The Freedom Fighters

Mukti Bahini or Liberation Army, also termed as the “Freedom Fighters” was a guerrilla force which fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971.

The earliest move towards forming the liberation army came from the reading of declaration of independence by major ziaur rahman of East Bengal Regiment on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He had defected after the 25th March crackdown of Pakistani Army on Bangladeshi Forces. In the declaration made from Kalurghat Betar Kendra (Chittagong) on 27 March 1971, Zia assumed the title of “provisional commander in chief of the Bangladesh Liberation Army”.

Headed by Colonel Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani, a retired Pakistani Army officer, this band was raised as Mujib’s action arm and security force before assuming the character of a conventional guerrilla force. After the declaration of independence, the Pakistani military sought to quell them, but increasing numbers of Bengali soldiers defected to the underground “Bangladesh army”. These Bengali units slowly merged into the Mukti Bahini and bolstered their weaponry.

On April 12, 1971 Colonel (later General) M A G Osmani assumed the command of armed forces at Teliapara (Sylhet) headquarters. Osmani was made the commander-in-chief of Bangladesh Armed Forces on April 17, 1971. Serious initiative for organising the Bangladesh liberation army was taken between 11-17 July. In a meeting of the sector commanders in Kolkata, four important resolutions were taken in consideration of strategic aspects of the war, existing problems and future course of resistance.

Other than the organizations of Mukti Bahini who were generally trained and armed by the Indian Army, there were independent guerrilla groups led by individual leaders, either nationalists or leftists who were successfully controlling some areas.

Regular and irregular forces: The regular forces consisted of the three forces: Z-Force under the command of Major Ziaur Rahman, K-Force under Khaled Mosharaf and S-Force under KM Shafiullah. Most of the soldiers came from East Pakistan Rifles and East Bengal Regiment. Those members of the EPR, Police and Army who could not be accommodated in these battalions were divided into units and sub-units to fight in different sectors. The irregular forces were those who were trained for guerrilla warfare. In addition, there were also some independent forces that fought in various regions of Bangladesh and liberated many areas. These included mujib bahini, Kaderia Bahini, Afsar Battalion and Hemayet Bahini.

Bangladesh Navy: Bangladesh Navy was constituted in August 1971. Initially, there were two ships and 45 navy personnel. These ships carried out many successful raids on the Pakistani fleet. But both of these ships were mistakenly hit and destroyed by the Indian fighter planes on 10 December 1971, when they were about to launch a major attack on Mongla seaport.

Bangladesh Air Force: It started functioning on 28 September at Dimapur in Nagaland, under the command of Air Commodore AK Khondakar. Initially, it comprised of 17 officers, 50 technicians, 2 planes and 1 helicopter. The Air Force carried out more than twelve sorties against Pakistani targets and were quite successful during the initial stages of the Indian attack in early December.

Mukti Bahini in the final phase: The liberation forces started carrying out massive raids into enemy fronts from October 1971. After the signing of the Indo-Soviet Treaty in August 1971, India began to demonstrate more interest in the Bangladesh war. And finally, India entered the war on 3 December 1971. In fact, the Indian soldiers were already participating in the war in different guises since November when the freedom fighters had launched the Belonia battle.

Statistics of the Freedom Fighters:

The total number of Freedom Fighters during Bangladesh War of Liberation was not recorded anywhere.

Maj. Gen. K.M. Shafiullah, the commander of Sector-3 and later commander of S-Force during the War of Liberation, and later the first Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh Army gives as estimate in his book “Bangladesh in Liberation War” as follows:

Sector-1 5,000
Sector-2 20,000
Sector-3 15,000
Sector-4 5,000
Sector-5 5,000
Sector-6 5,000
Sector-7 5,000
Sector-8 9,000
Sector-9 4,000
Sector-11 7,000

Total 80,000

The above is the number of Freedom Fighters under of the Bangladesh government in exile. The estimate for other smaller forces are as follows:

Mujib Bahini 10,000
Kader Bahini 5,000
Hemeyet Bahini 1,500
Others 10,000
Sub-total 25,500

