I feel it is necessary to take stock of what a Belgian citizen James Wilson, a renowned journalist and commentator, wrote in the periodical called International Foundation for Better Governance about the massacres on 15 and 21 August in Bangladesh. He wrote, “Forty-eight years ago on August 15, 1975 the people of Bangladesh saw the darkest morning in their history. On that morning, the country’s architect Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whom the people reverently refer to as Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal), was brutally murdered along with other family members, including his 10-year-old son. His two daughters escaped deaths as they were abroad at that time. The gang of the assassins appointed Major General Ziaur Rahman as the army chief. In April 1977 Ziaur Rahman illegally declared himself as the President. That killing spree did not end there; four of Sheikh Mujib’s closest political associates were killed inside the jail by the then illegitimate government of the killers in November 1975.

The ideals of democracy, secularism, equal rights and justice that were established through independence of Bangladesh under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were all changed through his assassination. In fact, the main motive behind the assassination of the architect of Bangladesh was to throw away Bangladesh’s independence and sovereignty, achieved just 3 years and 8 months before Sheikh Mujib’s killing.”

James Wilson also wrote, “Through the assassination of the Father of the Nation the illegitimate usurpers of power drew a curtain on the independence gained at the cost of three million lives and sacrifice of two million women. The murderous government banned ‘Joy Bangla’ (Victory of Bengal), the main slogan of the Liberation War and replaced with a Pakistan styled 'Bangladesh Zindabad’. Dictator Ziaur Rahman was bent on distorting the history of Bangladesh and destroying the ideals of secularism. He poisoned the brain of the common masses with blind belief in religion to gain his ill objectives.” Wilson added, “Later on the illegitimate dictator founded a political party namely Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and set up a rubber stamp parliament declaring himself president. Zia’s puppet parliament passed the 1975 Indemnity Ordinance in 1979. The history of the Liberation War of 1971 and the 23-year struggle for independence under the leadership of the Father of the Nation were all removed from textbooks. Even uttering the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was prohibited. The constitutional provision of secularism, one of the state principles, was also erased. Dictator Ziaur Rahman did not allow the surviving daughters of the Father of the Nation to return to the country for a period of six years. Finally, Sheikh Hasina, the eldest daughter of the Father of the Nation, returned to Bangladesh in May 1981 as the president of Bangladesh Awami League defying all intimidations.

Ziaur Rahman not only protected the self-declared killers of the Father of the Nation but also rewarded them with lucrative diplomatic posts. Zia completely destroyed the democratic and secular ideals of the country. Though the people of Bangladesh freed themselves from Pakistani colonial rule, he tried his best to establish bond with Pakistan. Defying India’s outstanding contribution to Bangladesh’s independence, Zia tried heart and soul to destroy the friendship with India. India hastened the independence of Bangladesh by directly taking part in the war at the later period of the Liberation War. The defeated Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Bangladesh-India joint command.

The Father of the Nation had totally banned religious politics but Zia withdrew the ban and cleared the way for political activities of the bigots. Zia stopped the trial of the war criminals and freed 11,000 anti-liberation criminals from jail. The notorious war criminal Gulam Azam, directly involved in the massacre of Bangladeshis in collaboration with Pakistan, was allowed by Ziaur Rahman to enter Bangladesh. Zia also allowed a large number of war criminals and anti-independence individuals, most of them Jamaat-e-Islami activists, to step into Bangladesh. Zia rewarded them with key positions in his party and government. Shah Aziz, the topmost anti-liberation element in 1971, was given the post of prime minister by Ziaur Rahman. This is how he totally destroyed the democratic and secular ideals of Bangladesh. Khaleda Zia followed suit by giving important positions in her cabinet to Ali Ahsan Mujahid and other Jamaat leaders. Khaleda proved herself to be a faithful follower of her husband by giving ministerial advisory post to yet another notorious war criminal Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury. Religious militancy under the leadership of Khaleda reached an alarming level. On August 21 in 2004, under the direct instructions of the BNP-Jamaat government, grisly grenade attacks were made to kill Sheikh Hasina, the eldest daughter of the Father of the Nation.

It was only after the assumption of power by the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina in 1996 that the trial of killing of Sheikh Mujib and his family members could be initiated. In November of the same year the parliament with majority members of Awami League repealed the Indemnity Ordinance Act. BNP-Jamaat members abstained from parliament during the session. The trial of the murder could have been initiated much earlier but could only be started after Awami League came to power after 21 years.

The trial was conducted in the existing courts under customary laws. The Appellate Division of the country’s highest court upheld the death penalty against 12 killers in November 2009. Five of the convicts were executed. A fugitive convict died in Zimbabwe; another was arrested and executed in the same year. Among the remaining five fugitives, Rashed Chowdhury is now in the USA and Noor Chowdhury is hiding in Canada. But these countries are not handing over the culprits to Bangladesh government. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina several times asked publicly if the countries that give shelters to convicted murderers can talk about human rights. It is time for them to hand over the convicts to Bangladesh if those countries actually believe in human rights and rule of law. If they fail, the world people will consider their claim about human rights simply as hollow talks.

(The writer is a retired judge of the Appellate Division.)