Nearly half a century has passed since the brutal killing of four national leaders – Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain M Mansur Ali and AHM Qamaruzzaman – inside the Dhaka central jail, but their near and dear ones, as well as the country’s people, are still awaiting justice.
According to media reports, 10 of the 11 convicted in the case filed over the killing of four national leaders are still absconding. There is no information about the whereabouts of three of the accused who were sentenced to death in this case.
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“Two of the accused, who were sentenced to life in prison, are abroad. It has not been possible to bring them back to the country as yet,” reported a prominent national daily last year marking the Jail Killings Day.
Government high-ups have told the media that they have been trying to bring back the convicted killers but have failed due to the political asylum laws prevalent in some countries.
Intention was to destroy AL
Just two-and-a-half months after the brutal assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the killings of the then top four Awami League leaders inside the Dhaka central jail were intended to destroy the party.
After the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and almost his entire family on August 15, 1975; the four national leaders – Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain M Mansur Ali and AHM Qamaruzzaman – were brutally murdered in a solitary cell of Dhaka Central Jail at the wee hours of November 3 of the same year. They were killed as per the direct order of then-president Khandaker Mushtaq Ahmed.
The murder of the top four national leaders is one of the worst political killings in the recent history of mankind.
They were killed to ensure that no eligible leader was left to lead Awami League as a political party, but in vain. It was clearly an attempt to erase the name of the very party that paved the way to, and ultimately led, the liberation war, from the country’s history.
Such heinous, brutal and barbaric killings in a safe haven like prison are undoubtedly rare in the history of the world. As a result, November 3, 1975, turned into a shameful day in the history of Bangladesh.
Refusal to join hands with Mushtaq main reason
The four national leaders were sent to the central jail after August 15 as they refused to join hands with Mushtaq, who planned the murder of Bangabandhu.
Later, the Mushtaq government made many lucrative offers to them, but all four leaders categorically rejected those proposals. Despite being certain about their fate, they remained steadfast in their principles.
The killings of the four national leaders were planned by traitor Khandaker Mushtaq, a member of Bangabandhu’s cabinet, and Syed Faruque Rahman and Khandaker Abdur Rashid, the two convicted killers of Bangabandhu.
For this task, they kept a team of assassins ready. The assassin team was headed by Risaldar Musleh Uddin, Faruque’s most trusted accomplice. Musleh Uddin led the group of assassins who carried out the massacre at Sheikh Moni’s residence on August 15.
The massacre shocked the whole world
Not only the people of Bangladesh but people of the entire world also were shocked by such a cruel massacre. The assassination of Bangabandhu and the killings of the four national leaders were a continuation of the same conspiracy. The motive of the inhuman killings is now clear to the nation. They just wanted to erase the names of the leaders of the great liberation war from the pages of history. But truth prevails against all odds all the time. Breaking through the fog of falsehood, the light of truth has come out like the sun now.
In fact, the killers and their henchmen wanted to avenge the breakup of Pakistan, throw the country that gained independence through a bloody liberation war and endless sacrifices into a vicious circle of assassination and conspiracy. Their intention was to divert the newly independent country from the path of reconstruction and to create a mini-Pakistan out of Bangladesh.
The conspiracy of the anti-liberation forces did not end there. Since 1975, attempts have been made year after year to erase Bangabandhu’s name.
The self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu themselves admitted that BNP’s founder Ziaur Rahman was directly involved in the killings of Bangabandhu, his family members and four national leaders.
The trial proceedings
The then deputy inspector general (DIG) of prison, Kazi Abdul Awal, filed a murder case with the Lalbagh police station over the incident on 4 November 1975.
According to the case statement, some four to five soldiers, led by Risaldar Moslehuddin, entered the prison and opened fire towards the four national leaders. Later, the soldiers confirmed their death by stabbing them with bayonets.
However, the investigation and prosecution of the murder case were stalled for 21 years. After coming to power in 1996, the Awami League government restarted the proceedings of the custodial murder case.
After a long eight years of trial proceedings and 29 years after filing of the case, the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court announced the verdict of the case on October 20, 2004.
In the verdict, out of the 20 accused, three absconding accused – Risaldar Moslehuddin, Dafadar Marfat Ali Shah and Dafadar Md Abul Hashem Mridha – were sentenced to death, 12 were sentenced to life imprisonment while 5 others were acquitted.
Two convicts in the jail killing case – MB Noor Chowdhury and AM Rashed Chowdhury are respectively staying in Canada and the USA at the moment. The government has been trying to bring them back for many days.
