The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Chittagong

Awami League presidium member Abdur Razzak yesterday urged the countrymen not to cast their vote for "war criminal jamaat" in the upcoming elections.

"Defeat politically the war criminals through boycott of Jamaat candidates in the local-body and national polls," he made the call at a civic condolence meeting on the late Marshal Sam Manekshaw at Chittagong Municipal School.

Sam Manekshaw, the chief of Indian army during Bangladesh's War of Independence in 1971, passed away on June 26 at a military hospital in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Abdur Razzak, a veteran politician and one of the organizers of the Liberation War, said the sovereignty and existence of Bangladesh would be at high risk if the nation failed to resist them in the upcoming elections.

Stating that war criminals expanded their roots very deep in last 36 years, he said, "It is high time to dig out their roots through bringing them to justice."

Recalling Manekshaw's enormous contributions in achieving independence in 1971, he said due to his uncommon ability to motivate the forces, coupled with a mature war strategy, it was possible to defeat the Pakistani occupation forcers within nine months.

"Manekshaw would be remembered forever among the Bangladeshis for his outstanding role in the liberation war," said the AL leader.