Jatiyo Smriti Shoudho

Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the Father of Nation (Bangladesh)

5 Bangabandhu killers hanged

Govt goes for execution 14 hours after review petition rejected; bodies sent to their village homes with police escort

Clockwise: Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed Shariful Islam, Kailash Sarkar and Ashutosh Sarkar

Five condemned killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were hanged early today at Dhaka Central Jail amid tight security.
The death sentences of the five were executed around 14 and a half hours after the Appellate Division dismissed their pleas to review the Supreme Court verdict that confirmed capital punishment to 12 former army officers including the five petitioners on November 19 last year.
The dismissal paved the way for executing the five killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members any time within January 31.
"Sultan Shahriar Rashid and Syed Farooq Rahman were the first to walk the gallows at 12:05am. They were handcuffed and their heads were covered in black hoods in the final minutes to midnight," Dhaka Deputy Commissioner Zillar Rahman told The Daily Star soon after he walked out of the jail premises around 1:45am.
Two hangmen put two nooses around the necks of the two condemned killers. Two other hangmen--Hafiz and Shahjahan--were ready to pull levers to slide apart the scaffolds.
It was 12:05am. Dhaka Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam dropped a handkerchief from his hand to give signal to the hangmen. The two chief hangmen pulled the levers.
Sultan Shahriar and Farooq were kept hanging for half an hour to confirm their death, witnesses said.
At 12:35am, two other killers of Bangabandhu--AKM Mohiuddin and Bazlul Huda--were brought to the gallows. They were also executed in a similar fashion.
Then it was the turn for Mohiuddin Ahmed. He was brought to a gallows at 1:05am and was hanged following all rituals.
The authorities had taken up a three-layer security measure for the execution.
Members of Rapid Action Battalion, police and armed police battalion were deployed around Dhaka Central Jail. Vehicular movement was restricted on the road in front of the jail gate.
Besides, law enforcement and intelligence agencies were kept alert across the country to avert any untoward incident.
As the news spread earlier that the five convicts would be executed, several hundred people started gathering at the jail gate in the evening, reported our staff correspondents Rashidul Hasan and Shaheen Mollah. A lot of people brought out processions in different parts of the capital including Bangabandhu's residence in Dhanmondi and Dhaka University campus.
Civil Surgeon Mushfiqur Rahman, Inspector General (Prisons) Ashraful Islam Khan, Deputy Commissioner Zillar Rahman, four magistrates led by the Dhaka district additional deputy commissioner, Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque arrived at the jail after 10:00pm yesterday.
Jail sources said they bathed the convicts around 11:00am. Around half an hour later the civil surgeon and two other doctors conducted medical check-ups of the convicts.
Earlier, the two gallows beside the condemned cells in the jail were prepared for the execution.
The compound was lit with floodlights around 11:00pm last night.
The bodies of the five were sent to their village homes by five ambulances by 3:30am under police and Rab escort after conducting post mortem, said Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam.
People were seen throwing shoes at an ambulance carrying one of the dead bodies.
The five hangmen who performed the execution are Hafiz, Mohammad Shahjahan, Faruq, Raju and Sanwar.

Our Tribute
Today the long-awaited judgement in the Bangabandhu murder case will be announced after 34 years of the killings. On this occasion we publish a special supplement recollecting the gruesome events, the related conspiracies and the roles of some prominent actors. We publish this to remind our readers of those shameful events that so fundamentally changed the course of the nation and moved us away from the ideals of the Liberation War. The contents of the supplement are based on court documents and published materials.
-- Editor

