Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will form a new commission to identify those who were behind the killing of its founder leader Shahid President Ziaur Rahman to put them on trial if the party returns to power in the days to come.
“I want to say it very clearly if we come to power, we will form a new commission for the trial of those who were involved with the murder of martyred President Ziaur Rahman. We also want to know who were behind the killing and conspirators,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the remarks after paying homage to Ziaur Rahman by placing wreaths at his grave, marking the BNP’s 44th founding anniversary in the city on Thursday.
BNP Secretary General’s announcement came a day after Law Minister Anisul Huq told the parliament that the government was planning to form a commission by December next to identify the people who were behind the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August, 1975.
“BNP’s challenge is to free the country from one-party rule and return the country into a democratic system. Because, the unelected government wants to destroy the people’s movement, by killing, disappearing, murdering and torturing. But, we want to clear it that the government won’t be able to foil the just demand of the people. Their conspiracy will not be succeeded and the people will win,” Fakhrul said.
The BNP Secretary General said, “We respectfully remember our great leader martyred President Ziaur Rahman, the advocate of multi-party democracy, who presented Bangladesh a multi-party democratic constitution from a one-party system. BNP was formed based on the new philosophy of Bangladeshi nationalism.”
President Zia ushered a new chapter of politics on the soil of Bangladesh by forming the party, Fakhrul said adding that President Zia introduced – a free market economy, freedom of press and liberty of the people.
“On this day we would also like to respectfully remember Khaleda Zia, the leader of the party and Chairperson of BNP, who has struggled throughout her life to establish democracy. She is still fighting for the welfare of the deprived people,” he added.
Fakhrul alleged that Awami League has let loose its ‘cadres’ and law enforcers to thwart a justified movement of the people protesting the hikes in the prices of fuel and daily essentials.
He said police and the ruling party activists attacked their party leaders and activists in different parts of the country, leaving many of them injured.
Besides, the BNP leader said many leaders and activists of their party and its associate bodies were arrested and implicated in different cases.
He warned the government that it will not be able to suppress a just movement for the restoration of democracy by resorting to killing, enforced disappearing, attacks and repression. “People’s victory is going on and will continue.”
Fakhrul together with party senior leaders placed wreaths at Zia’s grave around 12pm and joined a muajat thee seeking the salvation of the BNP founder’s departed soul.
BNP Standing Committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Nazrul Islam Khan, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, were, among others, present.
Ziaur Rahman founded the party on 1 September, 1978 with a 19-point programme to build a self-reliant Bangladesh. After his assassination on May 30, 1981, his widow Khaleda Zia took over the party leadership.
