Maj Gen Khalilur Rahman tells court

Armed forces' allegiance to govt stopped BDR from taking action

26 January 1998, 18:00 PM

UPDATED 3 July 2013, 21:17 PM

BDR troops were ready after the assassination of Bangabandhu on August 15, but could not go for action as chiefs of the armed forces had already expressed their allegiance to the new government. The then BDR chief, Major General (retd) Khalilur Rahman, said this yesterday while making his deposition at the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Court as the 47th prosecution witness in the Bangabandhu Murder Case, reports UNB. He said, "After listening to Dalim's announcement over radio that the President has been killed, I kept a wing of BDR ready for action and held a meeting with senior officers to chalk out our course of action." But while in the meeting, the retired General said, "we heard over radio the oath of allegiance taken by the three chiefs and then decided to cancel our previous thought of action." "All the seven sector commanders in the border areas also expressed similar opinion that any action (by BDR) after the allegiance will lead to a civil war," said the then Director General of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), recalling the meeting on August 15 morning. General Khalil, in a major disclosure, told the trial court that after the oath-taking ceremony of Mushtaque cabinet, Major Rashid had claimed that his wife Zobaida Rashid was the main architect of the August 15 putsch. "Sir, this is my wife. She is the planner of everything that we have done today," Rashid was quoted as saying to the BDR chief at Bangabhaban on August 15 evening. Zobaida, wife of absconding Lt Col (retd) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, was among the 20 accused shown in the chargesheet of Bangabandhu murder case. But she was later relieved of the charge by the High Court. Earlier, in the morning, an official of Bangabhaban, Mokhlesur Rahman Bhuiyan, made his brief deposition at the trial court as the 46th prosecution witness. He was later cross-examined by the defence lawyers. Both the witnesses were introduced before the court of Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Kazi Golam Rasul by Chief Special PP advocate Serajul Haq and special PP advocate Ramjan Ali Khan. The PW-47, Major General (retd) Khalilur Rahman, will be cross-examined by the lawyers for the accused when the court will resume on February 2 after the Eid vacation. General Khalil said Khandaker Mushtaque Ahmed, Taheruddin Thakur, KM Obaidur Rahman and Shah Moazzem Hossain seemed to be very closely related by their actions after the August 15 incident. He said, "Those four along with Nurul Islam Manju were sort of detained after Col Shafaat Jamil compelled Mushtaque to resign and didn't allow them to leave Bangabhaban on November 5 morning."Shafaat Jamil had also forced Mushtaque to form an enquiry commission on the killing of four leaders in Dhaka Central Jail, said General Khalil, who was made Chief of Defence Staff on August 24, 1975. But, the witness said, Mushtaque earlier told his secretary Mahbub Alam Chashi that he knew everything when "IG of Police Nurul Islam and I tried to take the matter to the President." The retired General said the then Defence Advisor Osmany and he himself had tried to restrain Shafaat Jamil and other officers from shooting when carrying firearms, they entered the room where the cabinet was meeting on November 4 afternoon. Earlier on November 3, the four national leaders were killed inside the Dhaka Central Jail and Major Rashid and his accomplices had left the country for Bangkok, said the witness. Beginning his lengthy deposition, General Khalil said that after the repatriation from Pakistan on December 23, 1973, he found discontent among the armed forces personnel over the then pay commission. "It was unprecedented in the world that a same pay commission was formed both the civil and military officials and this created resentment among the forces personnel," the retired General said. He said, "Deputy Chief of Army Staff Major General Ziaur Rahman was a member of the pay commission as a representative of the armed forces, but he didn't raise the point to the commission. He should have done it."The PW mentioned the appointment of Major General KM Shafiullah as another reason for resentment among a section of senior army officers. "Though both of them were commissioned on the same day and Zia was senior, Shafiullah was made the chief." "Following the discontent, we were hearing that Zia will be relieved from the army and made ambassador. At the same time, it also spread that Khandaker Mushtaque will be dropped from the cabinet," said General Khalil. Speaking of the incident of assassination of the country's founding father Sheikh Mujib, the former BDR chief said that on August 14, he along with State Minister for Jute had visited the northern region to witness the anti-smuggling operation. He said, "My wife told me early August 15 morning that firing was going on. I woke up and contacted the duty officer of BDR. As he couldn't say what happened, I opened the radio and listened to the announcement of Major Dalim." The witness said as he realised that they had captured the radio station, he asked his duty officer to get a wing of BDR troops ready. Later, he went to his office and held a meeting with senior officers about their course of action.