(Bangabandhu) Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975) charismatic leader, President and Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Bangabandhu, the architect of Bangladesh, was a founding member of the East Pakistan Muslim Students League (est. 1948), one of the founding joint secretaries of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (est. 1949), general secretary of the awami league (1953-1966), president of the Awami League (1966-1974), president of Bangladesh (in absentia from 26 March 1971 to 11 January 1972), prime minister of Bangladesh (1972-24 January1975), president of Bangladesh (25 January 1975-15 August 1975). Born on 17 March 1920 in the village Tungipara under the gopalganj Sub-division (currently district) in the district of Faridpur, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's father, Sheikh Lutfar Rahman, was a serestadar in the civil court of Gopalganj. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman passed his matriculation from Gopalganj Missionary School in 1942, IA (Twelfth Grade) from Islamia College, Calcutta in 1944 and BA from the same College in 1947. In 1946, Mujib was elected general secretary of the Islamia College Students Union. He was an activist of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League and a member of the All-India Muslim League Council from 1943 onwards. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman As an activist he had been a supporter of the Suhrawardhy-Hashim faction of the Muslim League. During the 1946 general elections, the Muslim League selected Mujib for electioneering in Faridpur district. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was one of the principal organisers behind the formation of the East Pakistan Muslim Students League (est. 1948). After partition (1947), he got himself admitted into the university of dhaka to study law but was unable to complete it, because, he was expelled from the University in early 1949 on charge of "inciting the fourth-class employees" in their agitation against the University's indifference towards their legitimate demands. Sheikh Mujib's active political career began with his election to one of the posts of joint secretaries of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (1949). As a political prisoner, he was then interned in Faridpur jail. In 1953, Sheikh Mujib was elected general secretary of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League, a post that he held until 1966 when he became president of the party. Like his political mentor huseyn shaheed suhrawardy, Mujib also underscored the importance of party organisation and management. To organise the party, he resigned from the Cabinet of ataur rahman khan (1956-58) and devoted himself to the task of taking the party to grassroots level. A charismatic organiser, Sheikh Mujib had established his firm control over the party. He had the mettle to revive the Awami League in spite of the fact that his political guru, HS Suhrawardy, was in favour of keeping political parties defunct and work under the political amalgam called National Democratic Front. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman entered parliamentary politics first in 1954 through his election as a member of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly on the united front ticket. He was also a member of the Pakistan Second Constituent Assembly-cum-Legislature (1955-1958). Sheikh Mujib was a pragmatic politician. In the Pakistan state, he appeared as the undaunted advocate of the Bengali interests from the start. He was among the first language prisoners. However, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman grew in political eminence in the early 1960s. Through his organising ability Mujib was able to salvage the Awami League from a series of defections and exit of various factions from the mainstream party. He reorganised the Awami League and put it on a firm foundation. In 1966, he announced his famous six-point programme, calling it 'Our [Bengalis'] Charter of Survival', which aimed at self-rule for East Pakistan. Struck sharp at the roots of West Pakistani dominance, the six-point programme at once drew the attention of the nation. Though conservative elements of all political parties looked at it with consternation, it instantaneously stirred the younger generation, particularly the students, youth and working classes. Disturbed by the radical political views of Sheikh Mujib, the Ayub regime put him behind bars. A sedition case, known as agartala conspiracy case, was brought against him. It may be noted that during most of the period of the Ayub regime Mujib was in jail, first from 1958 to 1961 and then from 1966 to early 1969. During the second term in jail, Mujib's charisma grew so much that a mass uprising took place in his favour in early 1969 and Ayub administration was compelled to release him on 22 February 1969 unconditionally. On the following day of his release, the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad (All Parties Students Action Committee) organised a mass reception to him at ramna racecourse (now, Suhrawardy Uddyan) and accorded him the title 'Bangabandhu' (Friend of the Bengalis). In him they saw a true leader who suffered jail terms for about twelve years during the 23 years of Pakistani rule. Twelve years in jail and ten years under close surveillance, Pakistan, to Sheikh Mujib, indeed proved to be more a prison than a free homeland. The general elections of December 1970 made Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the sole spokesman of East Pakistan. The people gave him the absolute mandate in favour of his six-point doctrine. Now it was his turn to implement it. Mujib was so serious about the six-point that on 3 January 1971, he held a solemn ceremony at Ramna Race Course with all the East Pakistan representatives and took an oath never to deviate from the six-point idea when framing the constitution for Pakistan. Mujib's most uncompromising stand on the six-point programme led ZA Bhutto and Yahya's military junta to take a stringent view. Instead of allowing the Sheikh to form the government, the junta resolved to undo the results of the elections. President Yahya Khan cancelled unilaterally the National Assembly meet Dhaka scheduled to be held at on 3 March 1971. The announcement triggered off the death-knell of Pakistan. Mujib called an all-out non-cooperation movement in East Pakistan. The whole province supported the non-cooperation movement. During the course of non-cooperation (2-25 March 1971) the entire civil authorities in East Pakistan came under the control and directives of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, himself becoming the de facto head of government of the province. During this time, on 7 March Mujib made a historic address at a mammoth gathering at the Race Course which marked a turning point in the history of the Bengali nation. In his address Mujib made specific charges against the Martial Law authorities which failed to transfer power to the elected representatives. At the end of his speech, he made a clarion call, saying: "Build forts in each homestead. You must resist the Pakistani enemy with whatever you have in hand..Remember, we have given a lot of blood, a lot more blood we shall give if need be, but we shall liberate the people of this country, Insha Allah [ie, if God blessed]..The struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation; the struggle this time is the struggle for independence." Meanwhile, President Yahya Khan and other leaders from West Pakistan came to Dhaka on 15 March to start a dialogue with Sheikh Mujib and his party. The dialogue began on the following day and continued intermittently down to 25 March morning. During the period, non-cooperation and hartals continued relentlessly. Students and leaders of various political parties had been declaring independence from March 2 and the spree continued down to 25 March. At mid-night of 25 March 1971, the Pakistan army launched its brutal crackdown in Dhaka. Sheikh Mujib was arrested and kept confined at Dhaka Cantonment until he was lifted to West Pakistan for facing trial for sedition and inciting insurrection. Although during the war of liberation was begun in the wake of the 25 March army crackdown Bangabandhu had been a prisoner in the hands of Pakistan, he was made, in absentia, the President of the provisional government, called the mujibnagar government, formed on 10 April 1971 by the people's representatives to head the Liberation War. He was also made the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Throughout the period of the War of Liberation, Sheikh Mujib's charisma worked as the source of national unity and strength. After the liberation of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971 from Pakistani occupation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was released from Pakistan jail and via London he arrived in Dhaka on 10 January 1972. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman headed the first government of the post-liberation Bangladesh for a period of three years and a half. Starting from scratch his government had to deal with the countless problems of a war ravaged country. Restoring law and order, rehabilating the mukhtijodhas, restoring the ruptured communication system, saving lives of the people hostile to the War of Liberation from the public wrath, and, most importantly, feeding the hungry millions and many other problems bedeviled his administration. Sheikh Mujib created Rakshi Bahini to restore law and order and recover illegal arms, but the system failed and brought in its trail considerable unpopularity for his government. Corruption and black marketing became rampant. Famine was taking its tolls by the thousands. Confused and perturbed Mujib, depending on his charisma, made a "Second Revolution" by establishing a one-party BAKSAL and District Governor system. But the measures made him further alienated from the people and his own party. Taking advantage of his precarious situation, a group of army adventurers assassinated him along with all his other family members on 15 August 1975. [Harun-or-Rashid]

