Zia took part in Liberation War on circumstantial ground: Minister

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq today said BNP founder Ziaur Rahman took part in the Liberation War on “circumstantial ground instead of ideological stance”.

“Major Ziaur Rahman was the initiator of unloading Pakistani arms and ammunition from Swat Ship on March 25, 1971, as he was a supporter of Pakistani Occupation Army,” Mozammel said in the parliament replying to lawmakers’ queries.

Ziaur Rahman declared the war of independence on behalf of the country’s founding president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 27, 1971, and Zia was sector commander and Z force commander during the Liberation War, Mozammel said.

But commander-in-chief of Liberation War General MAG Osmani “temporarily suspended Zia in 1971 for his proposal of forming War Council refusing to join war under Mujibnagar Government,” Mozammel said adding, “Later, he was given the charge of sector commander following his apology.

After taking the office of chief martial law administrator after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, Ziaur Rahman provided jobs to self-proclaimed killers of Bangabandhu to foreign embassies, the minister replied in a written statement.

Zia also approved indemnity ordinance [which gave immunity from taking legal actions against persons involved in the assassination of Bangabandhu, coups and other political events between 1975 and 1979] and incorporated anti-Liberation War people including Shah Azizur Rahman, war criminal Abdul Alim in the cabinet that proves Zia was not a freedom fighter on ideological ground,” he said.