B'desh FM seeks help to find fugitive killers of Mujib

Dhaka, Aug 9 (IANS) Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen has appealed to all Bangladeshis, including expatriates, to help in the search for the remaining fugitive killers of the nation's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Momen said, "We had hoped to bring two of the fugitive killers to justice in 'Mujib Year' during Bangabandhu's birth centenary celebration. We have been able to catch one. We hope we will get another."

One of the six killers, Abdul Mazed was executed recently. The Indian government had arrested and handed over Mazed to Bangladesh. He was executed last April.

Three other absconding convicts are Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim and Moslemuddin.

All foreign missions in Bangladesh have also been told to search for the fugitive killers.

Momen said the government is doing whatever it can to bring Rashid back from the US and another convicted killer, Noor Chowdhury, from Canada.

"The Prime Minister herself wrote letters, even to US President Donald Trump. We hope we will succeed," the foreign minister said.

Momen said, "We know the whereabouts of two of Bangabandhu's five fugitive killers, one of them is based in the United States and another killer Rashed Chowdhury is in Canada. The Bangladesh government is continuing its efforts to bring them back. We still do not know the location of three most wanted killers of the ‘Father of the Nation'," Momen added.

He also appealed to expatriate Bangladeshis to help the government with information about the killers.

‘Bangabandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was murdered along with most of his family members at his home on August 15, 1975.

His daughters – current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana survived as they were in Germany at the time.

But the investigation into the killings was stopped through an ordinance which had saved the killers from facing justice, by the then military ruler Zia-ur-Rahman.

The ordinance was abrogated in November 1996 when Hasina's Awami League returned to power after 21 years, paving the way for bringing the killers to justice.

The trial of the killers of Mujib was postponed when Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-Jamaat alliance came to power in 2001.

After a lengthy trial, a court convicted 12 suspects and awarded them the death penalty in 2010.

Five of the convicts -- Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed were hanged on January 27, 2010 while one of the killers Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe in 2001.