Triumph of truth and justice
AT last all the road-blocks to indemnify the nation from the torment and tribulation caused by the assassination of the Father of the Nation have been removed. The five-member Appellate Bench of the nation's highest court has unanimously announced its verdict, upholding the ultimate sentence handed down some nine years ago by the High Court to twelve self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu and members of his family.
The tragedy of epic proportion happened some 34 years ago, not only annihilating the architect of our nation but also setting the stage for a reverse journey of the nation and undoing all the values and virtues which had crystallised through two-decades of tireless struggle for Bengali nationhood culminating in the great War of Liberation.
In my own reflection, the most shattering moment of our national life was the tragedy of August 15, 1975. It was a Friday, I had just come back from the University (in USA) after defending my Masters' thesis when the provost of my hall gave me the news of the tragedy. I was distraught and tried to understand whether this tragedy was tantamount to the denial of the merits of our causes for which three million of our people met martyrdom. Was I one of those who were misled by the leader to fight for the causes, which were proved to be no causes within a span of 44 months? What could I have replied when Pakistan's ambassador to Washington said to me: "At last you Bengalees have realised and corrected your mistake?"
In 1984, I had an occasion to meet one of the convicts in a foreign land when he was posted as a diplomat to our embassy. When he introduced himself I refused to shake his hand, telling him flatly on his face the reason for my not shaking his blood-soaked hand. I also take a bit of solace from my role, along with thousands of my compatriots in Canada, in sending one of the convicts, A.K.M. Mohiuddin home in the face of his impending asylum to Canada when he was deported from the United States in June 2007.
Mohiuddin's family members misled the media and his lawyer by a sensationalised appeal that he would be taken to the gallows right after he landed at Dhaka Airport. His lawyer argued in the media that "the judicial system in Bangladesh was corrupt and the trial of Mohiuddin was conducted in a kangaroo court while his government appointed lawyer never contacted him."
Over the long span of 34 years, though the blood of the victims had long dried up, the tears of the millions who were fortunate to live through the day never ceased to remain fresh. The perpetrators and their obvious beneficiaries never believed that this day would ever come, and tried in all their ways to prevent this moment from arriving. After the infamous indemnity act was dissolved in the parliament, trials of the self-confessed killers were held in the Session Court, and the sentences were subsequent re-confirmed by the High Court.
In February 2002, the then foreign minister of Bangladesh visited Montreal to meet his party's local supporters. In the congregation, a local reporter asked the minister if his government had any plan to bring home the absconding convicted killers of Bangabandhu. The minister flatly answered no, since, in his opinion, his government had other important pressing priorities. In their tenure, the minister kept his words and no effort was ever made to open the death reference in the Supreme Court and consequently no endeavour was made to bring any of the fugitives back to the country.
A very similar sentiment was echoed by the then law adviser of the last CTG, Mainul Hossain, when he commented (June 2007) vis-à-vis the demand for holding the final phase of the trail: "The case is an old one and political in nature, dating back to 1975, and something that is not on the list of priorities of the caretaker government."
Defying all odds, the day has at last come where truth and justice have triumphed over distortion and injustice, the dignity of the judiciary has triumphed over frustration, the optimists' assertions have prevailed over the pessimists' apprehensions, and the nation is the on verge of indemnifying itself from its long-haunting nightmare.
Let the dispensation of justice upholding the rule of law become the rule of the day and not the exception and, most of all, let the nation vow at this auspicious moment in history to start afresh and resurrect the lost defining values and virtues that went down with the Father's assassination.
Dr. Mozammel H. Khan is the Convenor of the Canadian Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh.
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