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Victory day in 1971

Dhaka, Dec 16 (DPA) Tens of thousands of people Tuesday thronged the National Mausoleum to pay tribute to Bangladesh’s liberation war heroes on the occasion of Victory Day, while activists called for the country’s war criminals of 1971 to be brought to justice.Celebrating the nation’s 38th Victory Day, the activists also urged voters to refrain from voting for war criminals, some of whom are running for national elections Dec 29.

The Bangladesh Sector Commander Forum - a group of war veterans lobbying the government to prosecute those who committed crimes against humanity during the war - claims 14 candidates are among over 11,000 war criminals identified by a fact-finding committee.

The 14 are mostly running for Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islam, a religion-based party that opposed independence and is now a major partner in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led electoral alliance.

Bangladeshi historians say at least three million people were killed and over 200,000 women were abused by West Pakistani forces and their local agents during the nine-month armed struggle that ended with West Pakistan troops’ surrender Dec 16, 1971.

Pakistan was created as a divided nation, with its eastern and western sectors separated by more than 1,500 km of Indian territory, at the time of independence from Britain in 1947.

The 1971 war between the two sides, then known as East Pakistan and West Pakistan, led to the formation of Bangladesh in the east.

At Tuesday’s ceremony, President Iajuddin Ahmed, former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, and liberation war veterans joined thousands of people to pay homage to the war victims.

This year’s celebration came only two weeks ahead of the general elections aimed at returning the country to democracy after almost two years of army-led emergency rule.

“Now it’s time to strengthen our democratic systems further through rendering them more effective. All we need today is every individual’s earnest cooperation, irrespective of cast or creed,” said President Ahmed.