BNP acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Monday said the circumstances surrounding the death of former Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman should be investigated to determine whether his death in a road accident was merely accidental or involved any conspiracy.
“An issue always comes to my mind. Saifur Rahman died after being involved in an accident. Was it merely an accident, or was there any national or international conspiracy? We need to find that out,” he said.
Rizvi made the remarks at a discussion organized by M Saifur Rahman Smriti Parishad at the Jatiya Press Club, marking the 17th death anniversary of Saifur Rahman.
He said there are reasons to raise questions about the accident because Saifur Rahman had laid the economic foundation of a small, poverty-stricken country. “A person like Saifur Rahman, who built the economic foundation of such a small, poverty-stricken country and laid its economic foundation, was not liked by many countries,” he said.
“Many countries or forces within the country that did not like nationalist forces might not have wanted Bangladesh to develop its own economy, become self-reliant on the basis of its agricultural economy and achieve food self-sufficiency. I think some people did not like this,” the BNP leader said.
Saifur Rahman died in a road accident on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Brahmanbaria on September 5, 2009, while he was travelling to Dhaka from his home district Moulvibazar.
Recalling Saifur Rahman’s career as finance minister during the governments of former President Ziaur Rahman and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, Rizvi said the late economist was a “national asset” and a “pride of BNP”.
“Because of his numerous contributions, he is a national asset. His achievements have been recognized both at home and abroad. We are proud that he belonged to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party,” he said.
The acting BNP secretary general said the event’s moderator recalled a former Pakistani prime minister describing Saifur Rahman as a successful finance minister.
“But it was not only the prime minister of Pakistan who said this,” he said, citing former Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, an economist, who he said followed Saifur Rahman’s policies and drew on Bangladesh’s economic liberalization in implementing reforms in India.
“We often forget that Saifur Rahman. We must not forget him; we must remember him,” Rizvi said, describing him as an economic manager who prevented money laundering and bank looting.
“M Saifur Rahman was an economic manager who stopped money laundering. During the past 17 years, we saw syndication and a system of looting in which money was taken away after looting banks,” he said.
“When Saifur Rahman was the finance minister of this country and the manager of this nation’s economy, we did not hear about such looting, money laundering, banks being looted or the government taking money from banks to meet its budget deficit,” the BNP leader said.
He said Saifur Rahman prepared budgets based on the country’s own economy and tax collection.
Rizvi alleged that the following 17 years saw an economy based on looting and “hollowing out” the country.
He also highlighted various measures taken by Saifur Rahman while working to establish the foundation of the national economy.
The discussion was chaired by Saifur Rahman’s son M Nasser Rahman, MP.
Whip Md GK Gouse, Sylhet City Corporation Administrator Abdul Quiyum Choudhury, Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (JASAS) President Helal Khan, and leaders from Sylhet and Moulvibazar were present at the program.