By Afshain Afzal

Observing 15^th of August each year as “Day of Mourning” by Bangladesh on the same day India celebrates her “Independence Day” is quite embarrassing. On the day entire family of the founder of Bangladesh was brutally killed as Indian-backed conspiracy. If we recall, on 21 August 2004 Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the terrorist attack suffering splinter injuries when 24 members of her party were killed and 500 others injured. There are plans to eliminate each and every member of Mujib-ur-Rehman from the face of the earth as till the time they are alive there are no chances of secularism or merger with India.

This year New Delhi planned something different by cursing the Prime Minister of Bangladesh as an Indian agent who fled the country to take refuge in India to save her life. There are reports, which have been authenticated by the witnesses present on the spot that despite pressure from Bangladesh Army, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina refused to proceed to India. Later, the story narrated in Bangladesh that she was moved to India in Bangladeshi Airforce aircraft and received at New Delhi by Indian authorities also proved false.

Despite imposing of ban on observing “Mourning Day” on 15 August by the Bangladeshi Army and newly illegitimate Indian-backed, Bangla nationals throughout the width and the breath of the country observed the day not only in Bangladesh and around the world. However, this time due to fear of being killed and burnt alive many are confined to their homes with no official ceremonies. On the day Bangladesh's national flag used to fly at half-mast, black flags raised, and various ceremonies were held to honour the memory of Bangabandhu, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman but not any more.

On 15 August 1975, Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rahman along with his family was brutally killed by a group of Army personnel and communists. The 18 members of Bangabandhu's family and his close ones who were brutally killed included his wife Bangamata Fazilat-un-Nissa, Mujib-ur-Rehman’s brother Sheikh Naser, brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniabat, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russell, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal, nephew Sheikh Fazl-ul-Haq Moni and his pregnant wife Arzoo Moni. In addition Mujib-ur-Rehman’s Military Secretary Colonel Jamil. Fortunately, Mujib-ur-Rehman’s two daughters, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana were in Germany at that time so they remained unharmed.

In 1996 killers of the late Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman were tried in the Court and sentenced to death. They were finally executed on 27 January 2010, which closed the chapter but Indian agencies stressed on bringing to justice those of his killers who had fled abroad. It was the Indian Intelligence, which collaborated with the Bangladeshi government and provided leads against Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) as threats to Bangladesh and assisted in their killing and judicial conviction. It is high time that the elimination game must end and New Delhi allows Bangladesh to exist as a sovereign country, peacefully with integrity and pride.