Sagar Biswas :The ruling Awami League and the BNP have locked in war of words over the contents of a book written by Air Vice Marshal [Retd] AK Khondker. The name of the book is ‘1971: Bhetore Baire’ [1971: Inside and Outside].AL leaders have said that Khondker has distorted historic facts in the book. Contrary, the leaders of BNP said that he [Khondker] has revealed the facts from the dark. “Whatever he [Khondker] has stated in his book is absolutely true. People believe it. And because of it, AL cannot tolerate the contents of the book,” BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said this on Friday while addressing a function of BNP at Nayapaltan central office in the city.He said, “The book proves that what AL has been saying for years was blatant lie. For this reason, the AL lawmakers have demanded his trial and termed him a traitor…Those of us heard the March 7 speech being present [at Suhrawardy Uddyan], we know that Bangabandhu had ended his speech saying ‘Joy Bangla, Joy Pakistan.” The book, published by Prothoma Prokashon, in its first chapter said that ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman concluded his historic March 7 speech in 1971 at Surahwardy Uddyan by saying ‘Joy Pakistan’.The matter is very important to both AL and BNP, as AK Khondker, Bir Uttom, was the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Bangladesh Armed Forces during the Liberation War in 1971. Besides, he had served as a diplomat during Ershad regime and became a lawmaker and Planning Minister during AL’s previous tenure. Earlier on Thursday, the national Parliament witnessed a heated debate when the AL and the Jatiya Party lawmakers jointly blasted Khondker for “distorting historic facts”. They demanded immediate ban of the book, confiscate its copies and file a sedition case against the writer.The parliament members said that Khondker violated the Constitution by giving misleading information on Bangabandhu. They also alleged that Khondker had written the book by taking huge amount of money from an agency. “The distortion of facts is not only a threat to a particular person or a party rather it is a threat to the nation,” Minister for Industries Amir Hossain Amu said with call to ban the book. “It is historic fact that Bangabandhu in his March 7 speech had concluded by saying “Joy Bangla”, Minister for Commerce Tofail Ahamed said. “He [Khondker] proved his loyalty to Khandaker Mushtaque by not protesting the killing of Bangabandhu in ’75. He was also the beneficiary of HM Ershad government as he was the foreign minister at that time,” AL presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim said.But turning down the claim of lawmakers, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, who is also AL presidium member, on Friday said that he was against banning the book. “I strongly reject the demand raised in the Parliament. No book or any publication either graceful or not, should be banned,” he said during inauguration of a book festival at Dhaka University. “Banning is not the way to protest the contents of a book. It is better to write a new book and it will be the best way to answer the misinterpreted parts of the Khondker’s book,” the Finance Minister noted.