Grand Total:105,000

The East Pakistan Army, East Pakistan Rifles and Police joined the war for freedom:

Ghulam Azam

(Bengali: গোলাম আযম) (born 7 November 1922), is a Bangladeshi political leader who is recognized by the Bangladeshis as one of the worst war criminals of the Liberation War of Bangladesh.^[1] The former Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, he opposed the independence of Bangladesh both during the liberation war and upon its liberation on December 16, 1971 and lead the formation of Shanti Committee, Razakar and Al-Badr to thwart the freedom fighters of Bangladesh.^[2][3][4] He also lobbied against the acknowledgment of new-born Bangladesh after 1971.

EARLY POLITICAL CAREER

Azam entered politics as a student leader at Dhaka University, and in 1947 became the Secretary General of the Dhaka University Central Students Union. Among his earliest campaigns was participation in the Bengali Language Movement during 1950s. He submitted the memorandum to the Pakistan government demanding Bengali as one of the state languages, on behalf of the students of Dhaka University, following the demand made by Dhirendranath Datta in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in February 1948 and the resulting nationalist uprising in East Bengal. Azam, however, distanced himself from the Language Movement when it became clear that it was becoming a rallying call for a secular Bengali nationalist movement rather than one focused on Bengali Muslim activism alone. Since his return to Bangladesh in the 1970s Ghulam Azam has never participated in the official commemorations of the Language Movement and he and his party celebrate that event separately

Azam became the secretary of the Islamist political party, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, in 1957. Later, he became the Ameer (president) of the Jamaat in East Pakistan in 1969. He was also a participant in the formation of the Pakistan Democratic Alliance in 1967.

EARLY INITIATIVES WITH SHANTI COMMITTEE

During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, Azam played a central role in the formation of Peace Committees, which declared the independence movement to be a conspiracy hatched by India.^[2] Azam was one of the founding members of this organization.^[2] After the genocide of 25th March Pakistani forces lost control of Bangladesh. To help control this situation Pakistani army set up a network of peace committees superimposed upon the normal civil administration as army couldn't rely upon that administration. Peace Committee members were drawn from Jamaat-e-Islami led by Ghula Azam, Muslim League and Biharis. Peace committee served as the agent of army, informing on civil administration as well as general public. They were also in charge of confiscating and redistribution of shops and lands from Hindu and pro-independence Bengali- mainly relatives and friends of the freedom fighters. Almost 10 million Bangladeshis fled to neighboring India as refugees. The Shanti Committee also recruited Razakars. Razakars were common criminals who had thrown their lots with the army.

On April 12, 1971, Azam and Matiur Rahman Nizami led processions denouncing the independence movement as an Indian conspiracyল

FORMING RAZAKARS AND AL-BADR

During Azam's leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami, Ashraf Hossain, a leader of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, created the Al-Badr militia in Jamalpur District on 22 April, 1971.^[3] Current Jamaat Ameer (supreme leader) Matiur Rahman Nizami was the supreme commander of this militia. Nizami was a leader of Islami Chhatra Shongha then.

Also, in May, 1971, another Jamaat leader Mawlana Yusuf, a subordinate to Azam, created the Razakar militia in Khulna. The first recruits included 96 Jamaat party members, who started training in an Ansar camp at Shahjahan Ali Road, Khulna.

LATE ANTI-LIBERATIONIST ACTIVITIES

During the war Azam traveled the then West Pakistan to consult the Pakistani leaders.^[12] On June 20, 1971, Azam declared in Lahore that the Hindu minority in East Pakistan, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, are conspiring to secede from Pakistan. He also said in Rawalpindi that the actions of the Pakistan Army in Operation Searchlight were justified in order to preserve the unity of the country. Azam declared that his party (Jamaat) is trying it's best to curb the activities of pro-independence "Miscreants".^[13] Azam took part in meetings with General Yahiya Khan, the military dictator of Pakistan, and other military leaders, to organize the campaign against Bangladeshi independence.

On August 12, 1971, Azam declared in a statement published in the Daily Sangram that "the supporters of the so-called Bangladesh Movement are the enemies of Islam, Pakistan, and Muslims".

