Sarjis Alam, chief organiser for the northern region of the National Citizen Party, has asserted that no one should even contemplate elections in Bangladesh until Sheikh Hasina is sentenced to death.
Speaking at the Rayer Bazar cemetery in Dhaka on Tuesday (4 March) after paying respects at the graves of those slain during the July-August protests, Sarjis vowed that justice must be served before any political discourse can resume.
“A grieving mother cries for her son’s lifeless body, a brother mourns those slain at the behest of a tyrant. Until we witness that tyrant—Hasina—on trial, standing before the gallows, we cannot afford to think of anything else,” he declared.
He further warned that no political party or individual should entertain any other agenda before ensuring her prosecution.
Addressing the matter of unclaimed bodies from the protests, Sarjis rejected the term "unidentified", stating, “It is our failure that we have yet to ascertain their identities, but each of them had a name, a family, and a story.”
He confirmed that DNA samples have been collected from the unidentified bodies, though he acknowledged that processing these results would take some time.
Earlier in the day, following the official inauguration of the National Citizen Party, leaders and activists gathered at the National Memorial in the morning to pay tribute to the martyrs of 1971.
Subsequently, party convener Nahid Hasan, member secretary Akhtar Hossain, and other central leaders visited the cemetery to honour those who perished in the July-August movement.
