DHAKA, Aug 19, 2020 (BSS) – Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said BNP founder Ziaur Rahman was “just a footnote of history” and a footnote can never be a hero of the history.
“He (Zia) was the reader of the Declaration of Independence and a reader can never be the proclaimer of independence,” he said while addressing a view-exchange meeting through videoconferencing from his official residence here.
The view-exchange meeting was held with officials of Barishal Road Zone, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC).
About an allegation of BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Quader said after the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Zia was made the army chief of the Mushtaq government.
“Who gave the killers jobs at foreign missions?” he questioned.
Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said by distorting the country’s history, Ziaur Rahman had forced the new generation to learn false history, erasing the name of Bangabandhu from textbooks.
History goes on its own courses and at a time the offenders have to stand on the docks of history as it never forgives anyone, he said.
Later, Quader joined a discussion through a video conference. The Awami League Relief and Social Welfare Sub-Committee arranged the discussion at the city’s Bangabandhu Avenue on the occasion of the National Mourning Day.
AL presidium members Begum Matia Chowdhury and Dr Abdur Razzaque, organising secretary SM Kamal Hossain and Advocate Afzal Hossain, relief and social welfare secretary Sujit Roy Nandi, cultural secretary Asim Kumar Ukil and Dhaka University Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr ASM Maksud Kamal were, among others, present.