Under the military tyranny of Yahya Khan East Pakistan earned it's reputation as a place of endless horror and suffering.^[15] The only way to legalize this autocratic repression was to declare an election. So, on October 12, 1971 Yahya Khan declared that an election will be held from November 25 to December 9. Ghulam Azam decided to take part in this election. But suddenly on October 15 Pakistani government declared that, 15 candidates have been elected without any competition. According to the declaration of November 2 as many as 53 candidates were elected without any competition.^[16] In this farcical election Jamaat under the leadership of Azam got 14 memberships among those 53. Actually it was a gift from Pakistani govt. so that they could get more help from Jamaat and other anti-Bangladesh parties while fighting the pro-independence forces. Jamaat was the most previleged party in this election, because 14 seats were like a dream to them.

FLEEING FROM BANGLADESH

Ghulam Azam wrote some of his activities of 9 months of the war in his biography Jibone Ja Dekhlam (What I have seen in life). According to his book, Azam claims that he was on way to Dhaka from West Pakistan on 3 December when midway through the flight, the plane changed direction to Saudi Arabia because of the formation of India-Bangladesh joint force against Pakistan. A few weeks later East Pakistan emerged as newly independent country Bangladesh and Ghulam Azam along with his political party Jamaat-e-Islami was banned by new country's government and Azam's Bangladesh citizenship was cancelled.^{[citation needed]} However, New York Times reported that Azam left East Pakistan due to his opposition to the independence movement.

 YEARS IN EXILE

After the war, the Bangladesh government declared the newly independent country to be secular, and mandated separation of religion from the state, and therefore sought to remove the influence of religious fundamentalists from national life, and religion based political parties were banned. In addition, the Jamaat and its leaders, because they were seen as guilty of collaboration with the Pakistan occupation forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War, were similarly restricted from participation in the new country's political scenario. Azam's citizenship in the new-born Bangladesh was revoked as he was one of the primary collaborators, and he refused an offer of amnesty from the then Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to return to Bangladesh and renounce Jamaat politics,^{[citation needed]} choosing to live in exile in Pakistan and England until 1978, when President Ziaur Rahman restored multi-party democratic system, Jamaat re-launched itself, seizing the opportunity, and soon Ghulam Azam returned to Bangladesh on a temporary visa. While in Pakistan, he was a leader of what was left of the Pakistani branch of the Jamaat

ANTI-BANGLADESH LOBBYING AFTER 1971

After the victory of the Joint forces of the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini over Pakistan on 16th December, 1971 a new nation named Bangladesh was born. Azam continued his anti-Bangladesh and pro-Pakistan activities even after 1971. He tried to convince many political leaders of Middle-East and Pakistan not to support the new born nation. A complete description of these lobbies are found in the writings of Dhaka University Professor Anisuzzaman.^[5] Mr. Anisuzzaman submitted all the allegations against Golam Azam to the People's Court in 1992. People's Court was established as a mass movement to try war criminals and anti-independence activists by Jahanara Imam and others. Jahanara Imam held this unprecedented Peoples' Court as a symbolic trial of Ghulam Azam where thousands of people gathered and the court gave verdict that Azam's offences committed during the Liberation War deserve capital punishment.

According to Prothom Alo, three intellectuals submitted allegations of war crimes against Ghulam Azam. The activities regarading Bengali culture were submitted by Syed Shamsul Huq, alleged war crimes during 1971 were detailed by Borhanuddin Khan Jahangir and his pro-Pakistan lobbying after 1971 was detailed by Anisuzzaman.^[5] Notable pro-Pakistan lobbying of Ghulam Azam after 1971 are as follows:

