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'Sheikh Mujibur Rahman', the founding leader of Bangladesh, was assassinated on August 15, 1975.

Contents

Background

Conspirators

Events

Aftermath

Trial

See also

References

Background

Following the independence of Bangladesh (Dec 1971), Mujib was released (Jan 1972) from Pakistan Jail. Mujib became the Prime Minister, and later the President of the newly formed state. WIth an intention to establish communism step by step, he soon established a system of one-party rule (see BAKSAL) and declared himself president through a constitutional amendment in early 1975. His declaration of one party rule was opposed by many political opponents and CIA used this to increase propaganda against him. Corruption started to spread during those initial years of Bangladeshi independence. Though statistic suggest that it was not even comparable with the huge corruption by the later Army Janta's. For example according to the Central Bank (BB) during the killing of Mujib only one multimillion account existed in Bangladesh. But within five years after his death the number increased incredibly. Other major challenges which Mujibur Rahman had to face included the humanitarian disaster (roads, banks, markets, houses & schools were destroyed)that was left behind after the 1971 war, which culminated in a devastating famine in 1974. During his govt. the GDP was the highest ever in Bangladesh.

Conspirators

Syed Faruque Rahman, Abdur Rashid, Sharful Haque Dalim, all Majors in the Bangladesh Army and veterans of Mukti Bahini, hatched a conspiracy, the standard account of which is chronicled in .^[1] Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed, an Awami League minister, agreed to take over the Presidency. Journalist Lawrence Lifschultz paints an alternative picture of the conspiracy, implicating Mustaque and even the CIA as participants ^[2][3] but the Soviet dissident Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov has stated that Mujibur Rahman was killed by his own Marxist-Leninist comrades following the KGB standard procedures in instigated coups.[1]

Events

In the early morning of August 15, 1975, the conspirators were divided into 3 groups. One group attacked Mujib's house in road number 32, Dhanmondi Residential Area. Mujib was killed on the stairs, and all the members of his family were also executed. Two other groups of soldiers killed Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni, Mujib's nephew and influential leader of Awami League, and Abdur Rab Serniabat, Mujib's brother-in-law, and a minister of the Government. Four major leaders of Awami League, Tajuddin Ahmed, Mansur Ali, Syed Nazrul Islam and AHM Kamruzzaman were arrested and jailed (they would later be murdered in jail on November 4, 1975).

Aftermath

Khondaker Mustaq Ahmed assumed presidency and the participating army officers became the de-facto leaders of the country. They were later toppled by yet another coup led by General Khaled Mosharraf on November 3, 1975. Mosharraf himself was killed in a counter coup on November 7, which installed General Ziaur Rahman in power. Faruque Rahman, Rashid, and the other army officers had been promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonels. They were exiled in Libya and other countries, and were given several diplomatic posts in Bangladesh missions abroad. Faruque later returned and founded the Bangladesh Freedom Party.

Trial

The conspirators could not be tried in criminal court for the assassination, because the Indemnity Ordinance gave them a blanket pardon for any acts committed on August 15, 1975. However, when the Awami League, led by Mujib's daughter, Sheikh Hasina, won the election in 1996, it repealed the ordinance. The Bangabandhu murder trial commenced, and Faruque, and some other coup leaders were arrested. Rashid, however, escaped arrest as he was reportedly in Libya. The trial ended in death sentences for Faruque and the major coup leaders. However, the sentences are yet to be carried out. Four petitions seeking permission to file appeals remained pending due to a shortage of judges in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) since August 2001. On June 18, 2007, one of the conspirators who is sentenced to death, Mohiuddin Ahmed, was extradicted to Bangladesh from the United States. On August 07, 2007, the murder case hearing resumed after 6 years.^[4].

See also

★ Military coups in Bangladesh

References

1. , by Anthony Mascarenhas, Hodder and Stoughton, 1986
2. Memoir written in 2005 by Lawrence Lifschultz
3. Bangladesh: The Unfinished Revolution, by Lawrence Lifschultz, London: Zed Press, 1979
4. Bangabandhu murder case hearing resumes today after 6 years; ''The Daily Star''; August 07, 2007