Consolation is the only thing that the Supreme Court verdict ending the culture of impunity brings to the families of the four uncompromising national leaders, who were eliminated from the country’s political scene 38 years ago through the infamous jail killings.
The children of the four national leaders say at least they should not see the killers move freely, as has happened during the rule of the BNP and Jamaat-led government.
The Supreme Court judgment on April 30 handed down capital punishment to three ex-army personnel and life sentence to 12 others for killing Tajuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh’s first prime minister; Syed Nazrul Islam, the first vice-president, Captain Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman inside the Dhaka Central Jail in the early hours of November 3, 1975.
The persons finally getting capital punishment are: Risalder (retd) Muslemuddin, Dafadar (dismissed) Marfat Ali Shah and Dafadar (dismissed) Abdul Hashem Mridha. All of them have been absconding for long.
The government is not clear whether they could be executed.
Ferdous Momtaz Poly, one of the four daughters of AHM Quamruzzaman, told the Dhaka Tribune that the 2004 verdict was a “farce.”
“We can at least see justice in the end, does not matter if the judgement is executable or not. The verdict will satisfy us, if implemented.”
She said her mother Jahanara Quamruzzaman went through a very bad time since the murder of her husband.
Poly said the new generation did not bother about the jail killings. Sometimes, especially ahead of November 3, they expressed sympathy for them.
“This is our pride that we are the children of a very honest leader. My father was not like today’s leaders who focus mainly on making money,”she said.
Mahjabeen Ahmed, one of the daughters of the slain Tajuddin Ahmed, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Our opinion is that the process has started, and we hope we will see its implementation soon;” referring to the fact that the persons involved in the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman also took part in the murder.
She also referred to the reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa where the minority white people confessed to a truth commission that they had committed “wrongs” to the majority black people who pardoned the perpetrators for national sake.
“So, the verdict [in the Bangabandhu killing case] has earmarked the killers and crimes committed,” she said.
The Awami League government initiated the trial of the jail killings the last time it was in power. But things changed after the BNP-led government took over in 2001.
On October 20, 2004, a Dhaka court awarded gallows to resalder (retd) Muslemuddin, dafadar (dismissed) Marfat Ali Shah and dafadar (dismissed) Abdul Hashem Mridha.
The court also awarded life time to 12 others: Lt Col (dismissed) Syed Faruk Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan and Major (retd) Bazlul Huda, Lt Col (dismissed) Khondaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haq Dalim, Lt Col (retd) SHMB Noor Chowdhury, Major (Retd) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lt Col (retd) AM Rashed Chowdhury, Major (relieved) Ahmed Shariful Hossain, Captain (retd) Abdul Majed, Captain (relieved) Kismat Hasem and Captain (relieved) Nazmul Hossain.
Of the 12 convicts, four – Lt Col (dismissed) Syed Farooq-ur Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Maj (retd) Bazlul Huda and Maj (retd) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed have already been executed in the Bangabandhu killing case.
Former BNP leader KM Obaidur, Shah Moazzem Hossain, Nurul Islam Monzoor, Taheruddin Thakur and the then additional foreign secretary Khairuzzaman, who managed bail soon after the BNP-led four-party coalition came to power, were relieved of the charges in 2004.
Their acquittal angered the family members of the four national leaders.
On August 28, 2008, the High Court upheld the capital punishment of Muslemuddin and acquitted Marfat and Hashem. It also acquitted Farooq, Shahriar, Mohiuddin and Bazlul Huda, not giving any decision on rest of them.
Soon after assuming in power, the Awami League government filed an appeal with the Supreme Court in 2009 against the high court verdict.
President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have delivered separate messages to commemorate the jail killing of the four national leaders.
In her statement, the prime minister said the successors of the killers of Bangabandhu and the four national leaders were now trying to foil the trial of the war criminals.