Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday in parliament said the government had no statistics on how many military officers and members lost their lives in coups and mutinies during 1975-1981.
He, however, claimed that the truth behind the dark period was gradually coming out.
Lawmaker AKM Jahangir Hossain from Patuakhali 3 expressed dissatisfaction at the statement, saying citizens needed to know the information for the sake of history.
Obaidul made the remarks in response to a supplementary question from Jahangir on behalf of Syed Ashraful Islam who is responsible for the Defence Ministry in the House.
Obaidul said he had heard that Gen Ziaur Rahman had signed the orders of capital punishment.
He said there had been no democratic government at that time.
He said there had been coups and mutinies at different times during 1975-81. “It is a time consuming matter to come up with detailed data on the incidents since these had happened a long time ago.”
He also said there had been no coups in the navy and air force except for mutinies in navy in November 1975 and in air force on November 3, 1975 and October 2, 1977.