Let new generation know of jail killing

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday said the mystery of jail killing on November 3, 1975 should be unearthed to let the new generation know the truth.

Quader, also road transport and bridges minister, was talking to reporters after paying homage to Bangabandhu by placing wreath at his portrait in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, marking Jail Killing Day.

He said August 15 carnage and November 3 jail killing are sewed in a single thread as four national leaders were killed in continuation of the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The two heinous carnages were carried out in revenge of the defeat in 1971 Liberation War, he said, adding that Bangabandhu was assassinated to make the country void of guardian while jail killing was perpetrated to make the nation leaderless.

Quader said, "From November 3 to November 7 in 1975, why General Khaled Mosharraf, Colonel Huda, Colonel Haider and many army officers and jawans were killed in the name of civil-military revolution? The mystery is yet to be exposed."

Later, the minister placed wreaths at the graves of national leaders at Banani graveyard.

Talking to reporters, he said the conspiracy of anti-liberation and communal forces is still going on in the country.

In reply to a comment of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Quader said, "The BNP leader said there is lack of honest and able leaders [in AL]. I would like to say that you [Fakhrul] see your face in mirror at first. BNP is the party that gave an institutional shape of corruption to politics."

During the BNP's term, the country became world champion in corruption, so the talks of honest politics do not suit BNP, he added.

He said Bangabandhu was an honest and able leader in the country's history while in the post 1975-period, his daughter Sheikh Hasina is the most honest, able and world acclaimed leader.

JAIL KILLING DAY OBSERVED

Awami League, its associate bodies and different social and cultural organisations yesterday paid rich tributes to Bangabandhu and four national leaders.

The AL leaders and activists paid homage by laying wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu in front of Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi-32 and at the graves of the three national leaders in Banani following health guidelines due to coronavirus pandemic.

As the grave of AHM Kamaruzzaman among the four national leaders is in Kadirganj of Rajshahi, the ruling AL paid homage there.

At 8am, wreath on behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was laid at the portrait of the Father of the Nation.

AL presidium members Begum Matia Chowdhury, Dr Abdur Razzaque, Abdul Matin Khasru and Jahangir Kabir Nanak and other senior leaders were present.

Later, AL leaders and activists placed wreaths at the graves of August 15 martyrs and national leaders in the capital's Banani.

Special prayers seeking eternal peace of the departed souls were held there.

Similar programme was also arranged at Kamruzzaman's grave in Rajshahi.

On November 3, 1975, heroes of the country's Liberation War four national leaders -- Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, Captain Mansur Ali, and AHM Kamaruzzaman -- were assassinated inside Dhaka Central Jail.  The four national leaders played a key role in forming Bangladesh Provisional Government in exile that led the Liberation War in 1971, with Syed Nazrul Islam as the acting president, Tajuddin Ahmad as the prime minister, Captain Mansur Ali as the finance minister, and AHM Kamaruzzaman as the home, relief and rehabilitation minister.