& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Govt stalls process to bring killers back

ZAYADUL AHSAN
The government has stalled the process of bringing back the convicted killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who are now absconding abroad.
The taskforce formed in 1999 during the Awami League rule to have the killers extradited was dissolved after the BNP-Jamaat led coalition took office in 2001.
The foreign and home ministries are now tightlipped about the convicted killers. The foreign ministry has no official information about the whereabouts of the killers.
Immediately after Awami League (AL) formed government in 1996, some of the killers left the country fearing arrest and prosecution. Some others who were working in different foreign missions of Bangladesh left their jobs and went into hiding after they were asked to come back to face trial for killing Bangabandhu.
Fifteen former army officers were awarded death penalty by a lower court in the Bangabandhu Murder Case on November 8, 1998. Later, the High Court upheld the death
sentence of 12 killers. Of them, Lt Col Syed Farook Rahman, Lt Col Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col Mohiuddin and Maj Bazlul Huda are in jail.
One convict has died abroad and seven others are still absconding.
The taskforce formed by the AL government with officials from the foreign, home and law ministries in 1999 came to know from intelligence sources that the killers were staying in the US, Zimbabwe, Canada, Pakistan, India and Middle Eastern countries.
It sent copies of the court verdict in the Bangabandhu Murder Case to the governments of those countries and initiated steps to have extradition treaty with them.
The Interpol rang a red alert throughout the world to hunt down the killers.
The taskforce officials visited the US in 2000 and completed preliminary procedures for an extradition treaty. The AL government also appointed two legal advisors in the US for the purpose but the move was
FROM PAGE 1
stalled by the four-party coalition government.
According to the taskforce, convicted Lt Col Khandkar Abdur Rashid was hiding in the Middle East, Lt Col Shariful Haque Dalim in Pakistan, Major AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Lt Col Rashed Chowdhury in the US, Lt Col Noor Chowdhury in Germany, and Captain Abdul Mazed and Risaldar Moslehuddin in India.
However, Noor is now staying in Canada. The Canadian government sought assistance of the Bangladesh mission to send him back, but the mission did not cooperate. Sources said Noor has recently managed a Bangladeshi passport with the help of the mission.
Another convict, Lt Col Aziz Pasha, who served in the Bangladesh mission in Zimbabwe as deputy high commissioner, was asked to return home during the AL rule to face trial. He did not return, instead sought asylum in Zimbabwe. On July 8, 1996, he was dismissed from service for disobedience and desertion.
Aziz Pasha died on June 2, 2001 in Zimbabwe. Surprisingly, the BNP-led government reinstated him in the foreign ministry even after his death at the directive from the highest level of the government, sources said.
The government has also arranged all government benefits such as pension to the widow of Aziz Pasha, showing him "retired" from service.
Having captured power through a military coup, Ziaur Rahman rewarded 12 army officials involved in Bangabandhu killing by providing them with jobs in Bangladesh missions abroad in 1976. Later, they were incorporated in the foreign service in 1980.
Another military ruler HM Ershad
and the government of Khaleda Zia followed the policy of Zia about the killers of Bangabandhu. The accused army officers enjoyed all facilities in government jobs and got promotions under the rules of Ershad and Khaleda.
During the Ershad regime, Let Col Farook and Lt Col Rashid returned to Dhaka and established Freedom Party. Farook contested the 1986 president election and his party took part in the 1988 parliamentary election that was boycotted by major parties.
As in the Ershad period, the killers took part in the February 15, 1996 parliamentary election of Khaleda regime that was also boycotted by major political parties. Lt Col Rashid was elected a lawmaker in that farcical election.
Besides the killers of Bangabandhu, the present government also reinstated charge-sheeted accused in the Jail Killing Case Major Khairuzzaman in his foreign ministry job.
Khairuzzaman, who was serving as acting ambassador in the Philippines, was recalled by the AL government and charge-sheeted in the Jail Killing Case. He was arrested and given forced retirement on September 24 1996.
Soon after the assumption of power by the alliance government, Khairuzzaman was shifted from jail to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital and then released on bail. On May 4, 2003 he was reinstated as a key director general in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later promoted as additional secretary of the ministry.
Khairuzzaman was, however, acquitted in the case. The government has recently appointed him as the ambassador in Myanmar.