BNP leader ASM Hannan Shah yesterday said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman played a historic role in sending back the allied forces after the country’s Liberation War.
“When he returned to Bangladesh after the Liberation War, the biggest role he played was that he made Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi promise that she would withdraw the allied forces very soon,” he said.
“You cannot imagine, if Indian forces remained here, it could have been a state like Kashmir,” he said addressing a discussion at the National Press Club in the capital.
“The nation is grateful to Bangabandhu. I personally wonder what would have happened if he had not done that at that time. It would have been a dreadful situation,” said Hannan.
Terming Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Bangabandhu, the BNP leader said he saw Bangabandhu fight against Ayub Khan, Monayem Khan, Iyahyia with his intelligence and politics.
“But we did not expect from Bangabandhu the one-party rule Baksal where there was no democracy.”
He alleged that through Baksal graveyard was dug for the political parties.
Expressing frustration over the prevailing political situation, he said: “Today’s socio-political situation is grave. We have to go to door to door for justice.”
Remembering the contribution of Indian forces to the Liberation War, Hannan said: “We wanted freedom for a bright future. Those who study, you see we did not want independence. We wanted to establish our rights only. We got support from the allied forces as Pakistanis wanted to repress us. We won with the assistance of the allied forces.”
He also said: “As a former army officer, I say it would have taken five to seven years for the country to get liberty if the allied forces were not with us.”
Hannan, however, said India only helped us but its main objective was to split Pakistan as it was a threat to India.”