Tarique Rahman, leader of the BNP which rehabilitated and now partners anti-liberation forces, termed Bangladesh’s architect Bangabandhu a “razakar,” the anti-liberation element, at a programme in London on Monday.
BNP Vice-Chairman Tarique, who is wanted in several corruption and criminal cases in Bangladesh and has been in exile for six years, has recently turned quite a “historian” by giving fantastical and whimsical explanation of history.
His main targets have been Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – the father of the nation; and the Awami League – the party that led Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971.
The intention is clear: to prove that his party BNP – that made notorious war criminals ministers and refuses to agree that their founder Ziaur Rahman actually read out on Bangabandhu’s behalf the proclamation of independence on March 26, 1971 – is more pro-liberation than the Awami League and Zia is more important than Bangabandhu.
It is said that BNP’s allegiance with Jamaat-e-Islami – a party that officially opposed the Liberation War – was a major reason behind the humiliating defeat in the 2008 general election.
Tarique, elder of the two sons of Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia, started “re-versing” history after the January 5 election this year, which the BNP boycotted and failed to resist despite months of violent and bloody street protests.
On Monday, at the Victory Day’s programme of the London chapter of the BNP, Tarique claimed that it was now clear to all “like daylight” that Sheikh Mujib and his family had no contribution in the Liberation War.
He also claimed that Sheikh Mujib – who the BNP affiliates refuse to call Bangabandhu – never wanted to see an independent Bangladesh.
“If Sheikh Mujib started the war along with the Bangali army officers on March 7, Pakistani soldiers would have been defeated and the loss of lives could have been lessened,” Tarique said.
“It is Mujib who is to be held responsible for the losses. And we call him a Razakar after analysing facts. When we called him Pakbandhu [friend of Pakistan], we did that on the basis of facts,” Tarique said.
Bangabandhu’s historic March 7, 1971 speech is seen as the unofficial but the de facto call for the Liberation War in 1971.
The March 27, 1971 proclamation of independence, read out by Zia and broadcast on radio, starts with: “I, Major Ziaur Rahman...on behalf of our great national leader, the supreme commander of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, do hereby proclaim the independence of Bangladesh.”
On March 26 this year and even on later occasions, Tarique said his father Ziaur Rahman, not Bangabandhu, was the first president of Bangladesh. He said Bangabandhu did not have a Bangladeshi passport when he returned after the war and therefore could not be the country’s president.
In a more recent speech at another programme in London, he termed Bangabandhu “Pakbandhu” for which he is facing arrest warrant from a Dhaka court after an aggrieved person sued Tarique on charges of humiliating the father of the nation.
In Monday’s speech, Tarique asked the audience: “If anyone stands on the free and sovereign soil of Bangladesh and shouts a slogan in favour of Pakistan, what should that man be called?”
The audience, comprising mostly BNP supporters, responded by saying: “Razakar!”
Tarique made a gesture by putting his palms around his ear and said: “Cannot hear you, say louder.” The audience shouted louder: “Razakar.”
He then said: “I am talking on the basis of evidence; Sheikh Mujib was a Razakar, a murderer and Pakbandhu.
“When lakhs of people were on the battlefield, Sheikh Mujib’s family was living a secured life in Dhaka under the watch of murderer Yahya,” Tarique said.
Accusing the Awami League of “using” the Liberation War and twisting history in its favour for 40 years, Tarique told his supporters to utter the word “razakar” whenever there was an Awami League man in sight.
Chaired by Shayesta Chowdhury, chief of BNP’s London unit, the programme was addressed among others by the party’s Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed and BNP chairperson’s Adviser Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin.
Tarique has been in London since September 11, 2008 on medical grounds after securing parole in various cases.
He faces 14 charges, of which four, including the August 21 grenade attack case, are on trial and the rest are stayed.
