Tarique not returning

Khoda Baksh Chowdhury, Shahudul Haque and Ashraful Huda

Tarique Rahman, senior vice-chairman of BNP and son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, will not return home to defend himself in August 21 grenade attack cases, his party colleagues and counsel say.
A Dhaka court on Sunday issued arrest warrant for Tarique and 17 others, all of whom are among the 30 named in supplementary charge sheets of the cases.
Of the 18, former police chiefs--Ashraful Huda, Khoda Baksh Chowdhury and Shahudul Haque--yesterday surrendered before the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka, which later sent them to jail.
Shahudul was the inspector general of police (IGP) at the time of the August 21 carnage at an Awami League rally in 2004.
The attack left 24 leaders and workers dead and 300 others, including the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina, injured.
Huda was the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner then and Khoda Baksh the head of CID. Both later served as the IGP.
Surrendering in the morning, the trio sought bail in a case filed for the killing of 24 people. But the court rejected their plea.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted the supplementary charge sheets on Sunday.
Now, the other 15 are fugitives in the eyes of the law.
Tarique, who faces charges with plotting the grisly attack, has been living in London since he left the country with his family for medical treatment on September 11, 2008.
He was arrested on March 7, 2007 on corruption charges during the military-backed caretaker government and was released on bail on September 3, 2008.
BNP leaders said although Tarique has been falsely implicated in the grenade attack cases by the government, he will not return to the country to take the legal challenge.
Tarique's counsel told The Daily Star his client has no plan to appear before the court as there is no doubt that he will not get justice.
“Lower courts are controlled by ministers. The government already made the higher court partisan by appointing party men as judges. So, he won't get justice,” said Mahbubuddin Khokon, the lawyer.
Khokon, also the joint secretary general of BNP, said, “Tarique Rahman will go to the court only when he will be sure of getting justice.”
Also, Harris Chowdhury, another accused in August 21 cases and former political secretary to BNP chief Khaleda, has been disappeared since the emergency was imposed on January 11, 2007.
Harris, former joint secretary general of the party, fled the country long before the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker government assumed office on January 2007.
He “mysteriously” left his palatial house in Gulshan with almost all his stuffs, even utensils, on December 28, 2006, his neighbours told The Daily Star.
Of the other new accused in the cases, BNP lawmaker Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad is currently abroad, said intelligence sources.
An aide to the lawmaker yesterday told The Daily Star that Kaikobad is in Saudi Arabia for treatment.
Major Gen (retd) ATM Amin, a controversial former official of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), has long been out of the country, added the sources.
Amin was director (counter terrorism) of DGFI at the time of the August 21 grenade blast.
His rank was then brigadier general. He continued at that post in DGFI for almost throughout the Fakhruddin administration's rule. Towards the end, he was promoted to the rank of major general and appointed director general of Bangladesh Ansar.
Amin emerged as one of the most powerful persons during the military-backed caretaker rule. It was learnt that he played a vital role in arresting the top political leaders during the Fakhruddin rule and became a controversial figure.
After coming to office in January 2009, the present government sent him back to the army from Ansar, and later the authorities fired him from the defence force.
He left the country some days after his dismissal, the intelligence sources said.
Lt Col (sacked) Saiful Islam Joarder was a DGFI official during the caretaker government rule. Law enforcement agencies found his involvement in the bomb attack on ruling party lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh's car in 2009.
Since then, he has been on the run. The authorities sacked him from the army following the attack on Taposh.
Also, former police and CID officials Ruhul Amin, Munshi Atiqur Rahman and Abdur Rashid have been charge-sheeted in the August 21 cases.
Obaidur Rahman and Khan Sayeed Hassan, two other officials accused in August 21 cases, are still in police as officers on special duty.
Incumbent IGP Hassan Mahmood Khandker told The Daily Star they would not go for any action regarding the two before receiving the copies of charge sheets and other necessary papers.
Newly charge-sheeted militant operatives--Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hye, Hafez Moulana Yahiya and Babu alias Ratul Babu--and Hanif Paribahan owner Mohammad Hanif are also absconding.
Police officials said some of the accused are holed up abroad. The law enforcers are trying to trace them.
Former CID official Abdur Rashid last night told The Daily Star that he has been living in the country as usual.
"I am not a fugitive, I appear before the court regularly in another case," he said expressing his surprise at the issuance of arrest warrant against him.
He, however, would not say whether he would surrender to court.
Meanwhile, a police official said Interpol would circulate notice across the globe to nab the fugitives if the CID properly requests its Dhaka office for help to that end.