Nahid Islam Says Failure to Ensure Justice for Shapla Chattar Killings Encouraged ‘July 2024 Massacre’

National Parliament Opposition Chief Whip and National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam on Tuesday said that if justice and accountability had been ensured over the killings at Shapla Chattar in 2013, the government would not have dared to commit “another massacre” in July 2024.

Speaking at a discussion titled “Shapla Massacre: A Decade of Impunity” at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDEB) auditorium in Kakrail, Nahid Islam alleged that the government, state institutions, and several political forces should have been brought under trial for the Shapla Chattar incident.

The event, which also included a documentary screening, was organized by the NCP-backed organization National Olama Alliance.

Nahid Islam said that in 2013, the Shahbag movement demanding trials for war crimes was used by the government as a tool to suppress opposing views. He alleged that the platform was also used to target leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and claimed that “anti-Islam sentiment” had been encouraged during the movement.

According to him, Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh had launched protests in response. While the government might disagree with Hefazat’s 13-point demands, he said, every group in a democratic state has the right to express its views.

He further alleged that firing on “unarmed and sleeping people” constituted a crime against humanity under international law. Nahid Islam claimed that the Shapla Chattar killings had effectively been legitimized and that many actors had helped create the conditions for the violence.

“Because those responsible were never held accountable, the government gained the courage and opportunity to carry out another massacre in July 2024,” he said.

The NCP leader also questioned the role of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), saying that although the party had stood beside Hefazat at the time, its overall role now deserved reassessment. He argued that as the main opposition party, BNP should have taken stronger leadership when a large section of the population was under threat.

Nahid Islam further criticized the political use of madrasa students and Islamic scholars, saying that students had been brought into Dhaka and exposed to deadly violence. He added that all political parties of the time should accept responsibility.

He also called on the current interim government to ensure trials over alleged massacres, enforced disappearances, and crimes against humanity committed during the tenure of the Awami League government.

Commenting on border tensions, Nahid Islam said killings were continuing along the frontier and new barbed-wire fencing was being erected. “No genuine friendship is possible with anyone who kills people at the border while speaking of friendship,” he said.

Writer and thinker Farhad Mazhar also addressed the event and questioned why justice over the Shapla killings had not been achieved during the interim government period.

“If we truly want justice, we must look at ourselves and understand where we made mistakes,” he said, adding that without such reflection, justice for the May 5 incident and other alleged massacres would remain elusive.

Farhad Mazhar further claimed that the global corporate capitalist order, led by the United States, had engineered a “regime change” in Bangladesh after August 5. “They are the ones in power now, not you,” he said.

Among others who spoke at the event were Bangladesh Khilafat Andolon Nayeb-e-Amir Maulana Mujibur Rahman Hamidi, NCP MPs Atik Mujahid and Abdullah Al Amin, NCP Joint Convener Sarwar Tushar, Hefazat-e-Islam Nayeb-e-Amir Maulana Ahmad Ali Qasemi, and Bangladesh Khilafat Andolon Secretary General Maulana Fakhrul Islam.