City Desk
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal
A discussion to commemorate the martyrdom of Col Abu Taher who was sentenced to death by an on-camera summary military court in 1976 organised by Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) was held in the city on Friday. Information Minister and also President of JSD Hasanul Haq Inu was present as the chief guest. While speaking Inu said that the beneficiaries of the August 15 assassination were Zia, the killers of Bangabandhu, pro-Pakistani elements and war criminals. He recalled the huge number of martyrs who were killed during the rule of Ziaur Rahman, particularly in the cantonments. Inu and other speakers, including Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon called Taher’s sentence a killing and referred to the ruling of the High Court, a couple of years back, to the effect. Inu said that as far as the people were concerned Taher was always a hero and Zia a villain. Explaining the difference between the two-Taher and Zia-Inu said while Taher was pro-Bangladesh, Zia was pro-Pakistani. Inu refuted charges made in a Bengali daily that they were involved with the tragedy of 15th August 1975 and said it was never mentioned in any of the court hearings regarding the incident. He said it was a conspiracy to break the unity of the pro-Liberation, secular and democratic forces at a time when the country was facing the challenge of militancy.
BD Water Transport Employees Fed
A conference organised by Bangladesh Water Transport Employees Federation was held in the conference lounge of the Jatiya Press Club in the city. In the programme held recently the leaders of the federation called upon the authority concerned to press home its 21-point demands including immediate unconditional release of 16 employees of the federation from Indian jail and Bangladesh jail respectively. They demanded proper implementation of marine law. The leaders warned to forge greater movement if their demands are not met by today (July 23). General Secretary of the federation Chowdhury Ashikul Alam read out the written statement.
