By Afshain Afzal

The tragic murder of Bangabandhu, his family and top leadership

Where 15th of August is celebrated as Independence and Partition Day by India and Pakistan, it reminds the horrifying cold blooded murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975) , the founder of the Bangladesh, his family members and other top leaders. On 15 August 1975, top Pakistani and Bangladeshi leader and father of Bangla nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with all his family members, except his two daughters; Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana who were saved because they were abroad at that time. A total of 17 members of Bangabandhu’s family were killed on same night in three different houses; two in Dhan-mondi and one around Minto Road, Bangladesh.

Today, 15^th August is a sorrowful day to observe 47th anniversary of the assassination of Bangabandhu. Here in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as many other countries of the world 15^th August will always be remembered for the brutal attempt by Indian trained and funded Mukti Bahini, mostly Bengali Communist Hindus conspiracy against Bangabandhu’s Bengal. Post 15^th August was the darkest period in Bangladesh's history with a military government dominated by pro-Indian officers and soldiers, taking over the country. They were the same insurgents and terrorists who blackmailed Bangabandhu to include them in the Armed Forces on account of their services for the liberation of Bangladesh.

Cold blooded murder of Bangabandhu and his family members was followed by other series of murders on 3 November 1975, when four prominent leaders of the Awami League, formerly Ministers, including the Acting President and the Prime Minister during our War of Liberation were brutally killed within the Dhaka Central Jail.

In fact, neither before the 26 March 1971 nor after the Pakistani surrender drama on 16 December 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had any role is dismemberment of East Pakistan or creation of Bangladesh as sovereign state. However, he was true nationalist and rightly addressed as Bangabandhu.After Bangladesh’s independence and release of Bangabhandu from Pakistani custody in January 1972, he never spoke against Pakistan, however, he wanted to punish those who created such situation that divided Pakistan and also those who exploited the situation.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh under a parliamentary system adopted by the new country. His government under the pressure of Hindu dominated communist Mukti Bahini, enacted a constitution proclaimed socialism and secular democracy. The Awami League won a huge mandate in the country’s first general election in 1973. However, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman faced challenges of rampant unemployment, poverty, and corruption and a famine also took place in 1974 due to massive black marketing and corruption. Bangabandhu in his address to Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) on 5 December 1974 said, “I have given my whole life to this country. I cannot tolerate that people are starving for the corruption and smuggling.” He asked BDR to stop corruption and smuggling.

The government was criticized for denying constitutional recognition to indigenous Hindu minorities and human rights violations by its security forces, notably the National Defense Force para militia. Amid rising political agitation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman initiated one party socialist rule in January 1975. Six months later, he and most of his family were assassinated in a coup led by Bangladeshi Army officers. A martial law government was subsequently established to wipe out remaining of followers of Bangabandhu. This day reminds how ideology of Pakistan, announced by Abul Kasem Fazul Huq, Sher-e-Bengal in 1940 proved correct that joint or secular models of Muslim system of governance and non-Muslim system are not workable in Muslim majority nations and regions, Let us hope and pray for strong and prosperous Bangladesh as envisaged by Bangabandhu, Maulana Bhashani and other Bangla leaders.

WASHINGTON, 15 August 2022, (TON): The United States plans to conduct new air and maritime transits in the Taiwan Strait in a step the White House says will reflect its response to China’s military drills in the contested strait amid rising tensions over the self-ruled island.

China conducted its largest-ever military drill around Taiwan, which Beijing considers its territory, during a trip by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this month.

Kurt Campbell, the White House coordinator for Asia-Pacific issues and adviser to President Joe Biden, said despite tensions, US forces will continue to fly, sail and operate where international law allows, consistent with our longstanding commitment to freedom of navigation.

He told reporters “that includes conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks.”

ODESA, 15 August 2022, (TON): A UN official said “United Nations-chartered ship MV Brave Commander will depart Ukraine for Africa in coming days after it finishes loading more than 23,0000 tons of wheat in the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi.”

The ship, which arrived in the port near Odesa, will sail to Ethiopia via a grain corridor through the Black Sea brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in late July.

It will be the first humanitarian food aid cargo bound for Africa since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. under the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The cargo was funded with donations from the United Nations World Food Programme, US Agency for International Development and several private donors.

RAMALLAH, 15 August 2022, (TON): Senior Palestinian official sources have accused the Israeli government of speeding up settlement activities in the West Bank to harvest the votes of right-wing parties in the lead-up to Israeli parliamentary elections on Nov. 1.

