Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder has claimed that at least 58 people were killed in two days of violence centring Hefazat-e-Islam’s May 5 rally at Shapla Chattar in Dhaka’s Motijheel in 2013.
Seven members of security forces were also killed in the violence, he said in a Facebook post on Saturday, May 3.
In the post, he wrote, "When the entire world was confused about the number of deaths in the killings, I along with then Dhaka based former BBC correspondent Mark Damet took this tough taks. We had reached this decision that at least 58 individuals were killed in two days of violence. Among them, seven were security force members."
He added, "For security reasons, I have never been able to reveal this. But, I truely feel a strange joy when my fellow journalist quotes my task."
The deputy press secretary of Chief Adviser made the claim in a time when Hefazat-e-Islam holds a rally at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka today to press home their five-point demand including justice for the killings during the Shapla Chattar crackdown on May 5, 2013.
MU/MSU