Would have charged Zia for Bangabandhu murder: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Ziaur Rahman would have been accused of the murder of the nation’s founding father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, if he were alive.

"His death has saved him, or else we would have accused him. Would have sued him for the murder, that’s for sure," she said on Monday at a joint meeting of the Awami League's Central Working Committee.

"(Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed) is Bangabandhu's killer, and he made Zia the army chief. Since Moshtaque is the killer, it means Zia, too, had an involvement in Banganbandu's murder," said Hasina.

Ziaur Rahman, who had usurped power by clamping martial law after a few political changes since the 1975 assassination, died in 1981 in a failed military coup while serving as President.

Hasina also criticised Gono Forum President Kamal Hossain's recent comment on more than half of the MPs of the current parliament being elected uncontested.

"He had won uncontested in the polls of 1970 and 73 from the seats vacated by Bangabandhu… How come he now comments on these issues!" she shot back at the former Awami League leader and a close associate of her father.

Kamal was a member of the Bangabandhu-led cabinet formed after the 1971 Liberation War.