BSS
  09 Jul 2022, 21:15
Update : 09 Jul 2022, 21:47

Zia initiated culture of impunity through indemnity act: Joy

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DHAKA, July 9, 2022 (BSS) - Lamenting the disgraceful inclusion of the indemnity of Bangabandhu's killers in the fifth amendment to the constitution, Prime Minister's ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy termed it as the beginning of the culture of impunity.

"Today is notorious July 9. On this day in 1979, this indemnity act against humanity was passed in the parliament, initiating the culture of impunity in the country," wrote Sajeeb Wazed from his verified Facebook account.

Following the darkest chapter in independent Bangladesh, the assassination of Bangabandhu and most of his family members on August 15, 1975, the indemnity ordinance was introduced on September 26 in the same year, paving the path for Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad to take over with the help of Bangabandhu's killers, he added.

According to the indemnity ordinance, no one involved in Bangabandhu's murder or its conspiracy could be tried in lower court, Supreme Court, or court martial. Thus military dictator Ziaur Rahman turned the ordinance into an act, denying people's basic rights to get justice, he further said.

The killers were protected and rewarded through the indemnity ordinance. Even some of them were endowed with embassy jobs while some became members of the parliament in 1988, he wrote in the post accompanied by a video.

The stigma was finally eradicated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, which scarped the act on November 12, 1996, he concluded.