1. After the liberation of Bangladesh Azam, staying in Pakistan, created an organization named Purbo Pakistan Punoruddhar Committee (East Pakistan Revival Committee) along with anti-Bangladesh activists like Mahmud Ali and Khaja Khoyeruddin. Azam tried to strengthen the international movement to re-establish East Pakistan. Accordingly he kept claiming himself as the Ameer of East Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami many years after the elimination of East Pakistan.
2. In 1972, Azam formed Purbo Pakistan Punoruddhar Committee in London and conspired with others to replace Bangladesh with East Pakistan. In 1973, he lectured against Bangladesh in the annual conference of Federation of Students' Islamic Societies held in Manchester and conference of UK Islamic Commission held in Lester. In 1974, he arranged a meeting of Purbo Pakistan Punoruddhar Committee with Pakistanis like Mahmud Ali. As they had already failed to establish a Pakistan within Bangladesh, they decided to lead their movement towards the formation of a confederation combining Bangladesh and Pakistan. In this meeting Azam explained the necessity of working for the movement within Bangladesh though it was a bit risky then. In, 1977 in a meeting held in the Holy Trinity Church College, Azam expressed it again. He came to Bangladesh in 1978 with a Pakistani passport and Bangladeshi visa only to make his dream of Pakistan-Bangladesh confederation come true.
3. Ghulam Azam participated in the International Islamic Youth Conference held in Riyad in 1972 and begged the help of all Muslim countries to re-establish East Pakistan. From 1973 to 1976 he met Saudi King seven times and asked him not to acknowledge Bangladesh and never to help this country by any means. He lectured against Bangladesh again in the international conference arranged by Rabeta-e-Alam Al-Islami in Mecca in 1974 and at King Abdul Aziz University in 1977.
4. Azam lobbyied against the acknowledgment of new born Bangladesh in the conference of Foreign ministers of the Muslim countries held in Bengazi in 1973. In the same year he lectured in the Islamic Youth Conference held in Tripoli which was clearly against the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh.
5. In 1973 Ghulam Azam urged everybody to participate in the movement of combining Bangladesh with Pakistan in the annual conference of Muslim Students' Association of America and Canada held at Michigan State University.
6. Azam lectured against Bangladesh again in 1977, in the international conference of Islamic Federation of Students' Organizations held at Istanbulল

REHABILITATION IN INDEPENDENT BANGLADESH

In 1978, then Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman allowed Azam to return to Bangladesh. Ghulam Azam returned to Bangladesh on a temporary visa with a Pakistani passport.^{[citation needed]} But he had been living in Bangladesh from 1978 to 1994 as a Pakistani national without any valid visa to stay in Bangladesh.

Azam became the unofficial Ameer of the party while remaining in Bangladesh illegally, as he was denied Bangladeshi citizenship and had overstayed his visitors visa on his Pakistani passport. However, no attempt was made to restrain him, and he moved around openly. His citizenship was granted in 1994 by a decision of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, as the panel of Judges, with Habibur Rahman as the Chief Justice (later chief of the Caretaker government of 1996), decreed that by virtue of his birth he had right to Bangladeshi citizenship.

Though the Jamaat fell out with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the run up to the 1996 elections, it re-established its alliance creating a coalition of 4 parties prior to the 2001 elections. In conjunction with the Islami Oikya Jote and a faction of the Jatiya Party, Jamaat again allied with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the coalition emerged as the winning power.

Ghulam Azam announced his retirement from active politics in late 2000. He was succeeded by Motiur Rahman Nizami.

Ghulam Azam's party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has been widely accused different organizations as a

WARCRIMINAL NO.2

MOTIUR RAHMAN NIZAMI

(Bengali: মতিউর রহমান নিজামী), (born 31 March 1943) is the current chief (Ameer) of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which is the largest Islamic political party in Bangladesh. During Bangladesh Liberation War, he acted as the supreme commander of the Al-Badr militia, which had taken part in various war crimes including killing of hundreds of intellectuals around the country

JAMAAT AND AL-BADR ACTIVIST

Nizami rose in the ranks of the Jamaat-e-Islami in East Pakistan in the 1960s, after being a leader of a student organization, Islamic Chhatro Shango (now Islami Chhatro Shibir). During the liberation war of 1971, Nizami actively supported the cause of West Pakistan and formed the Al-Badr Party in which he acted as the supreme commander of the Al-Badr Militia.^[1][2] As the leader of Al-Badr, Nizami advocated deadly violence against minority Hindus, and in an article in the Daily Sangram published in 14 November 1971, Nizami claimed, "It is our conviction that the day is not far off when, standing side by side with our armed forces, our youth will raise the victorious flag of Islam the world over by defeating the Hindu Army and finishing off Hindustan".^[1][3] Nizami was then well known as "Moitya Rajakar (মইত্যা রাজাকার)" for his anti-liberation activities

