People from all walks of life gather at Pahartali killing field to demand death penalty for war criminals yesterday. The rally was called by Gonojagoron Mancha, Chittagong.Photo: STAR

Responding to the call of Gonojagoron Mancha, Chittagong, several thousand people of the port city yesterday gathered at Pahartali Badhyabhumi, one of the biggest war-time killing fields of the country, to demand death penalty for war criminals.
The programme started with the patriotic song, “O amar desher mati, tomar pore thekai matha”, performed by Udichi Shilpi Gosthi around 3:30pm. Within thirty minutes, the whole Badhyabhumi turned into a human sea, buzzing with anti-war criminal slogans.
Many elderly people, freedom fighters, and children were also seen shouting slogans. Many rendered patriotic songs to inspire the movement against the communal forces of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir.
Locals from Pahartali and Khulshi, students from different schools and colleges, pedestrians, cultural activists, and people from all walks of life joined the rally and many socio-cultural organisations expressed solidarity with it.
One minute's silence was observed there to show respect to all martyrs of the Liberation War and the blogger Ahmed Rajib Haidar, an activist of the ongoing movement.
Taj Nahar Ripon, one of the girls shouting anti-criminal slogans, said, “We don't want to see life term jail for war criminals. Our only demand is that they be given death penalty. We would not go back home until their death penalty is executed.”
Led by Nirjhar Majumder, coordinator of Blogger and Online Activist Network, Chittagong, the demonstrators took the oath to continue the movement until hanging of the war criminals. Riaz Haider, general secretary of Chittagong Union of Journalists, and Sharif Chauhan, coordinator of “Sampradaikata Birodhi Tarun Uddyag”, conducted the programme.