Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassination
Location	Dhaka, Bangladesh
Date	August 15, 1975 5.30am-6.00am.
Target	Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family
Attack type	Military coup
Deaths	20 (including Sheikh Mujib, his wife and three sons)
Injured	2
Perpetrators	Syed Faruque Rahman, Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, Mohiuddin Ahmed, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Shariful Haq (Dalim)

The assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took place in the early hours of August 15, 1975, when a group of junior Bangladesh Army officers invaded Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's residence with tanks. At the time of his assassination, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was serving as the President of Bangladesh.

Background

Further information: History of Bangladesh

Following the independence of Bangladesh in December 1971, Mujib was released from custody in Pakistan. He became the Prime Minister and later President of the newly formed state.

He soon established a system of one-party (BAKSAL)rule, banned all the newspapers except for government publications, and declared himself lifelong president through a constitutional amendment in early 1975. His declaration of one party rule was opposed by many political opponents. Corruption started to spread during those initial years of Bangladeshi independence.An example is, sari(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari), basic dress for any Bangladeshi woman that time, mujib govenment imported it for 0.4 taka, but there were so many middle man, in local market it used to be 4-5 taka, which was too much (price for 150 kg jute fiber) at that time.

Then his family started corruption and they treated the national army very badly. The country people couldn't afford food and clothes, but his son got a heavy crown made with pure gold in this birthday which is indirectly the government money. The army used to get just one meal a day with two bread pieces and little curry(approx. 250 K cal) whereas Mujib's leaded local police "Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini" got 3 times heavy meal (over 2000 k Cal). Source-(My dad was a junior army officer at that time)

But, one of the greatest reason why he was killed by national army's top Major rank officers is, his own son kidnapped a topnotch Major's wife and raped her. And father of the nation protected his son from law (obviously, cause they were the law makers).

In a nutshell, the whole national army was too angry after this incident and the previous discrimination's.

Rahman had to face the disastrous aftermath of the 1971 war.

After his death, the national army in Dhaka brought out a cheers rally on the streets of the capital city, they were happy that the country got saved. But, they still respected him, because, Bangladesh was created from his words.

The Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini (National Vanguards) was a highly controversial political militia force formed in 1975 with a status of an elite force which was loyal to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was assigned an apparent functionality of recovering arms from the civilians but actually acted as an armament to protect the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman-regime from military coup and other armed challenges. Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini is considered one of the main ingredients of discontent among the army and the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as well.

Assassination

Mujib was killed on the stairs, and all the members of his family were also killed except for his two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, who were in West Germany at the time. Two other groups of soldiers killed Sheikh Fazlul Haque (Moni), Mujib's nephew and influential leader of the Awami League, and Abdur Rab Serniabat, Mujib's brother-in-law, and a minister of the Government. Three months later, four major leaders of the Awami League, first Prime Minister of Bangladesh Tajuddin Ahmed, former Prime Minister Mansur Ali, former Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam and former Home Minister A H M Kamruzzaman were arrested and jailed (they would later be murdered in jail on November 4, 1975

Aftermath

Khondaker Mustaq Ahmed assumed the presidency and the participating army officers became the de facto leaders of the country. They were later toppled by yet another coup led by Major General Khaled Mosharraf on November 3, 1975. Mosharraf himself was killed in a counter coup four days later on November 7, which installed Major General Ziaur Rahman in power. In the meantime Major Syed Faruque Rahman, Rashid, and the other army officers had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. They were exiled to Libya, China, Zimbabwe, Canada and other countries, and were given several diplomatic posts in Bangladeshi missions abroad. Lieutenant Colonel (Rtd.) Syed Faruque Rahman later returned and founded the Bangladesh Freedom Party in 1985, and took part in the presidential election in 1987 against military ruler Lieutenant General Hussain Mohammad Ershad.

