Efforts on to bring fugitive killers back: Quader

Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said the government has intensified its diplomatic efforts to bring back the fugitive killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“The government has strengthened its diplomatic efforts to pave the way for bringing back the killers of Bangabandhu who remain fugitive and have taken shelter in different countries,” he said.

The minister came up with the remark while talking to journalists after paying homage to Bangabandhu and his family members at Banani graveyard, reports BSS.

Quader urged all to work together for a hunger-and-poverty-free “Sonar Bangla” as dreamt by Bangabandhu.

The general secretary of Awami League also vowed to build a corruption-free country under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, based on Bangabandhu’s ideology, UNB adds.

On August 15, 1975, Bangabandhu was brutally assassinated by a group of conspiring army officers. His wife, sons, daughters-in-law and other relatives were also killed in the massacre, one of the most heinous in world history.

Bangabandhu’s daughters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, survived as they were abroad at the time.

The Supreme Court on November 19, 2009 upheld a High Court verdict, confirming capital punishment of 12 people for killing the Father of the Nation and most of his family members in a coup d’état.

Five killers of Bangabandhu -- Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed -- were executed on January 27, 2010. Another killer, Aziz Pasha, died of natural causes in Zimbabwe in 2001.

Those who remain fugitives are Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim, Maj (retd) Noor Chowdhury, Maj (retd) Rashed Chowdhury, Capt Abdul Majed and Risaldar Moslehuddin Khan.

A taskforce comprised of ministers and high officials of the foreign, law and home ministries was formed in 2010 to locate and bring back the six.

The government had also made global appeals in bilateral, regional and international forums to track down the culprits. However, only two of the six could be traced -- Rashed Chowdhury in the US and Noor Chowdhury in Canada.