Shame for the nation
Friday, 14 November 2008
THE nation once again recalled with a heavy heart recently the jail killings. The brutal assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the members of his family in August 1975 will remain forever a black spot to trouble the consciousness of all right thinking ones in Bangladeshis. It was the blackest and most shameful incident in the history of the nation. The most shocking incident of mid-August 1975 was followed by no less savagery, only three months later in November that year when four national leaders -- Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Mansur Ali and Kamaruzzaman -- were stealthily and mercilessly slain in Dhaka Central Jail by the most heartless assailants, working for the coup makers that toppled the government. The bloody method was chosen to get rid of potential political opponents forever.
But the slain leaders were among the respected and worthy sons of the land. They organised the Liberation War of Bangladesh from the foreign soil, while in exile in 1971. Before the war they dedicated their lives to arouse nationalist aspirations. From the glorious language movement of 1952 that created the first impulse for nationalistic aspiration to the ceaseless struggle for democracy during numerous automatic government, they were in the forefront of the movements that ended with emergence of free Bangladesh.
Needless to say, the assassination of the four leaders in utterly helpless conditions in the custody of the jail house, constitutes a barbarity of matchless proportion. It was the worst violation of human rights. Bangladeshis have since traveled a long way towards democracy and in securing basic rights of countrymen. Let us hope that we will succeed in consolidating democracy and human rights so that the face of the nation never gets blackened again from such abominable acts.
Mashiur Rahman
Rajarbag, Dhaka.
But the slain leaders were among the respected and worthy sons of the land. They organised the Liberation War of Bangladesh from the foreign soil, while in exile in 1971. Before the war they dedicated their lives to arouse nationalist aspirations. From the glorious language movement of 1952 that created the first impulse for nationalistic aspiration to the ceaseless struggle for democracy during numerous automatic government, they were in the forefront of the movements that ended with emergence of free Bangladesh.
Needless to say, the assassination of the four leaders in utterly helpless conditions in the custody of the jail house, constitutes a barbarity of matchless proportion. It was the worst violation of human rights. Bangladeshis have since traveled a long way towards democracy and in securing basic rights of countrymen. Let us hope that we will succeed in consolidating democracy and human rights so that the face of the nation never gets blackened again from such abominable acts.
Mashiur Rahman
Rajarbag, Dhaka.