No room for anti-liberation elements, killers: PM

Accusing again the anti-liberation elements of their involvement in the killings of Bangabandhu and the four national leaders, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said there will be no room for the killers and their cohorts in the country.

“There will be no place for Rajakars, Al Badrs, Al Shams and the killers of Bangabandhu and the four national leaders and their cohorts on the soil of Bangladesh in future,” she told a discussion at Krishibid Institute, Bangladesh (KIB) Auditorium at Farmgate in the capital this afternoon.

Bangladesh Awami League organized the discussion marking the Jail Killing Day.

Calling upon the countrymen to stay alert to prevent the anti-liberation forces and the killers from returning to power, Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, said, “We’ll never compromise with any sorts of injustice.”

The premier added: “We’ve been able to execute the verdict of capital punishment against the killers of the Father of the Nation, four national leaders and war criminals after holding their trials as the people voted us to power time and again.”

Sheikh Hasina said the government is currently collecting information of the fugitive killers of Bangabandhu and the four national leaders to bring them to justice.

Referring to the ill efforts of the anti-liberation elements to erase the name of the Father of the Nation from the history of the Liberation War, she said, “They wanted to erase the name of Bangabandhu from the history. But they could not succeed as it was impossible to delete his name from the history.”

“So, cohorts and patrons of the war criminals and killers (of Bangabandhu and four national leaders) will surely be brought to book one day,” she asserted.

The premier sounded a note of warning against any move to foil independence of the country which had been achieved by the sacrifice of millions of people.

AL General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader gave the welcome address at the discussion, jointly conducted by AL Publicity Secretary and Information Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud and Deputy Publicity Secretary Aminul Islam Amin.

AL Advisory Council Members Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed, Presidium Members Mohammad Nasim, Advocate Abdul Matin Khasru and Advocate Sahara Khatun, MP, spoke on the occasion.

AL Joint General Secretaries Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, noted writer Anisul Hoque, AL Organizing Secretary Barrister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury Nowfel, MP, party’s central executive committee members Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Bir Bikram, and Anwar Hossain, Dhaka North City Awami League President AKM Rahmatullah, MP, and Dhaka South City Awami League General Secretary Shahe Alam Murad also took part in the discussion.

At the outset of the discussion, a minute’s silence was observed in memory of the four national leaders — Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam, Captain Monsur Ali and AHM Kamaruzzaman — who were brutally killed inside the Dhaka Central Jail on November 3 in 1975.

Sheikh Hasina, also President of Bangladesh Awami League, said Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) founding president Ziaur Rahman had a link with the killings of the Father of the Nation and the four national leaders.

“History denotes who were behind these killings. Ziaur Rahman was involved in the conspiracy with Mustaque in carrying out the heinous killings,” she said.

Describing November 3 as a black spot in the history, the Prime Minister said, “The killers were allowed to enter the jail (Dhaka Central Jail) with firearms on the plea of discussion at the directive of killer Mustaque.

They killed the four national leaders and bayoneted them to confirm their deaths.” The premier added: “The killers tried to portray the assassination of the Father of the Nation along with most of his family members on August 15, 1975, as an attack on a family.

But after the killings of the four national leaders in jail on November 3, it had become clear to all that the defeated anti-liberation forces had carried out the heinous killings.”

“The killings were a retaliation of the anti-liberation forces against the Father of the Nation and four national leaders for their uncompromising leadership in the War of Liberation,” she continued.

Sheikh Hasina said, “The killers were given foreign postings rather to bring them to book,” adding that an indemnity ordinance was passed at that time to stop the trial in the Bangabandhu killing case whereas no indemnity was given to the Jail Killing Case.

“But such a law was framed in our country. Our right to seek justice was denied,” she said. The premier said her government scrapped the black law 21 years after the assassination of Bangabandhu and executed the verdict after assuming office through the 2008 elections.

Sheikh Hasina blasted Ziaur Rahman and his wife Khaleda Zia for patronizing the killers of Bangabandhu and four national leaders, freeing the Pakistani collaborators from jail and giving them positions in the government in different times since 1975.

The premier highly criticized Ziaur Rahman as he made Shah Azizur Rahman the 0Prime Minister who went to the United Nations to stand against the Liberation War and for bringing back war criminal Gulam Azam to the country from Pakistan and allowing him to do politics.

Reiterating her firm commitment to conduct the ongoing drive against militancy, terrorism, narcotics and corruption, she said, “The drive must be continued to reap the benefits of massive development carried out by her government.”

Bitterly criticising the BNP for plundering public money, the premier said the BNP chief and her two sons were involved in looting money and patronised the acts of militancy and corruption. “Khaleda Zia herself embezzled money from an orphanage trust,” she said, adding that they did not want the welfare of the people as Khaleda Zia after assuming office lowered down the food and electricity production and stopped the operation of community clinics.

Referring to the BNP’s movement in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the premier said they burnt people to death to foil the parliamentary polls. The AL president alleged that BNP after assuming office ran countrywide mayhem. The premier slammed BNP for patronizing the militancy and terrorism and gave a hint that she was the target of the cross-country bombings on August 17, 2005.

The prime minister said she didn’t know why people are shedding crocodile tears on the treatment of a corrupt like Khaleda Zia. Pointing finger at Tariqe Rahman, she also criticized the BNP leadership for bowing down to a decision of making a fugitive the acting chairperson of the party.

The prime minister said democracy has been restored through a long struggle.“We want to build a sustainable democratic system as it’s the only way for a country to prosper.”

The premier said that all post-1975 governments other than Awami League’s have made their own fortune and created an elite section in the country to make sure their stay in power.

Noting that Bangladesh is now considered as the miracle of development due to the massive development works carried out by the Awami League government, she said, “Many people questioned us how we could do that? I believe the love for people and the country as well with having dutifulness and sense of responsibilities have made it possible.”

The premier once again vowed to make Bangladesh a developed and prosperous country free from poverty and hunger as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.