The Awami League, which spearheaded the 1971 Liberation War, has heaped scorn at BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman after he claimed his father Ziaur Rahman was actually the first president of Bangladesh.
Senior AL leaders reacted furiously to Rahman’s claims made in London on Mar 25, with one even calling him a ‘paranoid schizophrenic’.
But within an hour of the AL fusillade, Tarique’s mother and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia lent weight to her son’s claims, saying her husband was indeed the ‘first president’ of the country because he declared its independence within hours of the Pakistani military crackdown on Mar 26, 1971.
“The Liberation War was conducted by a Provisional Government headed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Though in Pakistani jail, he was the undisputed leader of the movement,” said Awami League Advisory Council member Suranjit Sengupta, at a party event at Krishibid Institute, Bangladesh in Dhaka.
“Zia was a sector commander. There were many like him. I drew a salary of Tk 150 from our provisional government, so did Zia,” reminded Sengupta.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, a front-ranking organiser of the Liberation War, referred to the ‘Proclamation of Independence’ and said it was first read out by MA Hannan on March 26, 1971.
“Much later that evening, we did get to hear the voice of Ziaur Rahman,” said Ahmed, rubbishing claims that the first military ruler of Bangladesh was the one to declare independence.
Ahmed claimed Zia was actually preparing to leave for Pakistan when the Pakistani crackdown started.
Ahmed’s colleague Amir Hossain Amu, now the Industries Minister, joined the attack in the same event.
“When the Pakistanis started killing Bengali officers, Zia was forced to join our struggle,” Amu said.
He rubbished Tarique’s claims as that coming from a ‘madman with no sense of history’.
Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain supported Tofail Ahmed’s contention that Awami league leader MA Hannan was the first to declare independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujib.
“At 2:15pm on March 26, 1971, Hannan read out the proclamation of our independence on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. That was the first declaration of our independence. Zia’s came much later,” he said.
1971’s ‘Agnikanya’ (Fiery woman leader) Matia Chowdhury denounced Tarique as ‘someone brought up by Pakistani batmen’.
“Now he has started making tall claims.”
AL’s Health Affairs Secretary Badiuzzaman Bhuiyan described Tarique as a ‘paranoid schizophrenic’.
The ruling party’s Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak demanded Tarique should be brought back to the country to stand trial on scores of cases filed against him.
Organising Secretary Ahmed Hossain dared Tarique to return to the country.
Other leaders wanted him to be brought back to stand trial.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also joined the tirade on Thursday.
“He (Tarique) stays abroad but is he not expected to know the basics? I doubt if he does.”
She blamed Tarique for ‘deliberate misinformation with malicious intent’.
Source: bdnews24