They said “Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s caretaker government has stepped up plans to colonize Palestinian land and build hundreds of other settlement units.”

Ghassan Daglas, director of settlement affairs in the northern West Bank affiliated with the Palestinian Presidency Office, told media “it is clear that Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid believes that his access to power and the success of his party in the upcoming elections comes at the expense of confiscating Palestinian land and blood.”

“From a war on Gaza to murder in Nablus to the confiscation of Palestinian lands and the approval of the establishment of settlements we do not know what his next steps will be in this direction.”

SEOUL, 15 August 2022, (TON): North Korea’s foreign ministry on Sunday criticized the United Nations Secretary-General’s recent comment on his supports for the North’s complete denuclearization, calling the remarks lack impartiality and fairness.

North Korea’s state news agency KCNA released a statement from the foreign ministry after UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday said he fully supports efforts to completely denuclearise North Korea when he met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Kim Son Gyong, vice minister for international organizations said “I cannot but express deep regret over the said remarks of the UN secretary-general that grossly lack impartiality and fairness and go against the obligations of his duty, specified in the UN Charter, as regards the issue of the Korean peninsula.”

Kim added that the UN secretary-general should not request or accept orders from the government of a specific country but refrain from doing any act that may impair his or her position as an international official who is liable only to the UN.

WASHINGTON, 15 August 2022, (TON): The US Congress has passed the Democratic Party’s climate and healthcare bill in what is likely to be considered the most substantial legislative success of his first term.

Democrats hope that the $430bn bill will help them maintain control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

The bill passed 220-207 on Friday and includes $375bn meant to encourage a shift away from fossil fuels, as well as $64bn to help people cover health insurance premiums.

The bill is substantially less ambitious than the party originally hoped for, but is considered a sizable achievement given the party’s narrow majority in Congress. The bill now heads to US President Joe Biden for signature.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat said “today is a day of celebration, a day we take another giant step in our momentous agenda.”

MOSCOW, 15 August 2022, (TON): According to state media “Russian President Vladimir Putin has told North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un that the two countries will expand comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts.”

KCNA news agency said “in a letter to Kim for liberation day –which marks the end of Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of Korea — Putin said closer ties would be in both countries’ interests, and would help strengthen the security and stability of the Korean peninsula and the Northeastern Asian region.”

Kim also sent a letter to Putin saying Russian-North Korean friendship had been forged in World War II with victory over Japan, which had occupied the Korean peninsula.

The strategic and tactical cooperation, support and solidarity between the two countries has since reached a new level in their common efforts to frustrate threats and provocations from hostile military forces, Kim said in the letter.

RIYADH, 15 August 2022, (TON): Saudi Press Agency reported “Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry expressed great sadness and sorrow following a huge fire which engulfed the Abu Sefein Church in Cairo.”

The fire ripped through the Coptic church in the Egyptian capital, killing at least 41 people and injuring several others.

The ministry offered its deepest and sincere condolences to the government and people of Egypt, wishing the injured a speedy recovery, and security and safety for Egypt and its people.

Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Hissein Brahim Taha, expressed his condolences and sympathy.

WASHINGTON, 15 August 2022, (TON): A delegation of US lawmakers arrived in Taiwan on Sunday for a two-day trip during which they will meet President Tsai Ing-wen, the second high-level group to visit while there are military tensions between the self-ruled island and China.

Beijing, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has conducted military drills around the island after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in early August.

China has long claimed sovereignty over the island. Taiwan’s government rejects China’s claims and says the island’s people should decide its future.

The de facto US embassy in Taipei said the delegation is being led by Senator Ed Markey, who is being accompanied by four House lawmakers on what it described as part of a larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region.

Taiwan’s presidential office said the group would meet Tsai.

JEDDAH, 15 August 2022, (TON): Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Hissein Brahim Taha received Special Envoy of the Somali President for Humanitarian Affairs and Drought Abdul Rahman Abdul Shakour at the headquarters of the OIC’s General Secretariat in Jeddah.

The envoy delivered a written message from the president of Somalia to Taha.

The secretary-general said that the OIC is deeply concerned about the drought and famine in Somalia.

Taha reaffirmed the commitment of the General Secretariat to implement the resolution adopted to alleviate the suffering of the Somali people and issued by the 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in Islamabad, Pakistan, earlier this year.

He called for intensified efforts to assist those affected by the drought.