The trial of Colonel Taher, Bir Uttam
Sunday, 1 August 2010
Colonel Abu Taher was born in 1938. He fled from Pakistan and took over Sector 11 as Sector Commander. He was injured in a grenade explosion during the great battle of Kamalpur and lost one leg. For his valour, he was awarded 'Bir Uttam', the highest gallantry award in Bangladesh.
Taher was in favor of giving importance to peoples' participation in the war on the model of Chinese Army. His vision was to form a peoples' army, which would be production oriented. He also practiced this idea in Comilla Garrison as Commander by cultivating pineapples there on test and trial basis.
Taher resigned from Bangladesh Army and formed Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD). He was the main architect of the soldiers' uprising of 7th November in 1975. His loyal soldiers freed Ziaur Rahman, the then Deputy Chief of Staff, who was under house arrest. Thereby Taher set a great example by freeing Zia from captivity and restored Zia to the post of army chief. But in return he was rewarded the death penalty!
Taher rejected an offer of Ambassadorship and was later charged with treason and tried by a military tribunal inside Dhaka prison. Taher and his close associates were arrested out of fears of revolt.
He was tried before a secret military tribunal staged inside the prison in a conspiracy case titled 'State vs. Major (Rtd) Jalil and Others' and ultimately only Taher was given capital punishment through a camera trial violating basic human rights. He was tried by Special Martial Law Tribunal Regulation 1976 with retrospective effect, which is again against the principle of natural justice. Moreover, all judges of the Military Tribunal were repatriated from Pakistan and none from them took part in the liberation war. The punishment was executed by hanging on July 21, 1975.
Ferdous Rahman
E-mail: ferdous.rahmaan@gmail.com
Taher was in favor of giving importance to peoples' participation in the war on the model of Chinese Army. His vision was to form a peoples' army, which would be production oriented. He also practiced this idea in Comilla Garrison as Commander by cultivating pineapples there on test and trial basis.
Taher resigned from Bangladesh Army and formed Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD). He was the main architect of the soldiers' uprising of 7th November in 1975. His loyal soldiers freed Ziaur Rahman, the then Deputy Chief of Staff, who was under house arrest. Thereby Taher set a great example by freeing Zia from captivity and restored Zia to the post of army chief. But in return he was rewarded the death penalty!
Taher rejected an offer of Ambassadorship and was later charged with treason and tried by a military tribunal inside Dhaka prison. Taher and his close associates were arrested out of fears of revolt.
He was tried before a secret military tribunal staged inside the prison in a conspiracy case titled 'State vs. Major (Rtd) Jalil and Others' and ultimately only Taher was given capital punishment through a camera trial violating basic human rights. He was tried by Special Martial Law Tribunal Regulation 1976 with retrospective effect, which is again against the principle of natural justice. Moreover, all judges of the Military Tribunal were repatriated from Pakistan and none from them took part in the liberation war. The punishment was executed by hanging on July 21, 1975.
Ferdous Rahman
E-mail: ferdous.rahmaan@gmail.com