53 ex Secretaries sued in attempt to murder case

 
53 former secretaries have been sued in connection with a case lodged over attempts to murder by indiscriminately firing at protesters during the July-August Anti-Discriminatory Students' Movement.

Allegations have been made in the case that these retired top bureaucrats are the 'agents of intelligent agencies belonging to a neighbouring country'. In the case, the accused former Secretaries are described as "collaborators of fascism, detrimental to the state and dishonest officials." Among the accused is Mohammad Mahbub Hossain, who retired from service just one month ago from the post of Cabinet Secretary. Others indicted with this case include former Cabinet Secretary Kabir Bin Anwar, former Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus, Abdus Sobhan Sikder and Tofazzal Hossain Mia.

On 29 October 2024 the above case was filed at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) court in Dhaka by Mohammad Zaman Hossain Khan, a former leader of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of Bangladesh Nationalist Party or BNP. He is currently involved in BNP politics and runs a contractor firm. In total, 196 people have been named as defendants in the case.

The number one accused in the case is ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Other accused individuals include Sheikh Rehana, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Sayma Wazed Putul, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Security Adviser Major General (Retd) Tariq Ahmed Siddique, a former Chief Justice, a former chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission, and two former IGPs. Former leader of the opposition in parliament, GM Quader, is also on the list.
Following the fall of the Awami League government after the student-people's uprising on 5 August 2024 several retired Secretaries have been accused in a broad number of police cases. However, this is the first case where 53 former Secretaries have been made accused at a time.

In his allegations Zaman Hossain Khan cited that his daughter, Samiya Khan, a 10th-grade student of Ideal School and College in Banasree, went to join the peaceful protests against discrimination at the East West University area in Aftabnagar on 5 August 2024. While participating in the peaceful agitation, armed terrorists from the Awami League and its affiliated bodies opened fire on the demonstrators, during which Samiya was shot. She is still carrying three bullets that pierced her right leg.

Zaman Hossain Khan claims that nearly three months after the incident, he first went to the Badda police station to file a case, but was advised to take it to court. He then filed the case with the CMM court, which has instructed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to examine the allegations described in the case.

Regarding the 53 former Secretaries being named in the case, Zaman Hossain Khan told reporters that being a conscious citizen and a politician; he is familiar with these individuals.

Zaman Hossain Khan said he was not provoked but was outraged, accusing these former Secretaries of assisting the fascist Awami League government in staying in power for an extensively long period through rigged elections one after another. The role of those, who became Secretaries between 2009 and 2024, cannot be accepted, according to Zaman Hossain Khan. Zaman Khan also said that he was a former student leader at Titumir College in 1994-95 and is now involved in BNP politics and a registered contractor of the Public Works Department (PWD).

When asked about making 196 people accused, Zaman Hossain Khan said that he had named former opposition leader GM Quader and leaders of the 14-party alliance, accusing them of also being responsible for turning Awami League into a fascist party who committed widespread human rights violations, mammoth corruption, monstrous nepotism, enforced disappearances, paralyzing banks with plundering and laundering money and many more vices.