Gen Zia ‘conspired to reunite Pakistan and create a confederation’, says AL MP and war hero’s daughter

Gen Ziaur Rahman, who rode to power after the assassination of the Bangabandhu in 1975, had ‘conspired to reunite Pakistan and create a confederation’, says Awami League MP Mahjabeen Khaled.

The daughter of Khaled Mosharraf, who commanded a sector during the 1971 Liberation War, questioned Zia’s pre- and post-war actions in Parliament on Thursday.

She said the slain military dictator had infiltrated the war as an ‘agent of Pakistan's spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)’.

After losing the war, Pakistan had sent agents to Bangladesh to ‘get erstwhile East Pakistan back’ (with West Pakistan), she said.

“And Major Zia was Pakistan’s loyal supporter in the Army. After he usurped power in Bangladesh, he plotted to create a Pakistan Confederation during his visit to that country in 1977.”

Referring to the then Pakistan president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s remarks, Mahjabeen told Parliament, “Bhutto had said he (Zia) held secret meetings with the soldiers who had returned from Pakistan and carried out anti-government activities.”

Pakistan People’s Party leader Bhutto had replaced Gen Yahya Khan when the latter stepped down after losing the war against the freedom-craving Bengalees.

According to historical accounts, in 1971 the foreign minister of the wartime government in exile, Khandker Muhstaq Ahmed, had attempted a ceasefire and form a confederation consisting both then the East Pakistan and West Pakistan in the last part of the War of Independence.

Also, Ghulam Azam, then the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, had led a committee to reclaim East Pakistan after he had fled Bangladesh following the country’s birth.

The Jamaat had sided with the Pakistan Army and opposed Bangladesh’s freedom during the bloody war.

Azam had returned to Bangladesh with a Pakistani passport during Gen Zia’s reign.

Khandker Muhstaq seized power through a military coup after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Aug 15, 1975. Zia was made the army chief.

Two months later, Khandker Muhstaq put Zia under house arrest and took full control of the army.

But Zia came to power through a counter-coup led by Col Abu Taher on Nov 7 that year. Then Zia proclaimed himself president after becoming the chief martial law administrator.

MP Mahjabeen on Thursday also dubbed Zia ‘the mastermind of all anti-state conspiracies’.

“Though he (Zia) was known as a freedom fighter, he did not believe in the concept and ideal of the Liberation War,” she continued.

“Zia in reality was an ISI agent who infiltrated the war. His actions during and after the war prove it.”

She also held Zia, who founded the BNP in 1978 after coming to power, responsible for the massacre of over 1,000 Bengalee soldiers at Chittagong Cantonment on Mar 25, 1971.

“Zia had ordered 1,800 soldiers of Bengal Regiment to return their weapons on the night of March 25. After a while, the Pakistan Army launched the assault on the unarmed soldiers, killing at least 1,200 of them.”

“Zia cannot be exempted from the liability for these killings,” Mahjabeen said.

Zia, a Major at the time, was the second-in-command of the 8th East Bengal Regiment, stationed at Chittagong Cantonment, of the Pakistan Army.

Mentioning Zia’s stint in the Pakistani military intelligence, Mahjabeen said, “After imposing martial law in 1958, Ayub Khan (then the Pakistani president) made no mistake in choosing Zia to file secret reports on Bengalee political leaders, activities, and students.”

“Then Zia got posted in then the East Pakistan as a military intelligence officer after agreeing to work for Ayub Khan,” she added.