Live Correspondent: Bangabandhu parishad, a pro-ruling Awami League platform, on Tuesday demanded legal action against writer Imtiaz Ahmed for allegedly presenting false and distorted information on Bangladesh’s founding president, the War of Independence and the genocide of 1971.

A statement signed by the platform’s acting president AAMS Arefin Siddique and general secretary ABM Faroque said that Imtiaz’s book Historicising 1971 Genocide: State Versus Person contained issues of allegations.

‘In the book, Imtiaz did not use Bangabandhu even once before Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s name. The book also said that the liberation movement was the Awami league’s political vehicle, which anti-liberation forces often say,’ the statement said.

‘Imtiaz’s book said that Sheikh Mujib said Joy Bangla and Joy Pakistan during his March 7, 1971 speech and raised his doubts over the number of martyrs in the War of Independence,’ the statement read.

According to the press release, retired judge AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik accused Dhaka University’s international relations department professor and the Centre for Genocide Studies director Imtiaz Ahmed of distorting the liberation war’s history.

In a statement on April 2, Imtiaz Ahmed denied the allegations and said, ‘The allegations have surprised me. I believe there has been some misunderstanding due to incorrect explanation of some parts of the book.’

Dhaka, 05 April (campuslive24.com)//CM