A left-wing insurgency from 1972 to 1975 led to the assassination. In 1972, a leftist group the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) propagating scientific socialism was branched off from the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of Bangladesh Awami League( AL) AL. The JSD, through its armed wing Gonobahini led by Colonel Abu Taher and politician Hasanul Haq Inu, began a political massacre of government supporters, Awami League( AL) AL members, and police. (Major Abu Taher was regular Pak Army officer who fought as a battalion commander of East Bengal Regiment against Pak army. He lost a leg in operation against Kamalpur Pak defences opposite Mahendraganj of Garohills in 1971).
JSD campaign contributed to a breakdown of law and order in the country and culminated in the assassination of Mujib.
Major Syed Faruque Rahman; Khandaker Abdur Rashid; Shariful Haque Dalim; and Mohiuddin Ahmed, along with A. K. M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda, and S. H. M. B. Noor Chowdhury (three majors in the Bangladesh Army and veterans of the Bangladesh Liberation War), planned to topple the government and establish a military government of their own. They were previously part of the opposition to BAKSAL and viewed the government as too subservient to India and a threat to Bangladesh's military. Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, an Awami League( AL) AL cabinet minister under Mujib's government, agreed to take over the Presidency. It is alleged that the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Kazi Mohammed Shafiullah, and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence Air Vice Marshal, Aminul Islam Khan, were aware of the conspiracy.
In the early morning of 15 August 1975, the conspirators divided into four groups. One group, consisting of members of the Bengal Lancers of the First Armoured Division and 535th Infantry Division under Major Huda, attacked Mujib's residence. Mujib was asked to resign, but he refused to resign. Mujib was shot dead.
Other people killed in the attack were Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, wife of Mujib,; Sheikh Nasser, younger brother of Mujib Sheikh Jamal, the second son of Mujib and an army officer; ten-year-old Sheikh Russel, the youngest son of Mujib; and two daughters-in-law of Mujib .
In Dhanmondi, two other groups of soldiers killed Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani, Mujib's nephew and a leader of the Awami League( AL) AL along with his pregnant wife, Arzu Moni, and Abdur Rab Serniabat, Mujib's brother-in-law. They also killed a minister of the government and thirteen of his family members.
The fourth and most powerful group was sent towards Savar to repel the expected counter-attack by the security forces stationed there. After a brief fight and the loss of eleven men, the security forces surrendered.
Four of the founding leaders of the Awami League( AL) AL, first Prime Minister of Bangladesh Tajuddin Ahmed, former Prime Minister Mansur Ali, former Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam, and former Home Minister A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman, were arrested. Three months later, on 3 November 1975, they were murdered in Dhaka Central Jail.
Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad assumed the presidency, and Major General Ziaur Rahman became the new Chief of Army Staff. The leading conspirators were all given high government ranks. They were all later toppled by yet another coup led by Brigadier General Khaled Mosharraf on 3 November 1975. Mosharraf himself was killed during a counter-revolt four days later on 7 November, which freed Major General Ziaur Rahman.
Major Syed Faruque Rahman, Rashid, and the other army officers were promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Nevertheless, they were exiled to Libya, China, Rhodesia, Canada, and other countries, although they were given several diplomatic posts in Bangladeshi missions abroad. Lieutenant Colonel (Retired.) Syed Faruque Rahman later returned and founded the Bangladesh Freedom Party in 1985 and took part in the presidential election in 1987 against the military ruler Lieutenant General Hussain Mohammad Ershad but lost .
Mujib's two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, were in West Germany at the time of his assassination. After the coup, they flew to India, instead of Bangladesh and took refuge . Sheikh Hasina returned to Bangladesh on 17 May 1981.
The military officers who masterminded various assassinations and military coup were never tried by military courts. The assassin conspirators could not be tried in a court of law because of the Indemnity Act passed by the government under President Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad. Awami League( AL) AL, led by Mujib's daughter Sheikh Hasina, came to power in 1996.Awami League( AL) AL repealed Indemnity Act. Soon after the Bangabandhu murder trial began.
Colonel (Retired.) Syed Faruque Rahman was arrested from his Dhaka home, and Colonel (Retired.) Bazlul Huda was brought back from Bangkok, where he was serving a prison sentence for shoplifting as part of a criminal exchange program between Thailand and Bangladesh. Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed was in active military service when he was arrested. Colonel (Retired.) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan had been appointed to active diplomatic service by previous Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia, but he was recalled and arrested. Colonel (Retired.) Abdur Rashid and other accused individuals had already left Bangladesh. Colonel (Retired.) Rashid now reportedly shuttles between Pakistan and Libya. All these men were also involved in Jail Killing of AL leaders on 3 November 1975.
The first trial ended on 8 November 1998. The District and Session Judge of Dhaka, Mohammad Golam Rasul, ordered the death sentence by firing squad to fifteen out of the twenty accused of conspiring in the assassinations. The sentences were not carried out immediately, because five of the convicts sought to file appeals in the high court division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. The Supreme Court, consisting of Justice Mohammad Ruhul Amin and Justice A. B. M. Khairul Haque, who was the former Chief Justice of Bangladesh, gave a divisive verdict. Senior Justice Amin acquitted five out of the original fifteen accused, whereas Junior Justice Haque upheld the lower court's verdict. A verdict from a third judge became necessary. Later, Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim condemned twelve out of original fifteen, including two acquitted in Justice Amin's verdict.
One of the convicts, Major (Retired.) Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe on 2 June 2001. Although the five accused appealed to the appellate division of the Supreme Court, their decision remained pending from August 2001. Several judges refused to hear the case, which meant the government lacked the three judges required to hold a hearing session. On 18 June 2007, one of the conspirators who had been sentenced to death, Major (Retired.) A. K. M. Mohiuddin Ahmed was extradited to Bangladesh from the United States following a series of failed attempts to gain asylum or permanent residency in the United States. On 7 August 2007, the murder case hearings resumed after a six year delay. The appellate division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh gave its verdict on 19 November 2009, after a five-member special bench, headed by Justice Mahammad Tafazzal Islam, spent 29 days hearing the petition .
The appeal of the convicts was rejected, and the death sentence was upheld. Before the verdict, approximately 12,000 extra policemen were deployed to guard strategic buildings, including the Supreme Court building, to prevent disruption of the proceedings by the convicted men's supporters.
Captain (Retired.) Qismet Hashem, Captain (Retired.) Nazmul Hossain Aanssar, and Major (Retired.) Abdul Majid were acquitted through the high court division and appellate division verdicts and now live in Canada. Taheruddin Thakur, former Information Minister and one of the suspects, was cleared during the Hasina Government, acquitted in trial, and released. He died in 2009. Conspirators Major (Retired.) Bazlul Huda, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired.) Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major (Retired.) A. K. M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Colonel (Retired.) Syed Faruque Rahman, and Colonel (Retired.) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan were executed on 28 January 2010.
Image Courtesy – Lehren / Republic World / Daily Bangladesh
Caption - Police escort Capt (retired) Abdul Majed at a Dhaka court on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 (Dhaka Tribune)
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