Remembering the four national leaders on Jail Killing Day

Bangladesh is remembering the four leaders it had lost in a brutal killing 39 years ago through various programmes.

On this day in 1975, four leaders of the wartime national government—acting president Syed Nazrul Islam, prime minister Tajuddin Ahmed and cabinet ministers M Mansur Ali and AHM Qamruzzaman—were brutally killed inside Dhaka Central Jail.

The nation, which fought a Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971, owes much of its victory to the four top Liberation War organisers.

The leaders, closest to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, were arrested after the Bangladesh president was killed along with most of his family members by a group of army officers in Aug 15, 1975.

They were murdered while in state custody on Nov 3 that year as the country witnessed sweeping changes in politics amid the chaos that followed Bangabandhu’s assassination.

The day Bangladesh was robbed of its top national leaders, has since been remembered as ‘Jail Killing Day’.

President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have paid tribute to the martyred leaders, while the ruling Awami League and other parties planned programmes to commemorate the day.

The national and party flag has been lowered at half mast at the Awami League’s headquarters and offices across the country. Black flags were put up at 6:30am.

The ruling party will hold a mass rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the afternoon, after tributes were paid to the leaders at the Banani Graveyard.

“Their killers wanted to erase the ideals of Liberation War from the minds of the new generation and set up an undemocratic dictatorship in Bangladesh … Jail Killing Day will forever remain a dark chapter in our national history,” said the President.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the ‘unprecedented killing’ on Nov 3 was a continuation of what had begun with the assassination of her father Bangabandhu.

“The conspirators were attempting to remove Awami League from Bangladesh forever. They planned to destroy the spirit of Liberation War and leave the nation without leaders.”