Doubts still surround assassins' whereabouts
Despite attempt to bring back the fugitive assassins of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from abroad it has not yet materialised.
However, the Foreign Ministry is hopeful of bringing back the six fugitive killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman now hiding abroad.
The Ministry has taken the issue as its first priority, said Mohammad Shahriar Alam State Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The absconding assassins are Khandakar Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Noor Chowdhury, Moslehuddin Khan, Abdul Mazed and M Rashed Chowdhury.
The people of the country are demanding their return and execution at the soonest.
Bangabandhu was assassinated by a group of disgruntled military men along with his family members and relatives at his Dhanmondi residence on August 15 in 1975. The murders set the stage for decades of military rule when the killers had enjoyed diplomatic privileges and political rehabilitation.
Shahriar told the Daily Observer on Saturday that they were making "every diplomatic effort with the country where the killers are hiding and to bring them back to face death penalty."
He also said every country has some laws on deportation. Shahriar said they were trying to persuade, without naming any specific country, "both diplomatically and politically" to deport them. "We hope that at least one of them (from US and Canada) will be brought back during our tenure," he said.
Intelligence sources told this correspondent that M Rashed Chowdhury is living in the US and many believe that Moslehuddin Khan is also hiding in the US. Noor Chowdhury is in Canada and Shariful Haque Dalim is believed to be hiding in the US. Soon after the killing, both Rashid and Faruk (executed) were living in Libya as "VIP Guests" of the then Libyan strongman Col Gaddafi.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan had earlier said condemned convicts Lt Col (sacked) Khandakar Abdur Rashid has been hiding in Pakistan or Libya, Maj (sacked) Shariful Haque in Pakistan or Libya or Zimbabwe, Maj (sacked) Abu Mohammad Rashed Chowdhury in the US, Maj (sacked) SHMB Noor Chowdhury in Canada, Capt (sacked) Abdul Majed in Senegal (Dakar) and Risaldar (sacked) Mosleh Uddin in India.
Of the 12 convicts condemned to death in the murder case, five were hanged on January 28 in 2010, one died abroad and six are absconding. The convicts hanged were Syed Faruk Rahman, Sultan Shahariar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, Mohiuddin Ahmed and AKM Mohiuddin. Another, Abdul Aziz Pasha, died in Zimbabwe.
The Foreign Ministry source said one of the killers of Bangabandhu was refused political asylum in one country but due to complexity over death penalty, it was a big challenge to bring him back. Noor Chowdhury was denied political asylum in Canada but the country refused to send him back due to the county's stand against death penalty.
After the gruesome murder, 12 army men involved had been awarded with jobs in Bangladesh's diplomatic missions abroad in 1977 when Ziaur Rahman, who founded the BNP, captured power through a military coup. Bangladesh's first military ruler later promulgated the Indemnity Ordinance to save the self-proclaimed killers of Bangabandhu.
Interpol has issued warrants of arrest against them while reports of the quartet's whereabouts keep surfacing from time to time.
The Indemnity Ordinance was abrogated on November 12 in 1996 when the Awami League returned to power 21 years later. "It's a painful process to trace and bring the killers back. But it is our vow to bring back Bangabandhu killers," the State Minister said. "Once it was unbelievable that Bangabandhu's killers could be punished. But we did that. So we must not lose hope."
"Now we enjoy even better relations with the USA. New dimensions have been added to the relations with many formal mechanisms like security dialogue, partnership dialogue, and TICFA. "So we have reasons to hope that the US will deport a killer so that we can conclude the legal procedure," Shahriar said.
Asaduzzaman said the government has taken all necessary steps through diplomatic channels to bring back the fugitive killers of Bangabandhu.
Information along with photographs of the fugitive killers has already been sent to important airports of the world through the Interpol to determine the whereabouts of the killers, he added.
The Minister for Home Affairs said the government has kept contact with the United States and Canada to bring back Noor Chowdhury and Rashed Chowdhury. Besides, the countries concerned were requested not to give the convicts citizenship.
