Taking back Gen Zia's Independence Award will be suicidal: BNP

The BNP has warned if the Awami League government decides to strip its founder Ziaur Rahman of the Independence Award, it will prove suicidal.

Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir reacted at a news conference on Friday to two newspaper reports that the Cabinet Committee on National Awards had taken the decision in a meeting.
 
"We and the entire nation are surprised, concerned over the news that they (government) are taking such a decision," Mirza Fakhrul said.
 
Daily Jugantor reported a member of the committee who attended the meeting confirmed the news requesting anonymity. The decision will be gazetted once it gets Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's nod, it added.
 
The report also said a file was sent to the committee in July from the 'high-up' in government. The document mentioned the High Court verdict declaring all military regimes, including the first one of Gen Zia, illegal.
 
The committee took the decision to recommend the cancellation of Zia's Swadhinata Padak, Bangladesh’s highest civilian award, on the basis of the file, Jugantor reported.
 
Mirza Fakhrul said, "He who introduced the award will be left out. But the award will be there along with his deeds.
 
"When the Awami League will understand how mean, suicidal and dirty job it is, they may not have the opportunity to make amends," he added.

 

Ziaur Rahman
 
Khondakar Mushtaq Ahmad declared himself the president after the Bangabandhu was assassinated on Aug 15, 1975 along with most of his family members.
 
He unconstitutionally remained president from Aug 15 to Nov 6 of that year.
 
After Major General Khaled Mosharraf, who had declared himself army chief in a military uprising, was killed, Mushtaq put Major General Ziaur Rahman in charge of the army.
 
Following a military coup on Nov 7, Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem was made president and chief martial law administrator (CMLA).
 
He handed the power of CMLA to Gen Zia on Nov 29, 1976 and stepped down from presidency on health grounds on Apr 21, 1977.
 
Zia succeeded him as president and later formed government through a sham election. He held onto presidency until he was assassinated in a military coup on May 30, 1981.
 
The Swadhinata Padak, Bangladesh's highest civilian award, was introduced in 1977 during Zia’s rule.
 
In 2010, the High Court cancelled the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution and declared Mushtaq, Sayem, Zia and HM Ershad illegal usurpers.

Zia and the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was given the Independence Award posthumously during the BNP government's tenure in 2003.

The medal and the certificate of the award have been kept at the National Museum.

In Mirza Fakhrul's words, the awards that year were a 'bright example of big-heartedness' in Bangladesh's politics.

"Today we are seeing with frustration that they (Awami League) are dividing the entire nation by doing away with the politics of unity in a planned manner," he said.

"Those who want to erase Ziaur Rahman in a dirty way may themselves get erased if he (BNP) returns," he added.

Asked if the BNP has any information on the matter from any source other than the newspapers, Mirza Fakhrul said, "We know full well that the Cabinet committee has taken the decision."

The BNP leader also slated the government for 'snatching away the rights to freedom of speech'.