NEW DELHI. Nov 10: Leading Indian newspapers in separate editorials today welcomed the verdict on the Bangabandhu Murder Case describing it as. a landmark in South Asia." reports BSS.

"The conclusion of the trial pf the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 23 years after the cold-blooded massacre of Bangladesh's founding father and 25 of his family members, friends and relatives is a landmark in South Asia." The Times of India said in an editorial.

It said Bangladesh's agonising deliverance from Pakistan in 1971 through war and bloodshed is heroic saga of democracy enlarging its boundaries in the Subcontinent. But the glory of the new-born democracy was cruelly cut short with the assas-sination of President Mujib on August 15. 1975, less than four years after the country's liberation from Its subjugated status as East Pakistan.

That the course of justice has eventually triumphed in Bangladesh has wider implications for democracy and political security in the region which had reeled under the shockwaves of the 1975 assassination. In fact, it has been suggested that Indira Gandhi, who may have considered the lifting of emergency around that time, changed her mind because of S murder. The Times

In a separate editorial captioned Long trial for Bangladesh.' The Indian Express said the bloody event of August 1975 have corrupted politics and retarded the growth of democracy for almost a quarter of a century.

The politicians who protected the killers for 20 years, passing an Indemnity law to prevent them being brought to trial and giving them diplomatic assignments abroad, have not given up yet. the paper warned saying "they have

learned nothing from the cycles of coups and vendettas which have kept Bangladesh in a state of political turmoil for the greater part of its independent history.

The Indian Express said Justice is the last thing on the minds of leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other opposition groups who are out in the streets fanning passions against the verdict of the court.

No Bangladeshi can fall to recognise the objective. It is to subvert the legal process once again by causing civil disturbances. the paper said.

Referring to the reported links of the assassins with Taliban trained terrorists, the editorial said true or not. the fact that such reports are circulating is an indication of the complex challenges facing Sheikh Hasina. Her political opponents intend to give her no respite and she will have to find ways of containing them inside and outside parliament, the paper said.

In another editorial. The Pioneer said the killers not only perpetrated their Inhuman massacre, but also Imposed a horrible dictatorship on Bangladesh that in turn was short-lived and remembered chiefly for the ghastly murder of such respected Bangladeshi leaders as Syed Nazrul Islam and Tajuddin Ahmed and others in jail in November 1975. It was followed by a cycle of coups and countercoups and military regimes disguised and undisguised.

Sheikh Hasina's resolve not to let the killers of her parents and family go unpunished doubtless explains the recent proceedings. Nevertheless, the trial itself nas. by all accounts, been fair and public. The Pioneer said.