BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday expressed her doubt over how many people were killed during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.
“There is still a controversy about the exact number of people martyred in the Liberation War,” she said in her address at a rally of freedom fighters at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.
The BNP chief said different books and documents show different numbers in this regard.
Referring to books written by Sector Commander AK Khandakar and Tajuddin Ahmed’s daughter Sharmeen Ahmed, Khaleda said like the freedom fighters several people have been harassed by the government for writing the truth in their books.
The BNP chief said the Awami League did not want the country’s independence in 1971. “Rather their leader wanted to be the prime minister of the united Pakistan,” she said.
“You [freedom fighters] would not have become freedom fighters if Shaheed president Ziaur Rahman had not proclaimed the country’s independence in 1971,” said Khaleda.
The former premier claimed that the Awami League gave the national flag in the hand of Razakar Maulana Nurul Islam. “And then we were blamed! Have they forgotten what they did? War criminals are in their house. Why actions were not taken against them?”
Khaleda also alleged that the Awami League started the crossfire in the country. “They started crossfire with the killing of Siraj Sikder and it is still continuing.”