The Al-Badr militia took active part in raping, capturing and killing of Bangladeshis who supported the liberation, including a pre-planned massacre on December 14, 1971, when the Al-Badr militia along with Pakistan Army rounded up hundreds of doctors, professors, writers, and other Bengali intellectuals, and executed them.

POLITICAL CAREER

Under the rule of Ziaur Rahman, top Jamaat leaders such as Ghulam Azam and Nizami whose party were banned by the subsequent government after liberation, returned to Bangladesh in 1978 and revived the Jamaat party. Nizami emerged as a key national leader of the Jamaat, organising the Islami Chhatra Shibir (Muslim Students Organisation), which serves as the youth wing of the Jamaat. In 1991, he was elected as a Member of Parliament, representing Jamaat-e-Islami for the constituency of Pabna-1, and was Jamaat's Parliamentary Party leader during until 1994.
However, during the 1996 elections, he lost out to both the candidates for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Bangladesh Awami League in his constituency, and Professor Abu Sayed of the Awami League replaced him. Nizami took over as the Ameer from Ghulam Azam in 2001.^[9] In the same year, representing his party as part of a four-party alliance including BNP, he won in Pabna-1, receiving 57.68% of the votes.^[10] Nizami served as the Industrial Minister from 2003 to 2006, after a two-year term as the Minister of Agriculture.

Nizami was defeated in the general election held on 29th December 2008 as a candidate of 4-party alliance, losing his seat for Pabna-1 to Md. Shamsul Haque by 8.2%. He received 45.6% of the votes, out of which 41.03% votes were from BNP supporters. His opponent representing the Awami League won, having 53.8%.

ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION

The Anti-corruption Commission of Bangladesh indicted Nizami on the GATCO Corruption case, in which he along with several other politicians are alleged to have granted illegally a container-depot contract to the local firm GATCO. ^[11] A warrant was issued to arrest Nizami along with 12 others on May 15, 2008.

Nizami was accused of conspiring with 12 other politicians to award the contract to GATCO despite the fact that GATCO did not meed the conditions of the tender. The case filed by the Anti-corruption Commission of Bangladesh Govt. alleges that, the deal with GATCO caused a total loss of more than 100 million Bangladeshi Taka to the Government.^[12] Nizami denied the charges, which he has said are politically motivated. He was released after two months on bail.

REFERENCE:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motiur_Rahman_Nizami

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As a freedom fighter and as a son of the soil of Bangladesh, I feel better now. The nation has been freed from a curse and the rule of law has been upheld. We need to punish those who supported and rewarded these killers:

Moktel Hossain Mukthi

All detained Bangabandhu Killers Executed.

Govt goes for execution 14 hours after review petition rejected; bodies sent to their village homes with police escort

Clockwise: Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed

Five condemned killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were hanged early today at Dhaka Central Jail amid tight security.

The death sentences of the five were executed around 14 and a half hours after the Appellate Division dismissed their pleas to review the Supreme Court verdict that confirmed capital punishment to 12 former army officers including the five petitioners on November 19 last year.

The dismissal paved the way for executing the five killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members any time within January 31.

"Sultan Shahriar Rashid and Syed Farooq Rahman were the first to walk the gallows at 12:05am. They were handcuffed and their heads were covered in black hoods in the final minutes to midnight," Dhaka Deputy Commissioner Zillar Rahman told The Daily Star soon after he walked out of the jail premises around 1:45am.

Two hangmen put two nooses around the necks of the two condemned killers. Two other hangmen--Hafiz and Shahjahan--were ready to pull levers to slide apart the scaffolds.

It was 12:05am. Dhaka Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam dropped a handkerchief from his hand to give signal to the hangmen. The two chief hangmen pulled the levers.

