BY SUMI KHAN
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday accused the then Army chief (and later President) Ziaur Rahman and his wife Khaleda Zia of resorting to the “politics of killing Bangabandhu”, saying that he gave all sorts of support to the murderers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Taking part in a virtual discussion, through videoconference. from her official Ganabhaban residence to mark the National Mourning Day on the 45th anniversary of the martyrdom of Shikh Mujib, she said: “Zia even gave lucrative foreign postings to the killers of Bangabandhu, while Zia’s wife Khaleda brought self-confessed killer of Bangabandhu to Parliament by rigging votes.”
The Prime Minister also accused Zia and his wife of enacting indemnity laws to save the murderers of Bangabandhu and Awami League leaders and activists.
The Awami League organised the discussion at its central office at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka in the afternoon.
Hasina said Khaleda Zia had given an indemnity to wholesale killings after assuming office in 2001 so that trials of those crimes could not be held as her husband did the same thing in his time.
Pointing to the inhuman torture of Masum, a resident of Khulna and also a maternal cousin of Sheikh Helal, and killing of hundreds of people, the Premier said in the name of ‘Operation Clean Heart’, the law enforcers made blanket arrests of people and inflicted inhuman torture on them.
“After assuming office through the October 1, 2001 farcical national election, Khaleda Zia had started indiscriminate killings of people following the footsteps of her husband Ziaur Rahman.”
Hasina said that the then BNP-Jamaat nexus even ransacked the research office of her party with looting its computers, 300 files, books and cash.
She also added, “Khaleda Zia not only allowed indemnity to the people who conducted Operation Clean Heart, but also gave promotion to Bangabandhu’s killer Pasha after his death and also gave benefits of jobs to Pasha’s family.”
At the outset of the discussion, a minute’s silence was observed as a mark of profound respect to the memories of Bangabandhu Rahman and other martyrs of the August 15 carnage.
