Killers hanged - Bangladesh:

[Assassination]

The founding father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated barely four years after he led his people to freedom from Pakistan rule. India helped Bangladesh in the freedom struggle. Keeping in mind the sacrifice of Indian army and the Indian people in the independence movement of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman sustained a secular government in Bangladesh instead of Islamic system that prevailed during the period of Pakistani rule and maintained a close ties with India which prompted the killers to eliminate him when almost the entire family was wiped out in the massacre. However, it took long 34 years to come to the final decision of upholding the death sentence to the assassins by the Supreme Court. The success of Court verdict rests in the persistent campaign of Awami League guided under the leadership of Sheikh Hashina, the survival daughter of Mujibur Rahaman and the present Prime Minister of Bangladesh, who had vowed to see the killers of her father is brought to justice. Killers were belonging to Islamic parties and many of them were allies of the BNP government- have been roaming free almost four decades. It revealed that 11,000 war criminals were released from jail a few months after Mujib’s assassination indicating a link between the war criminals and those who wanted to see Mujib dead. The wounds inflicted by the killing of Mujibur Rahaman, the Bangabandhu are yet to heal. It is now believed that the execution of few of the killers will speed up the healing process.

Indemnity Ordinance prevented the Court to take any case against the Killers:

Most surprisingly and significantly, all political parties now have, for once, agreed to the verdict  of killers of Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman and 21 members of his family and household, including children and pregnant women. All other political parties know that in the prevailing emotional atmosphere of the country, if they failed to support the Supreme Court Verdict, the people’s support to their parties might be lost totally. It was a known fact that in most of the political killings in the country of Bangladesh, a part of the State was involved, for which reason it was not possible on the part of other party to take quick action against them. Those who came to power after killing on August 15, 1975 were the beneficiaries of the crime and so, the demand for justice did not arise at that time. The ordinance preventing anyone from taking legal action in the case of assassination was promulgated and was later legalized in parliament. Thus the process of justice was barred to take its normal course. Thus it was made impossible to take any legal action by the promulgation of the Indemnity Ordinance, preventing the law enforcing officials to take any case pertaining to the crime. The killers roamed freely with pride and even took credit for the assassination of the entire Mujib family. The chain of assassination had been initiated since then for the capture of power. The struggle for power continued subjecting coups and counter-coups along with killings. The chaotic years followed with the spray of killings terming Bangladesh ‘a legacy of blood’ beginning from the killing of the first President or the father of the nation.

On May 30, 1981, President Ziaur Rahman became the President after coups and several counter-coups but he too was assassinated by a faction of army officers.  The killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were not punished for their crimes, but they were permitted to escape and even rewarded by the government with positions of prominence such as diplomatic postings abroad. It is said ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’. But at last justice prevailed through the verdict of Supreme Court Judges. The judgment is indeed a historic one.

The Awami League Party headed by Shiekh Hasina, the daughter of First President Sheik Mujibur Rahman, came to power in 1996 when the Indemnity Ordinance of 1975 was repealed and the process of justice initiated. A member of Mujib’s staff filed a case of murder and the process was initiated. In November 1998, 15-army personal were charged with death sentence in a trial court. At last all the road-blocks to indemnify the nation from the tyranny caused by the assassination of the Father of the Nation have been removed. The members of Nation’s highest court unanimously announced its verdict, upholding the death sentence given by the trial court nine years ago.

Gallows inside Dhaka Central Jail:

The death sentence was carried out in gallows inside Dhaka Central Jail at dead of night on 27^th January, 2010. Sheikh Hasina may be the prime Minister of a small poor country, but she never go away in fulfilling the commitment in doing justice as in the case of the assassination of the Father of the Nation. She is great for her commitment and she is now credited for accomplishment of the act of verdict which is not done even in a bigger country or a larger democracy. The Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by his body-guard, the verdict was death sentence but the act of verdict is yet to be accomplished. The assassination of John F.Kennedy, the 35^th President of the United States was carried out on Nov’22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas and that after long period of investigation it was finally concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was the person who shot the bullet but who himself was murdered before he could stand trial. Rajiv Gandhi, the 7^th Prime Minister of India was assassinated by LTTE in Sriperumbudurin Tamil Nadu, India on 21 May, 1991and that the act of blasting of bomb was carried by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, a female member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) but she had not been punished with death. Zulfikar Ali Bhuto, the most popular leader of Pakistan had been hanged at central jail; Rawalpindi on 4^th April, 1979, a mystery in the justice of judiciary is not ascertained to punish the guilty. But what is done by Sheikh Hasina, the present Prime Minister of Bangaladesh is rare in history and cites an example of courage and determination- all of which lies beyond utterance of praise.

Defying all odds, at last the day has come in Bangladesh where law of justice prevailed and belief in truth restored among the millions of country men who lost their all senses of belief in administration, faith in the law of justice.