INTERVIEW: Kader Siddiqui wants 'real plotters' tracked

The army officers directly involved in the killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family have been tried and convicted, but the "real plotters" remain untraced, says Abdul Kader Siddique, a leader of the liberation war and politician.

In an interview with bdnews24.com, he called for tracking down the men "behind the scenes" and bringing them to justice.

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a verdict that handed down death sentences to 12 former army officers in the Bangabandhu murder case, sealing the gruelling and often-disrupted case proceedings of 13 years. Five of the condemned killers await their fate in jail now, while seven remain fugitive.

In an immediate reaction to the verdict, Siddique told bdnews24.com, "Killing Bangabandhu was not just murder of a man…It was destroying the liberation of Bangladesh."

"The perpetrators behind the scene must be traced out and tried", he said.

The veteran freedom fighter was one of the few who had protested Sheikh Mujib's brutal killing at the time and claims to have led an 'armed resistance' against the new regime.

Siddique told bdnews24.com, "Those who joined Mostaque cabinet after the assassination should also be brought to justice."

Khandaker Mostaque Ahmed became president after Sheikh Mujib was brutally killed, with most members of his family, on August 15, 1975.

Some members of Mujib's cabinet had jumped ship to join the new government formed by Mostaque Ahmed.

Siddique claimed he had raised an armed resistance against the killing of Bangabandhu.

"We occupied some 300 kilometres area along the border stretching from Rangpur to Sylhet with about 9,500 comrades on our side."

"A number of army and BDR camps and police stations came under our control," Siddique claimed.

"But after the political change-over in India, the then Indian Prime minister Morarji Deshai handed over our 6,000 comrades to Ziaur Rahman," he said.

"Otherwise, we could have installed our government in Bangladesh," he said.

Siddique claimed that his forces had put up an armed resistance against Bangladesh administration in September-October 1975 which triggered some small battles at different parts of the country in which 72 of his comrades were killed.

He also claimed that some 17-18 army personnel died in a helicopter crash in Pabna in October 1975 while trying to capture him.

Siddique said he distributed leaflets on the very day that Bangabandhu was assassinated which read, "Bangabandhu's three sons were killed, but one of his sons is alive who will avenge the murder," referring to himself as 'Mujib's son and avenger'.

"Pro-Awami League forces would have been totally eliminated if we had not put up that resistance", he said.

Kader Siddique returned home in December in 1990 after a long exile. He became a member of parliament on an AL ticket before being sacked from the party for unresolved differences.

He later floated a new political party, Krishak Sramik Janata League.