ZCZC
BSS-39
HASAN-BNP-CRITICISE
BNP leaders’ statments go in favour of killing and killers: Hasan
DHAKA, Aug 19, 2020 (BSS)- Sharply criticising the recent comments of BNP leaders, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today said BNP and its leaders, including Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, are giving statements in favour of killing and the killers as well.
“It is clear that Zia was involved in the August 15 brutal killing mission and the history is the witness to the incident,” he said while replying to a query of a journalist at the meeting room of his ministry at Secretariat in the capital.
The information minister said it has become evident like the broad daylight that Ziaur Rahman was intimately involved in the killing of Bangabandhu. “You know that Colonel Faruque-Rashid told in interviews with BBC that they went to Ziaur Rahman when plotting the conspiracy and Zia told them to go ahead. His (Zia’s) speech sounded like this-‘As I’m a senior officer, I will be behind the scene, and you (killers) move ahead’,” he added.
Besides, the statement of convicted captain Majed has amply proved the involvement of Ziaur Rahman in the Bangabandhu killing, said Hasan, also Awami League joint general secretary.
Earlier, the information minister exchanged views with the members of ‘Abhinoy Shilpi Sangha’ (ASS), a platform of television artists, and ‘Dorshok Srota Pathak Foundation’ (DSPF) in the meeting room.
ASS president Shahiduzzaman Selim, general secretary Ahsan Habib Nasim and DSPF founder secretary Shahidul Alam Sacchu, among others, addressed the meeting.
In the beginning of the meeting, Hasan paid rich tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members who were brutally killed in the August 15, 1975.
Referring to a letter of colonel Begh which he wrote to Ziaur Rahman, the information minister said, “You might have seen the letter on social media. I’ve also a copy. When Ziaur Rahman was in the war-field discharging his duty as sector commander then colonel Begh wrote a letter to him (Zia) stating that ‘we are happy with your work and don’t worry about your wife and sons. They are fine. Be aware of Major Jalil. You (Zia) will be awarded for your work. Later, we saw that colonel Begh had been made the chief of Pakistan army.”
“Why the main plotter of Bangabandhu killing Khandakar Moshtaq made Ziaur Rahman the army chief if he (Zia) was not a major associate,” Hasan questioned.
He said Ziaur Rahman awarded the killers of Bangabandhu by providing them jobs in Bangladesh foreign missions and enacted the indemnity ordinance in Parliament in 1979, so that the killers of Bangabandhu were not tried. These incidents prove that Ziaur Rahman was involved in the assassination, he added.
Now, he said, BNP leaders including Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Rizvi Ahmed are talking nonsense. “Their statements are in favour of killers and killing. I would like to urge them (BNP leaders) not to take stand in favour of killers and killing,” he added.
In the meeting, the information minister said the Prime Minister gave directives to provide government assistance to artists affected during the prevailing Coronavirus pandemic.
He said all artists, including mike men and those work behind the scene, should be considered for the assistance and this is the directive of the Premier.
Hasan said, “We will take steps to provide assistance after getting lists from the concerned organizations. And work is going on how to bring the TV artists under the purview of the Artist Welfare Trust purview.”
TV artists Monira Yousuf Memi, Bonnya Mirza, Shamima Tusti, Afzal, Ashraf Kabir, Arman Parvez Murad, Kohinur, Nazmun Nessa Nipa, Yeamin Jewel, Kachi Khandaker, Mahbuba Minhaz Bipa, Shuva Khan, Sharmin Mishu, Shoeb Sadik, Arif, Antu Karim, Manisha Shikder, Jara, Apu Ahmed, Tomal, Tandra, Nasrin Islam, Nithor Mahmud and Zinia, among others, took part in the view exchange meeting.
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