Family members of Noor Hossain, who embraced martyrdom in police firing on November 10, 1987 during anti-Ershad movements, and different organisations on Monday demonstrated in Dhaka and elsewhere in the county protesting against the comments of Jatiya Party secretary general Moshiur Rahman Ranga dishonouring the brave son of the soil.
The protesters asked the JP secretary general to withdraw his comments and seek apology to the countrymen for his remarks.
Noor Hossain’s family began an indefinite sit-in in front of the National Press Club at 4:00pm on Monday and said that they would continue their protest until Ranga withdrew his comments and seek apology.
Ranga, also a three-time JP MP from Rangpur-1 constituency, at a party discussion on November 10, what his party term ‘democracy day,’ said that Noor Hossain was an addict and used to take drugs like Yaba and Phensedyl and that the bullet that pierced Noor Hossain’s body was not the kind of bullet police used to use that time.
Noor Hossain’s mother Morium Bibi termed Noor Hoosain a son of common people and said Ranga termed the people’s son an addict. ‘If he was an addict, he would not sacrifice his life for the cause of the people.’
‘Moshiur Rahman Ranga called my son an addict after over 32 years of his martyrdom… He will have to seek apology to the people of the country,’ she said.
She said that she had asked her sons to lodge case against Ranga.
Noor Hossain’s brother Ali Hossain said that, after the killing of his brother, the then autocrat HM Ershad went to their home and sought pardon to his father.
‘Ershad also sought apology in the Jatiya Sangsad. We pardoned Ershad then,’ he said.
He wanted to know whether the country had drugs like Yaba and Phensedyl then.
Noor Hossain’s two other brothers Delwar Hossain and Anwar Hossain, sister Sahana Begum and other family members took part in the two-hour sit-in since 4:00pm.
Dhaka south city unit of Juba League burnt effigy of Ranga on Bangabandhu Avenue protesting against the remarks.
In Rangpur, city Awami League from a rally in front of Rangpur Press Club on Monday afternoon, asked Ranga to withdraw his remarks on Noor Hossain and seek apology to the nation.
Addressing the rally, Rangpur city AL general secretary Tushar Kanti Mandal gave Ranga an ultimatum to withdraw his remarks and warned that Ranga would be declared persona non grata in Rangpur if he failed to seek apology by the time.
In a statement, student leaders of anti-autocrat movement including Moshtaq Hossain, Anwarul Huq, Nazmul Huq Prodhan, Ruhin Hossain Prince, Shafi Ahmed, Moshrefa Mishu, Belal Chowdhury and Ragib Ahsan Munna condemned Ranga’s statement and demanded his punishment for the remarks.
Meanwhile, Dhaka University Central Students’ Union in a statement asked Ranga to withdraw his comment on Nur Hossain.
The statement signed by DUCSU Liberation War affairs secretary Sad Bin Quader Chowdhury said that DUCSU believed that all the democracy loving people should protest at Ranga’s comments on Noor Hossain.
Noor Hossain caught the imagination of the nation with the slogans ‘Down with autocracy’ written on his bare chest and ‘Let democracy be free’ on his bare back.
He was participating in a demonstration against the autocratic ruler HM Ershad when the police shot him dead. After his death, the Zero Point was renamed as Noor Hossain Square.
