Leaders of the Communist Party of Bangladesh on Thursday called on the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government to identify those in the interim government responsible for negligence and punish them, as more than 400 children have so far died of measles in the country.

They made the call at a rally organised by the CPB at the Purana Paltan crossing in the capital Dhaka, protesting against the spread of measles.

The president of the party, Kazi Sazzad Zahir Chandan, chaired the event.

Sazzad Zahir said that some members of the interim government, which ended its tenure on March 17, could not escape responsibility for the ongoing measles outbreak, as their negligence had led to the deaths of more than 400 children in the country.

He called on the BNP-led government to identify those responsible and give them exemplary punishment for the killings of the children.

Abdullah Al Kafee Ratan, general secretary of the party, urged the BNP-led government to take adequate steps to treat measles patients and ensure a vaccination programme to contain the disease.

CPB central leader Fazlur Rahman said that measles treatment was expensive and that, as a result, many children from poor families died during the outbreak.

Central leaders Luna Noor, Sukanta Safi Chowdhury, Saiful Islam Samir and Sadequr Rahman Shamim, among others, spoke at the rally.

The rally was followed by a protest procession that paraded different city roads.