Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam has said the massacre at Shapla Chattar in 2013 was carried out to secure the Awami government's power permanently.
Shafiqul made the comment while speaking at a shadow parliamentary debate competition on the Shapla Chattar massacre, held at the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC), on Friday.
He said: "International human rights groups claim that 60 to 61 people were killed in the Shapla Chattar incident, whereas Hefazat claims that thousands were killed. To determine the truth, I believe Hefazat has a role here. Hefazat should conduct its own research and present the actual number of deaths and the identities of those who died."
"Around February 28, 2013, the day of the verdict announcement of Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayeedi's death sentence, a horrific massacre took place. At that time, I was working in journalism, and across the country, I counted 130 to 132 deaths. On February 28 and March 1, brutal killings occurred. Additionally, in December 2013, many BNP-affiliated youths were forcibly disappeared.
“Some claim that 24 people vanished, while others say 18 were abducted. They have never been found. In Bangladesh's history, such a large-scale enforced disappearance had never occurred before," he continued.
Shafiqul said: "The year 2013 was a dreadful year for Bangladesh. Another massacre occurred in April of that year. The culmination of 2013's events was the January 5, 2014, election."
He said the interim government is willing to prosecute all enforced disappearances and killings that took place under Sheikh Hasina's rule, adding that investigations into disappearances under the fascist regime are ongoing. "However, the government is prioritizing the July killings."
Shafiqul urged everyone to be patient and give the government time to carry out this process.
The debate competition, titled "The Awami Government Orchestrated the Shapla Chattar Massacre Out of Fear of Losing Power," was organized by Debate for Democracy.
The participants included Ta’ Mirul Millat Kamil Madrasa and Tanzimul Ummah Alim Madrasa.
