rokto amader dhomonite (Rajib’s blood flowing in our vein)’ and ‘Aar noy protirodh, ebar hobe protishodh (no more prevention, its time for taking revenge)’.
Members of Muktijoddha Sangsad gave ‘guard of honour’ to Rajib, terming him ‘a freedom fighter of the new generation’.
As the dawn broke, people from all walks of life, including students of schools, colleges and universities, all wearing black badges, thronged the ‘Projonma Chattar’ to pay their last respects to Rajib and protest the killing of the crusader.
The protestors called for listing the names of Jamaat-Shibir men of each para, mohalla and village all over the country to take action against their acts of “terrorism and killings”.
Tens of thousands of people from all walks of life joined Rajib’s funerals.
Sajib Wazed Joy, son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, paid tributes to the slain blogger-turned-protest organiser by placing wreaths on his coffin and joined his mass funeral.
An IT expert, Joy, also grandson of father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, expressed solidarity with the youth-led movement demanding execution of all war criminals.
After janaza at around 6:00pm, the body was being taken on last ride to his village home in Kapasia upazila of Gazipur at night to be laid to rest at family graveyard on Sunday morning.
Rajib Haider used to write in blog under the pseudonym ‘Thaba-Baba’, which earned him the ire of the assailants.
Earlier in the morning, the agitators also observed one-minute silence to venerate the slain Rajib at the Shahbagh square, the cradle of the youth-led popular movement demanding capital punishment of the war criminals.
The organisers on Friday night went back to their round-the-clock movement instead of seven-hour programme which they had declared hours before the death.
As the news of killing the Rajib spread, thousands of people, mostly students of different educational institutions, including Dhaka University, retuned to the bastion after 11:00pm Friday and passed their night at Ganojagaran Mancha protesting the murder.
The protesters were carrying banners inscribed with the demand for exemplary punishment to the killers of Rajib.
Cultural personally Ramendu Majumder and film-actor ATM Shamsuzzaman also joined the protest in the morning.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited the slain Rajib’s residence at Pallabi around 3:45pm and consoled the bereaved family members. The premier stayed with the family members for 25 minutes.
Sheikh Hasina said, “Jamaat is not a democratic party. Jamaat-Shibir has no right to do politics in the country. They will not be spared anymore.”
The prime minister also said that they (government) would not spare the killers of Rajib and also sought cooperation of the people in nabbing those involved in the killing. Earlier in the morning, home minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir visited the victim’s house and assured the family of giving exemplary punishment to the killers. IGP Hasan Mahmud Khandkar also visited the spot.
Meanwhile, six Indian youths came to Bangladesh riding bicycles from Kolkata to join the Shahbagh uprising to express their solidarity with the countrywide protests against the war criminals.
The six Indian nationals are team-leader Chandan Saurab, Sattyjit Ray, Gautam Sarkar, Subrata Sarkar, Debanchan Chakrabarty and Sanarvo Chakrabarty.
Bangladesh expatriate in the USA Mohammad Hasan Nawaz also joined the team.
They entered Bangladesh through Chuadanga border on Friday to join the Shahbagh uprising and to pay tribute to language movement martyred heroes Salam, Jabbar and Rafiq. The team will reach Dhaka on February 20 on the eve of the International Mother Language Day.
A procession of Institute of Architects Bangladesh with a banner that reads “we want death penalty for all war criminals and punishment of the killers of Rajib” joined the protest.
On February 5, the Shahbagh protest broke out just hours after the verdict sentencing Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah to life in jail when an online activists’ group, Blogger and Online Activists Network, gave a call through online social networks to wage protests against the verdict.
The Shahbgah bastion sparked off countrywide protests against the ICT-2 verdict that sentenced Quader Molla to life in jail while people of the country demand capital punishment.
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