Envoy to Malaysia Khairuzzaman recalled

The government has recalled Bangladesh high commissioner to Malaysia M Khairuzzaman, one of the original accused in the Jail Killing Case, according to a highly-placed foreign ministry source. State minister for foreign affairs Hasan Mahmud had said on Sunday the ministry would recall him 'to face trial'. Khairuzzaman, a retired major, was charged but later acquitted in the case.

Kamran Reza Chowdhury

bdnews24.com senior correspondent

Dhaka, Jan 14 (bdnews24.com) – The government has recalled Bangladesh high commissioner to Malaysia M Khairuzzaman, one of the original accused in the Jail Killings Case, according to a highly-placed foreign ministry source.

The source, a senior official who declined to be named, told bdnews24.com on Tuesday night a letter had been sent asking the ambassador to report to the foreign office in Dhaka.

State minister for foreign affairs Hasan Mahmud had said on Sunday the ministry would recall him 'to face trial'.

Khairuzzaman, a former military officer absorbed in the foreign service after the 1975 assassination of president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was made ambassador by the 2001-2006 BNP-led government.

"Awami League is in power now. It cannot be that killers will be serving as envoys," Mahmud said.

"First, he will be called back and then he will have to face trial (here)," the junior minister said.

"We have already discussed recalling him from the mission."

Mahmud said the process to bring him back would start soon.

Khairuzzaman, a retired major, was charged but later acquitted in the Jail Killings Case.

Asked whether he was possibly resigning his post and returning home, he told bdnews24.com from Kuala Lumpur by phone: "I have not got any instruction from Dhaka."

Four national leaders, who had been close to independence leader Sheikh Mujib Rahman and had led the government in exile during the 1971 war – Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, M Monsur Ali and AHM Qamaruzzaman – were killed in Dhaka Central Jail on Nov 3. 1975.

Khairuzzaman, who had been serving as acting ambassador in the Philippines, was recalled by the past AL government after he was named in the charge sheet of the Jail-Killing Case. He was arrested and forced to retire on Sept. 24, 1996.

Soon after the last BNP-led alliance government assumed power, Khairuzzaman was released on bail.

On May 4, 2003 he was reinstated as a key director general in the foreign ministry and later promoted as additional secretary.

Khairuzzaman was acquitted in the Jail Killing Case by a trial court in 2004.

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