Staff Reporter :
The 39th Jail Killing Day, one of the black spots in the nation’s glorious history, was observed in the city and elsewhere in the country on Monday with due solemnity and honour.
On this day in 1975, the four national leaders and key-personalities in the Bangladesh government in exile Syed Nazrul Islam, prime minister. Tajuddin Ahmed and ministers Captain M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman, were brutally killed inside the Dhaka Central Jail.
The nation observed the mournful day by paying rich tributes to the four national leaders and Liberation War heroes. The ruling Awami League and other political, cultural and social organisations observed the day with due respect through different programmes across the country.
The assassins, also the stickers of the 1975 coup, stormed the jail and killed the four leaders just three months after the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on August 15, 1975.
Of the four leaders, Syed Nazrul Islam was the acting president of Bangladesh government in exile during the Liberation War as the Pakistani military junta arrested the country’s founding father from his Dhanmondi residence on the night of March 25, 1971.
Being the prime minister of the exile government, popularly known as the Mujibnagar government, Tajuddin Ahmed played a key-role in materializing the dreams of millions of freedom-loving people to establish an independent Bangladesh.
A H M Quamruzzmaan, Minister for Home Affairs, Relief and Rehabilitation and Captain Mansur Ali, Minister for Finance, close associates of Bangabandhu, were also in vital position to formulate the policies and strategies of the guerrilla warfare against the Pakistan Army.
It is now unearthed by the investigators that the anti-liberation forces along with junior and mid-level army officials with the blessings of the then self-proclaimed president Khondoker Mushtaq Ahmed masterminded the assassination plot in the central jail. The mourning programmes included wearing of black badges and hoisting black flags to pay tributes to the slain national leaders.
The national flag was raised at half-mast at Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi and at AL offices in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other senior leaders of AL placed wreaths on the portrait of Bangabandhu in front of Bangabandhu Bhaban in early morning.
Floral wreathes were placed at the graves of three national leaders along with others who were killed on August 15, 1975 at Banani graveyard. A milad mahfil was also organized there.
Wreaths were also placed on the grave of Md Qamaruzzaman in Rajshahi early in the day.
Besides, a public meeting was held to commemorate the four national leaders at Suhrawardy Udyan.
Meanwhile, the convicted killers of Jail Killings are yet to be punished though more than one year has already been gone after conclusion of the trial.
According to the report of intelligence agencies, the convicted killers are hiding in different countries, including USA, Canada, Pakistan, Libya and other parts of Middle East as the government failed to take any positive measure to bring them back.
Of the killers, Major [retd] Noor Chowdhury is reportedly staying in Canada and Major [retd] Rashed Chowdhury in the USA. However, the USA and Canada did not agree to extradite the killers showing some sort of legal ground.
Besides, Risaldar Muslehuddin [dismissed], who directly conducted the operation as leader of the killing team, is reportedly straying in India. Another killer Captain [dismissed] Mazed is also hiding there. But the whereabouts of Dafadar [dismissed] Marfat Ali Shah and Dafadar [dismissed] Abdul Hashem Mridha are still not exactly known.
No exact report was also available about eight killers those were awarded life term imprisonment. They are Lt Col [dismissed] Khondaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col [relieved] Shariful Haq Dalim, Lt Col [retd] SHMB Noor Chowdhury, Lt Col [retd] AM Rashed Chowdhury, Major [relieved] Ahmed Shariful Hossain, Captain [retd] Abdul Majed, Captain [relieved] Kismat Hasem and Captain [relieved] Nazmul Hossain.
Meanwhile, Lt Col [dismissed] Syed Farooq-ur Rahman, Lt Col [retd] Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Maj [retd] Bazlul Huda and Maj [retd] AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed were caught and executed.