Sultan Shahriar and Farooq were kept hanging for half an hour to confirm their death, witnesses said.

At 12:35am, two other killers of Bangabandhu--AKM Mohiuddin and Bazlul Huda--were brought to the gallows. They were also executed in a similar fashion.

Then it was the turn for Mohiuddin Ahmed. He was brought to a gallows at 1:05am and was hanged following all rituals.

The authorities had taken up a three-layer security measure for the execution.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion, police and armed police battalion were deployed around Dhaka Central Jail. Vehicular movement was restricted on the road in front of the jail gate.

Besides, law enforcement and intelligence agencies were kept alert across the country to avert any untoward incident.

As the news spread earlier that the five convicts would be executed, several hundred people started gathering at the jail gate in the evening, reported our staff correspondents Rashidul Hasan and Shaheen Mollah. A lot of people brought out processions in different parts of the capital including Bangabandhu's residence in Dhanmondi and Dhaka University campus.

Civil Surgeon Mushfiqur Rahman, Inspector General (Prisons) Ashraful Islam Khan, Deputy Commissioner Zillar Rahman, four magistrates led by the Dhaka district additional deputy commissioner, Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque arrived at the jail after 10:00pm yesterday.

Jail sources said they bathed the convicts around 11:00am. Around half an hour later the civil surgeon and two other doctors conducted medical check-ups of the convicts.

Earlier, the two gallows beside the condemned cells in the jail were prepared for the execution.

The compound was lit with floodlights around 11:00pm last night.

The bodies of the five were sent to their village homes by five ambulances by 3:30am under police and Rab escort after conducting post mortem, said Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam.

People were seen throwing shoes at an ambulance carrying one of the dead bodies.

The five hangmen who performed the execution are Hafiz, Mohammad Shahjahan, Faruq, Raju and Sanwar.

REVIEW PETITION DISMISSAL
Earlier yesterday, following the dismissal of his review petition, convict Syed Farooq Rahman in the afternoon appealed to the president for clemency, which President Zillur Rahman rejected.

Dhaka Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam last night confirmed The Daily Star that they received the president's rejection order.

The Appellate Division rejected the review petitions as they contained no new arguments and any legal grounds for reviewing the Supreme Court judgment confirming the death sentences.

In all the petitions, the counsel of the convicts reiterated points that had already been argued during the hearing of their appeals against the High Court verdict. The HC had rejected those pleas.

The four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Md Tafazzul Islam pronounced the order yesterday morning.

The other members of the Appellate Division bench were justices BK Das, Md Muzammel Hossain and SK Sinha. They heard arguments on the review petitions for three days from January 24.

Killers Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, who were in condemned cells of Dhaka Central Jail, had filed the review petitions with the Supreme Court against its verdict.

Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told reporters that as per jail code, the jail authorities should execute the convicts between the 21st and 28th days after the trial court issued death warrants against them.

The death warrants were issued on January 3 and the countdown started the same day, Shafique said, adding that this means the last date for execution is January 31.

Earlier in the day, the law minister held a meeting at his office with Home Minister Sahara Khatun, State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam, Chief State Counsel Anisul Huq, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, Additional Law Secretary Anwarul Haque, Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder, Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Ashraful Islam Khan and Dhaka Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam.

The meeting was held to decide the next course of action following the passage of the SC orders.

On November 19 last year, the Supreme Court awarded death penalty to 12 convicts. Apart from the five executed today, six are on the run and one died.

In an instant reaction to the dismissal of the review petitions, Chief State Counsel Anisul Huq and Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters that they are happy with the apex court's order as they got justice in the case.

"Our fight was for establishing the rule of law and justice, not envy, and we got justice," Anisul Huq said.

Mahbubey Alam said the trial proceeding of one of the most heinous killings in history came to an end with the dismissal of the review petitions.

Barrister Abdullah-Al Mamun, lawyer for two convicts, told The Daily Star that they accepted the SC orders although they were disappointed with the dismissal of the review petitions.

Mamun urged the prime minister to show mercy to the convicts as a gesture of kindness.

