Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged all to remain alert so that the people of the country dot not experience again the ‘culture of impunity’ that prevailed after the assassination of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. “Bangladesh must not be trapped into that situation again,” the premier said while addressing the Golden Jubilee ceremony of Bangladesh Supreme Court as the chief guest on Sunday.
We saw culture of impunity during the rule of military dictator Ziaur Rahman and his wife Khaleda Zia when no self-confessed killers of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were brought to justice and account. All know general Zia and the then Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia had resorted to the politics of killings and enacted indemnity laws to save the murderers of Bangabandhu and Awami League leaders and activists. Ziaur Rahman had given all sorts of support to the murderers. He (Zia) even gave lucrative foreign postings to the killers of Bangabandhu, while Khaleda brought self-confessed killer of Bangabandhu to parliament by rigging votes
We all must remain alert so that
people of the country dot not
have to experience again the ‘
culture of impunity’
Bangabandhu’s killers were leading a lavish life after getting jobs in different foreign missions and government services when the relatives of the martyrs had to stay abroad as refugees after the 15 August carnage. After assuming office through the 1 October, 2001 farcical national election, Khaleda Zia had also started indiscriminate killings of people following the footsteps of her husband general Zia.
In the name of the so-called “Operation Clean Heart” the BNP-Jamaat alliance government initiated the culture of extrajudicial killings across the country. In the name of “Operation Clean Heart”, the law enforcers made blanket arrests of people and inflicted inhuman torture on them.
Khaleda Zia had given indemnity to wholesale killings after assuming office in 2001 so that trials of those crimes could not be held as her husband did the same thing with giving indemnity to the murderers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Distortion of history of the liberation war started when Zia grabbed state power by violating constitution. Coups took place one after another during Zia’s military rule and thousands of the freedom fighter army officers were killed in these coups.
Bangabandhu’s name was erased from the history at that time and a false history was created to misguide the people. Hence, we all must remain alert so that the people of the country dot not have to experience again the ‘culture of impunity’.
