The assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with his family members in 1975 plunged the country into a series of disasters, speakers said in a webinar.
The political landscape witnessed a complete U-turn after August 1975 with all-out attempts employed to destroy the spirit of the Liberation War - secularism and progressive ideologies, they added.
“The brutality of the August 15 killings shocked the world and devastated the nation’s psyche,” said Prof Shams Rahman of Australia’s RMIT University.
“It is the beginning of the darkest period in Bangladesh's history with a military government taking over and murder of four national leaders in jail, coups and counter coups and ultimately the rehabilitation of August 15 killers through a special ordinance,” he added.
BNP’s founder Ziaur Rahman was a key figure behind those spell of disasters that descended on the country in the aftermath of that grisly killing, academics told at a discussion titled “1975 Bangladesh and the World: A Grand Reform and A Carnage” organised by Center for Research and Information (CRI).
CRI organized the programme as part of its research and policy advocacy works on pressing issues on Friday evening.
Speaking at the webinar PM's Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman condemned the then Military Officer Ziaur Rahman for sabotaging the country during the Bangabandhu's tenure.
He recounted one occasion when Military Officer Zia's support for Pakistan was evident even in the lifetime of Bangabandhu.
When there was a proposal for importing textiles to make army uniforms, Gen Zia preferred Pakistan, saying Indian army uniforms were of inferior quality.
Author and Researcher Sudeep Chakravarti talked about Bangabandhu’s focus on secularism.
“Bangabandhu from a young star became the leader of Bangladesh and turned the county’s view into a secular one from a religious one,” he said.
“Now Bangladesh is practising better secularism than India. Not only that, Bangladesh’s GDP growth it's also very admirable. Bangladesh has the second largest garments sector in the world,” the researcher observed.
During the discussion, Researcher Maliha Ahmed appreciated Bangabandhu’s diplomatic efforts to gain recognition of Bangladesh which created a domino effect regarding the gain of recognition from other countries as well.
As the big countries like the UK, USA, Russia, and China put on hold their endorsements of independent Bangladesh, Bangabandhu continued his efforts to earn that stature through diplomatic efforts, said Researcher Maliha Ahmed.
“After the victory, Bangladesh was waiting for Bangabandhu’s homecoming. At that time India gave recognition to Bangladesh as a sovereign country. The big countries like the UK, USA, Russia, and China were holding their recognition," said Reseacher Maliha, a London School of Economics graduate, whose research interest is themed on 'Bangladesh’s Path to Recognition, 1971-1974'.
“Pakistan didn’t give recognition to Bangladesh until 1974. All of these were big roadblocks for Bangladesh to enter the UN,” she said.
“So, Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was working on that. He held a host of meetings among countries to earn recognition from Pakistan as a sovereign country,” the researchers added.