FAROOQ'S MERCY PETITION
Convict Farooq Rahman sought presidential clemency through the jail authority.

The jail authorities forwarded the petition to the law ministry through the home ministry for legal opinion, a law ministry official told The Daily Star. But the law ministry subsequently opined against presidential mercy to Farooq.

The law ministry sent back the petition to the home ministry, saying although it is the president's prerogative to grant mercy, it would not be judicious to pardon the condemned convicts of Bangabandhu murder case.

Three other condemned former army officers--Mohiuddin Ahmed, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Bazlul Huda--earlier sought mercy from the president, which the president rejected on January 18.

We want to build Bangladesh as a peaceful country in South Asia: PM Sheikh Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today strongly justified the outcomes of her maiden India visit saying only friendship among the regional countries could greatly help South Asia fight its common enemy-poverty. "You can get many things through the friendship (with neighbours), which you can't get through enmity . I am not the person to pick quarrel with anyone while the countries in the region needed intensified cooperation to fight their common enemy-poverty," she told a crowded press conference here two days after her return from India. She defended her understanding with Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in offering the facilities of Bangladesh's two seaports to India alongside Nepal and Bhutan, saying it would earn the country "huge revenues" and pave ways for regional trade connectivity. "Currently, we can use only 40 percent of the capacity of the (southeastern main) Chittagong Port and 10 percent of the (southwestern) Mongla Port," she said. Sheikh Hasina called a major success of her trip in obtaining Indian nod in allowing its territory for Bangladesh's road links with Nepal and Bhutan which, she said, ensured a regional connectivity "while India is said to be interested only in bilateral arrangements on all issues". The Premier said her Indian counterpart reassured her that they would not take any project which could harm Bangladesh while about the common Teesta River the ministerial level talks of the Joint River Commission (JRC) would take place next month while the technical committee meeting and the secretary level talks of JRC were already held. She said the issues of the Teesta and the Tipaimukh did not emerge overnight while the Flood Action Plan (FAP) documents of the early 1990s too had reference of the cross-border Tipaimukh structure but the past BNP-led four party coalition government "uttered nothing" on the issues.

Replying to another question, she said if the previous government had done something on the matters, "we could have carried forward the process to a large extent . . . as the governmental process is continued process," Sheikh Hasina said. She, however, regretted that the subsequent BNP government had scrapped 99 projects undertaken by her previous Awami League government after the change of power in 2001.

Dhaka and New Delhi inked three treaties on security and terrorism, cross border crime and mutual legal assistance and two memorandums of understanding on power swapping and trade links while the two sides agreed on several other issues including offering India the port facilities in Bangladesh in a joint communiqué,. Asked for comments on opposition allegations that she had "compromised the national interest" during the visit to New Delhi, the Prime Minister said,

"I have succeeded in my mission as Bangladesh's interests have been protected in full". "Opposing India is nothing new in Bangladesh; we are familiar with the anti-India campaign since 1954 elections . . . it became a habit of some people and we have nothing to do about it,"

Sheikh Hasina said. The premier said she would continue to do whatever is "justified and good for the people of the country", defying the opposition criticism.

Asked if a national consensus is needed ahead of concluding agreements with India as claimed by the opposition, she said those were made on the basis of peoples mandate as the ruling Awami League had clearly proposed those in its election manifesto. Sheikh Hasina said the opposition "expected me" to return with concrete results on several issues including the sharing of waters in common rivers "but while in power they did nothing to settle these issues".

Deputy Leader of the House and Awami League Presidium Member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Awami League Advisory Council members Dr S A Malek, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed and Suranjit Sengupata, Jute and Textiles Minister Abdul Latif Sidduque, Awami League General Secretary and LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad, Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Cultural Affairs Obaidul Quader, Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain, Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, among others, were attended the press conference.

The press conference was also attended by the leaders of the Awami League-led grand alliance including ex-president HM Ershad MP of Jatiya Party, Samyabadi Dal leader Dilip Barua, Workers Party leader Rashed Khan Menon MP and JSD chief Hasanul Haque Inu MP.