Jail killing Day: The Second Dark Chapter in the History of Bangladesh

 

November 3, is the heinous Jail Killing Day. This day marks the beginning of the second ignominious chapter of history. After the brutal killing of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family on August 15, 1975, the second ignominious chapter of history began on November 3 with the brutal killing of four national leaders in prison.

After the brutal killing of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family on August 15, 1975, within two and a half months of the same year, Bangabandhu's close companions, one of the brave soldiers of the Liberation War and the four national leaders—Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, AHM Quamaruzzaman and Captain Mansur Ali were imprisoned in Dhaka Central Jail, and was brutally killed inside the jail on this day. Like Bangabandhu's murder, a group of deviant army personnel was also involved in this murder. Since then, this heinous killing in the custody of the state, has been celebrated as 'Jail Killing Day' in Bangladesh.

After Bangladesh's founding president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, these four national leaders were the most important in the party. Why were these four national leaders killed in state custody in Dhaka Central Jail almost two and a half months after Bangabandhu's murder? After the assassination of Bangabandhu and his family on August 15, 1975, the Awami League leadership was in a state of perplexing. At that time, many were in jail and many were in hiding, including the four central leaders of the party. The rest of the leaders openly or secretly compromised with the new president Khandaker Mushtaq Ahmed. And many leaders became inactive in politics.

Known as the most hated treacherous members of Bangabandhu's cabinet and the then self-proclaimed President Khandaker Mushtaq Ahmed and Bangabandhu's two murderers Lieutenant Colonel (relieved) Syed Farooq Rahman and Lieutenant Colonel (relieved) Khandaker Abdur Rashid planned to kill four national leaders in jail. For this work, they formed an assassin team earlier. Risaldar Moslehuddin was the head of this group. He was Farooq's most trusted officer. Moslehuddin led the group of assassins who carried out the massacre at Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani's residence on August 15.

Anthony Mascarenhas, a renowned South Asian journalist, has described this incident in detail in his book 'Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood'. He said, immediately after the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family, four national leaders were planned to be killed in the jail. The plan was taken in such a way that the counter-coup took place automatically. And for this task, a five-member assassination team was also formed. The instruction to this assassin group was that as soon as the counter-coup happened, they would go to the central jail and kill the four national leaders without waiting for any instructions.

Four such leaders were killed in Central Jail soon after Khaled Mosharraf staged a counter-coup on November 3, 1975. Shortly after Bangabandhu's formal declaration of independence, the Pakistani military arrested the Father of the Nation from his historic Dhanmondi-32 residence on the night of 25 March 1971. Later, Syed Nazrul Islam served as the Acting President of the Government of Bangladesh during the bloody independence war for nine long months. As the most well-known Prime Minister of the Mujibnagar government during the liberation war, Tajuddin Ahmed played an effective role in the establishment of an independent Bangladesh in fulfilling the dreams of independence of millions of Bengalis.

Another close aide of Bangabandhu, AHM Qamaruzzaman and Captain Mansur Ali played an important role in determining policy and strategy in conducting guerrilla warfare against the well-equipped Pakistani forces. Ghulam Murshid wrote in his book 'Muktijuddho O Tarpor: Ekti Nirdolio Itihash' that Khandaker Mushtaq planned the prison killing only with Farooq and Rashid. He decided that in case of any counter-coup, Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam, Captain Mansur Ali and Quamaruzzaman, who were detained in the Central Jail, would be killed—so that even if a new government was formed, these leaders would not be able to lead it.

On the other hand, a commission of inquiry into the murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members on August 15, 1975, and four national leaders killed in Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, was formed in London. The Commission of Inquiry was formally constituted on September 18, 1980 to investigate the factors that obstructed the process of law and justice against those responsible for 3 November jail killings. However, due to the non-cooperation of the Bangladesh government at that time and non-granting of visa to one of the members of the commission, this initiative could not be successful.

The day after the jail killings, the then Deputy Inspector General of Prisons (DIG Prisons) Kazi Abdul Awal filed a murder case at Lalbagh police station. For 21 long years, the trial process was kept under wraps. Awami League came to power in 1996, and started the process of reviving the case. On October 20, 2004, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md. Matiur Rahman gave a verdict in the case. The verdict awarded death sentence to Risaldar Moslehuddin (absconder), Dafadar Marfat Ali Shah (absconder), and LD (Dafadar) Abul Hashem Mridha (absconder).

Apart from this, 12 people, including four accused army officers Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bajlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, who were sentenced to death in the Bangabandhu murder case, were given life imprisonment. Former ministers KM Obaidur Rahman, Shah Moazzem Hossain, Nurul Islam Manzoor and Taheruddin Thakur were acquitted. On appeal against that verdict, the High Court upheld the death sentence of Moslehuddin in 2008. However, the two convicts, Marfat Ali and Hashem Mridha, who were sentenced to death, were acquitted. After 30 years of jail killings, the family of the four national leaders did not accept the verdict of the jail killings trial. They rejected the verdict as 'politically motivated and farce'. On the other hand, all of the 11 convicts convicted in that judgment are still absconding. In other words, even after 48 years of jail killings, the convicts are out of touch.

The aim of Bangladesh's anti-independence evil groups was to avenge the defeat in the liberation war by making the Bengalis as leaderless. For this reason, after Bangabandhu was detained in Pakistan during the liberation war, the four leaders who won a great victory in the liberation war by showing worthy leadership on behalf of Bangabandhu, were brutally killed like Bangabandhu. Jail Killing Day is a stigmatical and heinous event in Bengali national-life. We do not want a repeat of such disgraceful incident on the soil of this country. The families of the four national leaders did not accept the verdict in the case of Jail killings. And the convicts who were convicted in that judgment are still out of touch. We want a proper investigation into this incident, and the real culprits must be punished. My humble tribute to the four national leaders from the people of the country.

 
Emran Emon is a researcher,
journalist, and columnist.