JaPa secretary general calls for ban on Gono Odhikar Parishad

Jatiya Party Secretary General Shamim Haider Patwary has demanded that Gono Odhikar Parishad be banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act, alleging that its activists once again attacked their party office on Friday.

“We strongly condemn and protest this attack. We believe the state and the government must take responsibility for it,” he said while speaking to journalists at the Jatiya Party’s Kakrail office on Friday night (September 5).

Reiterating his demand, Patwary said, “We are calling on the government to ban them. After the kind of terrorist attack carried out at our office today, Gono Odhikar Parishad cannot escape responsibility.”

The JaPa secretary general further said, “Jatiya Party has never set fire to anyone’s office. Those who announce programmes to torch political offices cannot be called a political party—they are a terrorist organisation. Under the RPO law, there is provision for banning such organisations, and we believe Gono Odhikar Parishad falls under that law.”

He alleged that while those creating mobs are not facing legal action or cases, those speaking against such mobs are being threatened with arrest. “A state cannot run like this, a government cannot function like this, nor can it avoid responsibility,” he said.

Patwary demanded that the government, if it truly upholds law and justice, must arrest the attackers within 24 hours and ban Gono Odhikar Parishad.

He welcomed the formation of a judicial inquiry committee into the attack on Nurul Haque Nur but also urged for a similar probe committee into the attack on JaPa’s office.

On Friday evening, miscreants once again attacked, vandalised, and set fire to the Jatiya Party’s central office in Bijoynagar, Dhaka.

Earlier, around 6:30 pm, Gono Odhikar Parishad activists brought out a protest procession from Shahbagh after a solidarity rally, demanding a ban on Jatiya Party’s politics. They marched towards their office in Bijoynagar, where JaPa leaders alleged the attack originated.

Although the situation is now under control, tension prevails around the JaPa office with the presence of law enforcement. The office has faced multiple such attacks in the past.