Pakistan not providing information on Bangabandhu’s killers, Hasina tells Parliament

Pakistan is not cooperating in tracking down the two absconding assassins of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

During Wednesday’s question-answer session in Parliament, she said, “Zillur, who runs Tritiyo Matra on Channel i, had interviewed Col Rashid. It means he knows where killer Rashid is.”

“This means Rashid was in Libya and now he is in Pakistan. Dalim is also in Pakistan,” she said.

“We do not get any help from Pakistan to locate them,” she added.

The prime minister said Pakistan did not even admit that two of the killers of Bangabandhu were staying in that country.

She was answering a supplementary question by Md Abdus Shahid on the steps taken by the government to bring back the killers of the nation’s founding father Sheikh Mujib.

In reply, Hasina also said two of the absconding killers were in the US, one in Canada, and one went to Pakistan via Libya. Two others could not be traced, she said.

A group of army officials killed Bangabandhu and almost all members of his family on Aug 15, 1975.

His daughters Hasina and Sheikh Rehana were abroad then.

Bangladesh has hanged five of the 12 convicted killers. Six are absconding and one died abroad.

Of the absconding killers, Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury were granted asylum by the US and Canada respectively.

On Aug 21, Hasina alleged that killers Shariful Haque Dalim and Khandkar Abdur Rashid were in Pakistan.

She, on Wednesday, told Parliament that the government had appointed lawyers to bring back the killers.

She expressed surprise over the US and Canada giving shelter to the self-proclaimed killers of Bangabandhu.

“I don’t know why America and Canada give shelter to killers despite being civilised countries,” she said.

The prime minister noted that Interpol had issued red corner notice for the killers.

“Our home and foreign ministries are trying. But for some reasons, these countries are not helping,” she said.

“I do not understand why civilised nations are acting like this,” she reiterated.

Of the 12 convicts, Syed Faruk Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin were hanged in 2010.

Another convict, Abdul Aziz Pasha, died in Zimbabwe.

Media reports suggest Moslemuddin is in the US, while Abdul Mazed has been changing countries on a regular basis.

Khandker Moshtaq Ahmed, who became the president after the assassination of Bangabandhu, indemnified the killers.

Later, Bangladesh’s first military dictator and BNP founder Gen Ziaur Rahman appointed the killers at Bangladesh’s foreign missions after assuming power.

The Awami League-led government scrapped the indemnity ordinance in 1996 and started the trial of the killers.

In reply to another question on Wednesday, Hasina alleged all of those who were in power between 1975 and 1996 tried to wipe out Bangabandhu’s name from Bangladesh’s history.

“We had only one TV channel – BTV. Whenever something (on Bangabandhu) was shown, it was blurred. One or two newspapers wrote about him but had to face the government’s wrath,” she said.

She also thanked the media for running programmes marking the 40th death anniversary of Bangabandhu.