DHAKA, Aug 16, 2020 (BSS) – Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today sought support from the diplomats of different countries stationed here and New Delhi in bringing back fugitive killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“We have already detected two out of five Bangabanbhu’s convicted fugitive killers (hiding abraod), but we are yet to know whereabouts of other three,” he said while speaking at a virtual discussion with foreign diplomats marking the National Mourning Day to commemorate the 45th martyrdom anniversary of the Bangladesh founding father.
Law minister Anisul Huq and state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam also spoke at the discussion organized by the Foreign Ministry and attended by 83 ambassadors or high commissioners assigned here.
During the meeting, the foreign minister urged the friendly countries to help Dhaka identify the locations of Bangabandhu’s fugitive killers.
The government had traced out Bangabandhu’s two convicted furtive killers — Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury — residing in the USA and Canada respectively, while the whereabouts of other three fugitives –Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, and Moslehuddin Khan — are yet to be ascertained.
After knowing the locations of the two killers, the Foreign Ministry and the Law Ministry have been deeply engaged with the US and the Canadian authorities to bring back these two absconding murderers.
Momen said the Bangabandhu killers were brought behind the bar from 1975 to 1996 following the promulgation of an Indemnity Ordinance.
Assuming state power, he said, the Awami League government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had arranged the trial of Bangabandhu’s self-declared killers in a very transparent manner.
“We want to implement the court verdict of Bangabandhu murder trial to ensure justice, rule of law and good governance in the country,” Momen said.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen delivered the welcome remarks while all participants observed a one-minute silence paying tributes to Bangabandhu and his family members who were killed.
Twelve ex-military officers were sentenced to death for the August 15, 1975 killing of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members.
Of them, five sacked army personnel – Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohiuddin Ahmed and Bazlul Huda – were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on January 28, 2010, while another convict, sacked colonel Rashed Pasha, died a natural death in Zimbabwe while he was on the run.
Farooq Rahman, Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed of artillery faced the trials in the judge court while Huda was extradited from Thailand and another Mohiuddin known as Lancer Mohiuddin was sent back from the United States after the then district judge Golam Rasul delivered the judgment.
On April 12 last, sacked military captain Abdul Majed, one of the Bangabandhu’s fugitive killers hiding in India, was arrested here and hanged at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.