HC orders probe on BB publication

The High Court yesterday directed the finance secretary to immediately form a probe committee to find out the people responsible for distorting history in a book titled “Bangladesh Bank-er Itihas (History of Bangladesh Bank)”.

The finance secretary has been ordered to submit the inquiry report before the HC in a month.

The HC bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Mohammad Ali delivered the order after hearing a writ petition filed by Dr Kazi Ertaza Hasan, chairperson of Bangladesh Human Rights Development Commission, challenging the distortion of history in the book.

Petitioner's lawyer Barrister ABM Altaf Hossain told The Daily Star that Bangladesh Bank in last December published the book, in which a picture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was not included, and his contribution in establishing Bangladesh Bank was not mentioned in detail.

In the book, pictures of then Pakistan president Ayub Khan and then East Pakistan provincial governor Abdul Monem Khan have been published, he said, adding that the independence and the Liberation War of Bangladesh have been diminished due to this act.

The HC also issued a rule asking respondents to explain in a week why the distortion of the history of Bangladesh in the book should not be declared illegal.

Six government high officials, including secretaries to the ministries of finance and home and liberation war affairs have been made respondents to the rule, Barrister Altaf added.