Two more AL leaders blame JSD for prelude

Two more Awami League leaders yesterday accused the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), an ally of the ruling party, of creating circumstances leading to the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.

Speaking in the same vein as AL presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, they said JSD had created the ground for Bangabandhu's killing.

"They did everything to make Bangabandhu's government unstable and created the ground for his killing," said AL Joint General Secretary Mahabub-Ul-Alam Hanif, addressing a discussion in the capital yesterday, marking National Mourning Day.

At another programme, State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Capt (retd) AB Tajul Islam held JSD accountable for clearing the way for Sheikh Mujib's murder.

"Only for JSD, some junior army officers dared kill Bangabandhu," he said, adding, "The irony of fate is we are politically involved with JSD in spite of its role."

Sheikh Selim first came up with the allegation on Sunday.

He said anti-liberation forces would have never dared attack Bangabandhu had the Gono Bahini of JSD not created the environment by robbery and killings.

JSD strongly protested Selim's allegation the next day, saying the comment not only lacked truth but also was provocative, when JSD's name did not came up anywhere in the trial for Bangabandhu murder.

Hitting back at AL, the party said after Bangabandhu's murder, most AL leaders queued up to join the cabinet of Khondaker Moshtaq Ahmad, who became president on August 15, 1975, the day Bangabandhu was killed.

"The Awami League should see its face in the mirror. JSD played a courageous role in ousting Moshtaq's government," JSD General Secretary Sharif Nurul Ambia told The Daily Star.

He also suggested that the AL leaders should move forward and stop going back to the past. "Please don't make the future politics difficult," Ambia said.

On Monday, BNP too questioned JSD's role in the lead-up to Bangabandhu's assassination and asked its chief to respond to the allegations.

Against the backdrop, JSD questioned the coincidence between the speeches of BNP and Selim.

Hanif yesterday denied there was any coincidence. "Trying to locate any link between Selim Bhai and BNP's speeches is nothing but an attempt to conceal historic truth," he said.

Meanwhile, BNP's senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan yesterday said although the government was blocking the party's peaceful programmes, they would not choose an alternative path like JSD did in 1975 to go to power.

He said, "The government is obstructing our all programmes and activities, including party reform. Which alternative can we take when our peaceful programmes are hampered… some parties like JSD had chosen alternatives, but we're not that kind of political party and we don't want to follow that path."