Pace slower than snail's

The government has yet to appeal against a High Court verdict that cleared six former army personnel in the jail killing case, although the Supreme Court directed the government to do so nearly a year ago.
The SC on January 11 asked the government to submit a concise statement on the case to it within 30 days for starting hearing on a regular appeal against an August 28, 2008, HC verdict acquitting six former army men, including dismissed Dafadars Marfat Ali Shah and Abdul Hashem Mridha, of the charges.
Talking to The Daily Star, a number of state counsels said they could not follow the SC directive, as they had received the copy of the SC verdict six months after it was pronounced, and that they are now studying the related papers and taking other preparations to appeal.
Today is the 36th anniversary of the Jail Killing Day. On this day in 1975, four national leaders -- Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, AHM Qamaruzzaman and M Mansur Ali -- were murdered in Dhaka Central Jail.
Thirty-six years have gone by but the families of the victims are yet to come by justice.
The four national heroes were sent to jail just days after the August 15, 1975, bloodbath that claimed the lives of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members.
The four leaders led the country's independence war in the absence of Bangabandhu, who was detained by the Pakistan army throughout the nine-month war.
The Appellate Division of the SC in its order directed Dafadar (dismissed) Marfat Ali Shah and Dafadar (dismissed) Abdul Hashem Mridha, now absconding, to immediately surrender before the trial court.
The court also ordered the law enforcers to arrest them if they did not surrender.
Of the six army personnel cleared, Lt Col (dismissed) Syed Farooq-ur Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Maj (retd) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major (retd) Bazlul Huda were executed on January 27 last year following their conviction in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case.
The ruling Awami League in its 2008 election manifesto pledged to bring the killers of the four national leaders to justice, but so far it has not done anything significant in this regard.
After assuming office in January 2009, the only move the AL-led coalition government made was to file a petition with the Appellate Division seeking permission to appeal against the HC verdict.
Anisul Huq, principal state counsel in the case, said he was studying the relevant documents for moving the appeal before the SC.
He said he would submit the "concise statement" on the case when the court reopens on November 13.
The court is currently on vacation.
“I'll explain the reasons for my delay in submitting the concise statement during the hearing of the appeal before the court,” he said, adding that preparing for the case had taken him some time.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said Marfat Ali Shah and Abdul Hashem Mridha could not be arrested as they were absconding.
He, however, said the government had not informed him whether the law enforcers had taken any effective steps for their arrest.
The AG added that his office would soon take the initiative for hearing of the regular appeal.
On January 11 this year, the apex court granted the government a leave-to-appeal petition against the HC verdict on two grounds: the HC judgment had been a distorted one since it did not properly examine the documents and evidence, and it did not follow the relevant principles in delivering the verdict.
Earlier, a Dhaka court on October 20, 2004, sentenced three people to death and awarded life imprisonment to 12 and acquitted five of the killing charges.
The then ruling BNP lawmaker KM Obaidur Rahman, Shah Moazzem Hossain, Nurul Islam Manzoor, Taheruddin Thakur and the then additional secretary in the foreign ministry Maj (retd) Khairuzzaman were discharged.
Interestingly, all of them were freed on bail soon after the BNP-Jamaat-led coalition came to power in October 2001.
CASE BACKGROUND
In the first information report filed with Lalbagh Police Station on November 4, 1975, Kazi Abdul Awal, deputy inspector general (prisons), accused Captain Moslemuddin and four army officers of the November 3 killings.
The Indemnity Ordinance, which was promulgated during Khondokar Moshtaque Ahmed's martial law regime, blocked the investigation and the trial for about 21 years until officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) opened a probe on August 18, 1996, after the AL government scrapped the black law.
Investigation Officer Abdul Kahar Akand, also assistant superintendent of CID, arrested Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid and Khairuzzaman on September 9, 1996.
He also arrested Shah Moazzem, KM Obaid and Manzoor on September 29 the same year. Taheruddin, shown arrested in the case on November 3 that year, later made confessional statements.
The trial court framed charges against KM Obaid and 20 others on October 12, 2000. The trial opened on April 12 the following year.
AL DEMAND JUSTICE
On the eve of Jail Killing Day, AL demanded a retrial of the case and the execution of the killers of the four leaders.
The party in a press release yesterday said the people of the country now entertained the hope that the case would be investigated further and the killers would be given exemplary punishment.