Case filed over killings of Khaled Mosharraf, two other freedom fighters after 48 years

The daughter of one of the slain army officers and decorated freedom fighters alleges Zia and Taher ordered the killings

Police have opened an investigation into the killings of Major General Khaled Mosharraf and two other freedom fighters, 48 years after their deaths, in a historically fraught episode that ties the late BNP founder Ziaur Rahman.

Ruling party MP Naheed Ezaher Khan, the daughter of Colonel Khandekar Najmul Huda who was killed along with Khaled Mosharraf and another freedom fighter, has filed a case over the incident that occurred amid a flurry of coups and counter-coups after the assassination of Bangladesh’s first president, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in 1975.

The case was filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station on Wednesday night, Azimul Haque, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said on Thursday.

The third army officer killed in the incident was Lieutenant Col ATM Haider. All three were decorated freedom fighters. Khaled was the commander of Sector 2 during the 1971 Liberation War. Najmul was working as the commander of the army’s 72 Brigade at the time of the murder.

Naheed alleged in the case that a group of 20-25 rogue army officers killed her father, Khaled and Haider in the parliament building area on Nov 7, 1975 on orders from the then army chief Ziaur Rahman and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal leader Col Abu Taher.

She has named former Major Abdul Jalil of the 10 East Bengal Regiment in the case as he is the only person alive among those allegedly involved in the incident.

Bangladesh plunged into chaos after the massacre of Bangabandhu’s family on Aug 15, 1975, as Khandakar Mushtaque Ahmed took charge. Amid the turmoil, Khaled led a coup after the killings of four national leaders in jail on Nov 3. Zia was put under house arrest at the time.

Col Taher, who left the army, headed a counter-coup on Nov 7. Zia was then freed, while Khaled and his associates were killed.

The BNP, founded by Zia, observes Nov 7 as “Revolution and Solidarity Day”. Taher’s party observes it as “Sepoy-People’s Uprising Day” while the Awami League calls it “Freedom Fighter and Soldier Killing Day”.

Zia, who ascended to the position as a de-facto leader as a result of the conspiracy over the killing of Bangabandhu and took over the presidency in 1977, was assassinated in 1981 in Chattogram in a coup by some of his colleagues in the army.

The families of Khaled, Najmul and Haider had long been demanding justice for them.

HT Imam, the late adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said in 2017 that the trial of the killers was still possible after so many years.