Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Sunday described the attack on eminent writer and educationist Professor Mohammed Zafar Iqbal as an 'evil design' to create unrest in the country.
"Radical communal forces carried out the attack on Professor Zafar Iqbal," he told newsmen while conducting a leaflet distribution campaign in the city's Baitul Mokarram Market area to make successful the Awami League's public rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on March 7.
Terming the incident as an attack on freethinking and non-communal spirit of Liberation War, the minister said the behind the scene perpetrators of the attack should be brought to justice and there is no scope of negligence in this regard.
Quader said though the radical forces got weakened, they are yet to be inactive. "The communal forces are active at the underground. They are showing their existence at times," he added.
The Awami League general secretary said the government has taken all-out measures immediately after the attack on Prof Iqbal took place.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is always monitoring the matter," he said adding that the Iqbal was taken to Dhaka Combined Military Hospital (CMH) from Sylhet by an air ambulance for better treatment.
About the Awami League's public rally at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan on March 7 marking the anniversary of the landmark 7th March speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the AL general secretary said the programme is very important as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will give necessary directives to keep the country stable overcoming all sorts of conspiracies ahead of the next parliament election.
He said they are conducting the campaign through loudspeakers at 15 key points in the capital and distributing handbills at shopping malls, markets and residential areas.
All steps have been taken to make the rally a historical event, he added.
Awami League Organizing Secretary AKM Enamul Haque Shamim, Office Secretary Dr. Abdus Sobhan Golap, Relief and Social Welfare Secretary Sujit Roy Nandi, Dhaka City South Awami League General Secretary Shahe Alam Murad and Joint General Secretary Kamal Chowdhury were present on the occasion, among others.
Source: BSS