Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Friday urged all Bangladeshis at home and abroad to conduct a “signature campaign” in favour of bringing back fugitive convicted killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“If we can have lakhs or one core of signatures on the demand, we can mount pressure to those countries (where the killers are now residing) for bringing them (killers) back,” he said while speaking at a discussion on Bangabandhu.
An association ‘Janatar Prottasha’ organised the event with its chairman MA Karim in the chair at the National Press Club.
Two convicted furtive killers — Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury — are residing in the US and Canada respectively, while the whereabouts of other three fugitives –Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, and Moslehuddin Khan — are yet to be ascertained. The government is engaged with the US and the Canadian authorities to bring back those two absconding murderers.
Dr Momen said three ministries- foreign, law and home affairs – have been working in this regard.
“The government is putting in all sort of efforts to bring them back, but now we also need help from our people at home and abroad in this regard” he added.
The foreign minister expressed his hope of bringing back at least Rashed Chowdhury from the US to the country within the ‘Mujib Year’, marking the birth centenary of founding father of Bangladesh.
“He (Rashed Chowdhury) had provided false information to the US authority and now his immigration case is being reviewed there,” he said.
About Noor Chowdhury, the foreign minister said Bangladesh had filed a case in Canadian court and won that. “But, still he (Noor) is there showing some Canadian legal ground,” he added.
Momen said the signature campaign by Bangladeshis, including the expatriates living in Canada, would help bring back Noor Chowdhury.
He called upon the Bangladeshi expatriates in Canada to mount pressure on the Canadian authority by telling them “Canada can’t be a hub of murderers … a murderer can’t live free in Canada”.
He also urged them to hold demonstrations in front of the residences of the identified fugitive killers in their respective countries to let their neighborhood know that a murderer is living beside them.
“We want to implement the court verdicts of the Bangabandhu murder trial to ensure justice, rule of law and good governance in the country,” Dr Momen said.
He also urged the Bangladeshi expatriates to be vigilant along with Bangladesh missions abroad to identify other three fugitive killers of Bangabandhu enabling the government to bring them back as well.
Twelve ex-military officers were sentenced to death for the August 15, 1975 killing of Bangabandhu along with most of his family members.
His daughters – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana – survived as they were in Germany then.
After the murder, the military backed governments enacted ‘indemnity ordinance’ to prevent the trial of the killers who were also awarded with the jobs at different diplomatic missions of Bangladesh.
The indemnity ordinance was repealed 21 years later in 1996 when Awami League came back to power.
After a long judicial process, the killers were sentenced to death in 2009.
Of those sacked army officials, five– Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohiuddin Ahmed and Bazlul Huda – were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on January 28, 2010, while another convict, sacked colonel Rashed Pasha, died a natural death in Zimbabwe when he was on the run.
In April this year, sacked military captain Abdul Majed, one of the Bangabandhu’s fugitive killers, was arrested and hanged at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.
“It was a satisfaction that we had already been able to execute at least one of the fugitive killers — Majed — in this Mujib Year,” Momen said.
