ZCZC
BSS-46
BANGABANDHU-ANNIVERSARY-HUQ
History suggests Bangabandhu never took advantage of position: Anisul
DHAKA, Aug 23, 2020 (BSS) – Law Minister Anisul Huq today said the history suggests Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman never took advantage of his position as he languished in jail for years for his stance for people while his murder trial also was accomplished respecting his values for rule of law.
“In the process of his (own) murder trial, he was not detached from the ordinary people (as) he took no advantage as Father of the Nation,” he told a discussion joined as well by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina through virtual media.
Huq, who was a key-prosecution lawyer as the principal aide to the trial’s chief prosecutor Serajul Huq, said it took long 21 years to begin the trial after the August 15, 1975 carnage while a protracted procedure was followed subsequently to accomplish it step by step.
He said the legal procedures began from the lower court and processed gradually up to the apex court under ordinary law, giving due respect to Bangabandhu’s values for justice and rule of law.
He said the post 1975 rulers enacted an infamous indemnity law to protect the killers from justice and the trial process began only when it was scrapped after the 1996 general elections brought Awami League back to power after prolonged military and pseudo military rule.
The discussion coincided with the National Mourning Day, organized by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Birth Centenary Implementation Committee at the International Mother Language Institute.
The law minister said during the pre-independence period the then rulers kept Bangabandhu behind the bar repeatedly on fake charges only to harass him for his stance for the cause of the people.
But, Huq said, every time he came out of the prison through legal battles, which meant “Bangabandhu legitimized the demands of the people through legal means”.
“Either the Pakistan regime had been forced to set him (Bangbandhu) free due to mass pressure or Bangabandhu got free through legal procedure . . . it was not anyone’s mercy that set him free,” Huq said.
The minister said Bangabandhu set the greatest example of his regard for constitutional rule by formulating the country’s constitution ensuring independence of judiciary only within 10 months after the December 16, 1971 victory following nine months of Liberation War.
“He always believed in constitutional politics . . . as means to fulfill his dream of building his ‘Sonar Bangla’,” Huq said.
BSS/TA/AR/2058 HRS