Trial

The military decided not to court-martial the military officials who masterminded and participated in the coup. No case was registered with the police, by relatives of Mujib or his party men, either. In fact, the conspirators could not be tried in court of law on the charge of assassination because of the Indemnity Act passed by the government under President Khondaker Mustaq Ahmed However, when Awami League, led by Mujib's daughter, Sheikh Hasina, won the election in 1996, it repealed the Act. The Bangabandhu murder trial commenced. Col. (Rtd.) Syed Faruque Rahman was arrested from his Dhaka Old DOHS home. Col. (Retd.) Bazlul Huda was brought back from Bangkok, where he was serving sentence for shop lifting, as part of criminal exchange program between Thailand and Bangladesh. Lt. Col. Mohiuddin Ahmed was active in military service when he was arrested. Col. (Rtd.) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan was on active in diplomatic service, appointed by previous Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Begum Khalida Zia, and returned to Bangladesh when he had been called back by foreign ministry. Later he was arrested. Col. (Rtd.) Abdur Rashid and other accused, however, left Bangladesh as 1996 general election showed an upcoming Awami League victory. Colonel (Rtd.) Rashid is now reportedly shuttling between Pakistan and Libya. One accused, Major (Rtd.) Aziz Pasha, reportedly died in Zimbabwe before the commencement of trial. All these men were also involved in jail killing in November 1975.[citation needed] The trial ended on November 8, 1998, and death sentences in firing squad was given, by the District and Session Judge of Dhaka Mohammad Golam Rasul, to 15 out of 20 accused of the assassination; however, Taheruddin Thakur, bir b.com former Information Minister and one of the prime conspirator, was exonerated. He later died naturally in 2005.[4] However, the sentences were yet to be carried out as five of the convicts sought permission to file appeals in the high court. High court bench comprising Justice Mohammad Ruhul Amin (Chief Justice of Bangladesh from 2007 to 2008) and Justice A B M Khairul Haque (current Chief Justice of Bangladesh) gave divisive verdict. Senior Justice Amin acquitted 5 out of original 15 accused, but junior Justice Haque upheld the lower court verdict. So another verdict fron a third judge became essential. Later, as a third judge Justice Mohammad fazlul Karim (immediate past Chief Justice of Bangladesh) accused 12 out of original 15 including 2 acquitted in Justice Amin's verdict. As 5 accused again appealed to Appellate Division, decision remained pending due to a shortage of minimum requirement of three judges for a hearing session since August 2001, as several of judges embarrassed to hear the case. On June 18, 2007, one of the conspirators who had been sentenced to death, Major (Rtd.) A K M Mohiuddin Ahmed, was extradited to Bangladesh from the United States, following a series of failed attempts to gain asylum or permanent residency in the United States. On August 7, 2007, the murder case hearings resumed after six years.[5] The appellate division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh gave its verdict on November 19, 2009, after a five member special bench, headed by Justice Mahammad Tafazzal Islam, (later Chief Justice of Bangladesh in 2009) spent 29 days hearing the petition filed by the death row convicts.[4][6] The appeal of the convicts was rejected and the death sentence was upheld.[7] Before the verdict, approximately 12,000 extra policemen were deployed to guard strategic buildings, including the Supreme Court, to prevent any attempt to disrupt the proceedings by the convicted men's supporters.[7] The men's supporters have been blamed by the government for a grenade attack on one of the prosecution lawyers in October 2009, although no one has been charged yet.[7] Captain (Rtd.) Qismet Hashem, Captain (Rtd.) Nazmul Hossain Aanssar and Major (Rtd.) Abdul Majid were acquitted throughout the high court division and appellate division verdicts and are, now, living in Canada. Conspirators Major (Rtd.) Bazlul Huda Lieutenant Colonel (Rtd.) Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major (Rtd.) A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, b.com Colonel (Rtd.) Syed Faruque Rahman and Colonel (Rtd.) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan were executed on 28 January 2010.[8] The man who by every reliable account pulled the trigger on the father of the nation of Bangladesh lives peacefully these days in a third-floor condominium in Etobicoke, Ont., where neighbours describe him as a cordial, well-dressed man—happy to trade pleasantries, disinclined to chat. The 61-year-old father of two is often in the company of his wife, Rashida Khanam. In the spring, he likes to plant flowers along the rail of the couple’s south-facing balcony.http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/02/15/the-assassin-among-us-2/

See also

• BAKSAL
• Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini