Over 1,000 Bangladesh struggle heroes’ households search justice in opposition to Zia’s executions

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: In 1971, all of them put their lives on the road in opposition to a closely armed Pakistan Army, fought relentlessly and received the struggle to create the unbiased nation of Bangladesh.

Before becoming a member of the struggle, lots of them could not even bid farewell to their households. As they fought the Pakistan Army, their households went via a double trauma — an agonizing look ahead to the protected return of their close to ones from the battlefield and the worry of being kidnapped by the Pakistan Army and their native collaborators like Jamaat-e-Islami.

These struggle heroes liberated their motherland from a nefarious fundamentalist power and those that survived the struggle returned to a heroes’ welcome.

Honoured for his or her braveness and valour within the battle for his or her motherland, their becoming a member of the armed forces was spurred by an urge to guard the nation and the revolution that had caused its independence.

But inside simply over three years, the assassination of the daddy of the nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, together with his members of the family unleashed a robust conspiracy that undermined the whole secular-democratic ethos of the Great Liberation War.

Backed by the US and Pakistan to avenge the defeat of 1971, the bloodbath and coup of 1975 led to the emergence of the nation’s first army dictatorship underneath Lt. Gen Zia ur Rahman, who was then deputy military chief, however shortly acquired himself promoted as military chief with sturdy backing from the forces liable for the coup.

Hours after the bloodbath of the Mujib household, junior officers rushed to Zia, for directions.

Zia informed them: “So what if the president is dead, the vice president is here”, as documented in a BBC Bangla report. According to unbiased researchers, Gen Zia, after being elevated to the rank of military chief, shortly embraced the killers and launched a black legislation to guard the perpetrators of crime from justice.

The struggle heroes, then serving within the Bangladesh Liberation War Army, knew they have been in hassle as Pakistan-returned repatriates ganged round Gen Zia. Soon their misgivings got here true as Zia unleashed a sequence of executions to strip the army of freedom fighters on the pretext of a purge to self-discipline the forces.

The households of these executed nonetheless seek for the final stays of these killed on Zia’s orders. And although 5 many years have elapsed, no one has been dropped at justice for these executions.

Now, disadvantaged of justice for nearly 5 many years, the members of the family of those struggle heroes turned troopers, numbered over 1,000, have floated a platform named ‘Mayer Kanna’ (tears of moms) and commenced knocking in any respect doable doorways within the hope of tracing the stays of their heroes and demanding a trial for the unlawful executions.

‘I STILL DON’T KNOW WHERE TO FIND MY FATHER’S REMAINS’

In an unique interview with India Today, these victims of the most important human rights abuses in unbiased Bangladesh have shared their ordeals about how their lives acquired turned the other way up as their close to ones fell sufferer of enforced disappearances.

Zia and his cohorts branded these heroes as “traitors” earlier than they have been executed. And their households have been left to fend on their very own.

“I still don’t know where to find the remains of my father, we do not know why he was executed; all we have heard is that he was hanged without any trial in the Central Jail. The killers did not even bother to care for any religious ritual, like a proper burial,” mentioned the son of one of many victims.

At the age of three, Rimna’s father, Sergeant Ashraful alam, was hanged with none trial, leaving her and her mom in hardships.

Accusing Gen Zia for the homicide of her father, she mentioned: “I had to spend nights starving; at times, my mother couldn’t manage even a modicum of milk for me. Poverty snatched away my education. Now, only the trial of Gen Zia will give me some solace.”

Mamtaz Begum, the daughter of Corporal Mobarak Ali, mentioned, “When I was just six months old, Gen Zia hanged my father. Killer Gen Zia ruined our lives and is solely responsible for the death of my father; no one gave us any explanation about why he was hanged.”

Nurun Nahar, whose husband joined the air power, narrated her trauma. “From October 2, 1977 till now, I have got no trace of my husband who joined the air force after Liberation. Before that, a letter was dispatched to me mentioning the last location where my husband had been taken – Dhaka Central Jail. Afterwards, unable to find any trace of him in central jail, I with a little child, frantically searched every other jail and place but in vain,” mentioned Nahar, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I spent three years with my husband — in three years, I found him to be an honest man — those who can put their lives at stake to serve their motherland against Pakistani forces. He served the armed forces; can you call people like him a criminal?” requested Nahar.

She added: “Why is nobody vocal about our right to get justice? Can feigning ignorance about such killings conceal the truth? I request PM Sheikh Hasina to intervene and help me find the remains of my husband.”

Kamruzzaman Lenin, who additionally misplaced his father within the so-called purge, mentioned: “These extrajudicial killings were executed from a political viewpoint – the ideology that opposed the country’s independence and in independent land, the force made all-out efforts to wipe out the ideals our relatives fought for.”

Edited By:

Tirtho Banerjee

Published On:

Dec 26, 2022