She recalls Humayun Rashid Chowdhury’s support after Aug 15, 1975
Denouncing the inactive role of the then foreign minister, Dr Kamal Hossain, in protecting Bangabandhu’s two daughters after his assassination in 1975, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said neither she nor her sister got any help from him during their miserable days in the then West Germany.
“When the Father of the Nation was assassinated, his foreign minister was also in West Germany but he neither helped me nor my sister Sheikh Rehana after August 15, 1975,” the Prime Minister recalled without naming Dr Kamal Hossain.
Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, said this while addressing a programme at her official residence Ganobhaban, marking her 33rd Homecoming Day.
Dr Kamal Hossain, now the president of Ganoforum, was the foreign minister of the then Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government.
“Even he (Dr Kamal) didn’t respond to Rehana’s repeated requests to arrange a press conference and condemn the activities of the then usurper,” Hasina said in her flashback.
Hasina mentioned that no minister of the Bangabandhu government was there to help them after August 15 (1975).
At that time, she said, then Bangladesh Ambassador to the erstwhile West Germany Humayun Rashid Chowdhury had helped the family members of the Father of the Nation.
The Prime Minister mentioned in a very emotional voice that she and her sister were not allowed to enter their house at Dhanmondi 32 after their return. “And even Milad and Doa Mahfil could not be arranged there.”
Hasina went on saying, “We had to arrange a Milad and Doa Mahfil on the road seeking the eternal peace of the departed souls of the August tragedy as the then military ruler Zia did not allow us to enter the house,” she said.
After the assassination of Bangabandhu, Hasina recalled, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President of Yugoslavia Marshal Tito offered political asylum in their respective countries. “They wanted to take the responsibility of Bangabandhu family,” she said.
On this day in 1981, Sheikh Hasina returned home after 6 years in exile following the brutal assassinations of the architect of independent Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on August, 15 1975.
Hasina and her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, were in West Germany when the incident occurred.
Recalling the moments of her Homecoming Day, Sheikh Hasina said she returned home on a stormy day when thousands of people accorded her a hearty welcome at the airport.
“I was overwhelmed by the love and affection of thousands, but those were not there whose affection I was looking for,” she told her audience in a sad voice.
The Prime Minister also sought all-out cooperation from all, including leaders and workers of Awami League, in building a dignified nation through upholding the spirit of the War of Liberation.
“I’ve dedicated myself to the nation’s welfare and materialising the dream of Bangabandhu who had wanted to bring smile to the faces of the distressed people,” she said.
The Awami League President said she saw the pro-liberation leaders were being killed one after another while the killers and the anti-liberation forces being rewarded.
In this connection, she said, Ziaur Rahman had captured the state power illegally and became the president through staging ‘Yes-No vote’. He rewarded the killers of Bangabandhu and anti-liberation forces by making them ministers and ambassadors, she added.
The Prime Minister said Awami League was the main enemy of the military dictators and their collaborators as the party struggled for establishing democracy and then rule of law for long 24 years.
“The prime aim of my homecoming was to restore democracy in the country and reestablish the spirit of the War of Liberation which was destroyed by the military dictator,” Hasina said.
“Besides, I had an aim to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the mass people and try the killers of Bangabandhu who were given indemnity from trial,” she added.
Senior Awami League leaders, including Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Begum Matia Chowdhury, Syed Ashraful Islam, Obaidul Quader and Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim were present.
Earlier, leaders of Bangladesh Awami League and its associate bodies greeted the Prime Minister with bouquets on the occasion of her Homecoming Day.
Source: UNB Connect