Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday came down heavily on the then Awami League front ranking leaders as they didn’t protest and talk against the brutal killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members in 1975.
‘There were so many slogans, where did all those people go? There was not a single person who would have come in front showing courage, there was not a single person to protest that killing, why they couldn’t do that?’ she said.
Sheikh Hasina, also the president of ruling AL, chaired the meeting held at city’s Bangabandhu International Conference Center, marking the National Mourning Day and the 47th martyrdom anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Sheikh Hasina said Awami League was a huge party, there were so many supporters and leaders, but not a single person showed that guts to speak against the killing.
She mentioned that the body of her father Sheikh Mujib remained laid down on the floor of Dhanmondi 32 number house from August 15 to August 16.
‘He didn’t take anything with him, rather he gave everything for his people, he gave a country, a nation, identity and self-identity for the people,’ she said.
Sheikh Hasina, the eldest child of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, said that the ‘kafon’ (shroud) of her father was prepared with the relief clothes which were supposed to be donated to the poor persons of the country.
She, with an emotion choked voice, said: ‘My father, mother, brothers and sisters didn’t take anything with them,’ adding, ‘Even their namaz-e-janaza was not held.’
‘I have a question - many leaders are here (at the BICC), Father of the Nation phoned many of them, what they did?’ she continued.
She mentioned that everyone remains beside a person alive, but no one remains beside a dead person. ‘That is the burning example… don’t expect anything.’
The prime minister said that the countries which teach lessons, raise questions about human rights and impose sanctions have given shelter to the killers of Bangabandhu and most of his family members.
‘They give us lessons, but they are protecting the killers of my father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, my mother, brothers, women and children.’
‘Where are our human rights? What answer would we get?’ she posed the question.
‘They (countries) are busy with the human rights of those who nurtured killers, human rights violators, murderers or some militants, terrorists,’ she said.
And BNP is their patroniser and nurturer, she added.
Sheikh Hasina asked those raising questions to the government about human rights - ‘Where were our human rights after the August 15, 1975 killings? I’ve lost my near and dear ones. They were my father and mother’.
‘We had no right to seek justice. Even, I could not file a case,’ she said, adding: ‘Why couldn’t I seek trial. Am I not a citizen of this country?’
Sheikh Hasina also criticised some countries and human rights organisations for not questioning those countries still sheltering the self-proclaimed killers of Sheikh Mujib.
The prime minister said killer Rashed is in the USA and the government talked with the country to bring him back to Bangladesh.
‘We’ve talked repeatedly with the USA, but they didn’t give killer Rashed to us,’ she said, adding, ‘Another killer Noor is in Canada.’
She said, ‘It’s ironic that we have to hear lessons from them.’
AL general secretary and road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader delivered the introductory speech.
AL Advisory Council members Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed, AL Presidium members Begum Matia Chowdhury, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Abdur Rahman and Md Qamrul Islam, AL joint-general secretary and information and broadcasting minister Hasan Mahmud, AL Liberation War Affairs secretary Mrinal Kanti Das, Dhaka South AL president Abu Ahmed Mannafi and Dhaka North AL president Sheikh Bazlur Rahman, among others, also spoke.
AL publicity and publication affairs secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap moderated the discussion.
At the outset, one-minute silence was observed to pay tribute to the martyrs of August 15, 1975.
The Awami League president said that her prime task is to bring smile of the faces of the mass people of the country which was the dream of the Father of the Nation.
She alleged that the killers of Sheikh Mujib were awarded by giving impunity through the Indemnity Ordinance. ‘Even, we were not allowed to seek justice in the courts,’ she said.
The killers were even given jobs in different Bangladesh missions abroad by the military ruler Ziaur Rahman, she added.
‘If Ziaur Rahman was not the killer or conspirator, why did killer Mustaque make him army chief, and why Ziaur Rahman did shelter and pamper these killers?’ she questioned.
Sheikh Hasina also expressed her gratitude to the Awami League and people of Bangladesh as they gave the opportunity to stay in power for three consecutive terms since the 2009 election.
