I was at Dhaka last week when the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib-ur Rehman, founder of Bangladesh, were hanged. Such happenings in history are painful to recall because they reopen wounds and leave people hurt and helpless. Mujib and his family, including the children, were shot dead some 35 years ago. Sheikh Hasina, who became Prime Minister later, and her sister, escaped death because they were out of Bangladesh.
My immediate reaction was why it had taken three and a half decades to bring the culprits to book. And why six of the assailants were still at large? The fact is that no action was taken by General Zia-ur Rehman or General H.M. Ershad or Begum Khalida Zia to pursue the massacre. They were in power for 30 years. It was Hasina who, after she came to power, retrieved the case from the dust of deliberate delay and official connivance.
It is difficult to believe that the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) government, headed by Begum Khalida Zia, did not pursue the case intentionally because the killers were from among the anti-liberation forces, those who were on the side of Pakistan when Bangladesh was fighting its war for independence. However, during the talks with me at Dhaka a few days ago, Khalida mentioned the word "liberation" as if she stood against the collaborators and was critical of their role in the history of Bangladesh. Yet the fact remains that the case picked up speed when Hasina is the Prime Minister and lost the pace when Khalida came to power.
This takes me to the division in the Bangladesh society. There are two groups: the liberators who are overwhelmingly in a majority and the anti-liberation group which is in a minority. Even after 40 years of independence, the shadow of Pakistan is there. The anti-liberation forces are reportedly aligned with it. Indeed, this is hurting the nation's solidarity and future.
In fact, some people told me - among them are liberal lawyers - that the rapprochement between India and Pakistan would take place only when relations between Dhaka and New Delhi become firm. One of them remarked that New Delhi should realize the way to Islamabad went through Dhaka.
They welcomed the idea of a common market in South Asia because in this concept they saw proximity with Pakistan. My guess is that the pro-Pakistan elements in Bangladesh are limited. The general impression is that the BNP and Jamiat-e-Islamia are close to Pakistan and their anti-India stance in Dhaka is because of Islamabad's distance from New Delhi.
Nonetheless, Mujib was such a tall person that the carping of the collaborators could not diminish his stature.
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| Sheikh Mujib |
Sheikh Hasina |
Still the notable thing was that he did not consider the pro-Pakistan elements as collaborators and treated them as a misguided lot which would come to realize the mistakes one day. When I drew his attention to their defiance during one of my interviews after the liberation of Bangladesh, the Sheikh dismissed the criticism with the remark: "They are my children."
People's jubilation in Bangladesh over the hanging of killers is understandable. Messages like 'Jai Bangla' were exchanged on mobile phone.
A large number of people assembled at Dhan Mandi after hearing the news of the killers' execution. This is a simple, austere house where Mujib preferred to live to the sprawling mansion that was meant to be his official residence. I do not know how the trend of simplicity set by Mujib lost its way in Bangladesh and found comfort in luxury and showiness.
It is still unexplainable how and why Dhaka came to possess the three tanks which formed the core of the coup which the army carried out to oust Mujib. The tanks were reportedly a gift from Egypt. This was contrary to New Delhi’s wishes. D.P. Dhar, India's senior minister, who was the political face of the liberation, had sent specific instructions from New Delhi to Dhaka not to ever acquire the tanks.
He feared that if ever a coup took place in Bangladesh, the tanks would play a decisive role. And that is what happened. Mujib not only ignored Dhar's warning but also rejected the information by the Indian intelligence services that he could be targeted in August. Mujib was assassinated on August 15.
On Hasina's shoulders has the responsibility fallen to take the country forward and to fulfil the dreams of Mujib.
The way in which people more or less fused into one nation the day Mujib's killers were executed gives me hope that Bangladesh, despite the hard circumstances in which it is placed, will be able to meet the challenges it faces.
For that Hasina has to rise above personal dislikes which I see creeping in her decisions at times. For example, her order to Khalida to vacate the house she had occupied for the last 38 years did not behove the Prime Minister. Hasina has to learn to be generous like her father. He was the leader of all Bangladeshis. She has to act in a manner whereby she is seen rising above her party. She has had a bitter experience to face when she was in the wilderness. But she cannot settle scores after occupying the Prime Minister's position.
I was at Islamabad one day before Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged. For Mujib, the executors were a surprise. But Bhutto knew who had conspired to hang him. Yet he did not believe that the rope would be put around his neck one day.
Yaya Bakhtiar, his lawyer, asked me to find out during my interview with General Zia-ul Haq, then heading Pakistan, whether Bhutto was being hanged. The following day when I met Zia, my effort was to ferret out the information about Bhutto's fate, without letting Zia suspect me. It was obvious from the short talk I had with him on the subject that Bhutto's fate was sealed.
When I asked Zia whether there was pressure on him by America or Saudi Arabia and whether he would commute the death sentence to life imprisonment, he said there was no pressure on him from abroad, either from America, Saudi Arabia or any other world power but did not reply whether he was converting death sentence to life imprisonment. I thought this was a broad hint. Bhutto was executed two days later.
(The writer is a veteran Indian journalist and one time India’s high commissioner in London. He is also a former Rajya Sabha member.) |
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