Bangladesh strips 4 killers of Sheikh Mujib gallantry awards

Bangladesh has decided to take away the gallantry awards given to  the four persons involved in the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The decision was taken at the meeting of the national council on liberation war fighters related issues. The Liberation War Affairs Ministry will issue a gazette in a few days, said the Minister A K M Mozammel Huq in Dhaka on Wednesday. The four absconding killers of Bangladesh’s founding President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman are Nur Chowdhury, Shariful Haque Dalim, Rashed Chowdhury and Moslehuddin Khan. All of them are recipients of different categories of gallantry awards for their contribution during the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh. 

At the same meeting, the council decided to strip the late military ruler and wartime sector commander Ziaur Rahman of the gallantry title of ‘Bir Uttam’ for ‘defying the constitution, assisting the self-proclaimed killers of Bangabandhu in fleeing the country and appointing them to important state positions’. But Minister Huq made no comment on whether the ministry had approved that decision. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also claims that Ziaur Rahman, who took power 10 days after Bangabandhu’s death, was ‘totally involved’ in the killing.
Earlier, in February a committee of the  national council on liberation war fighters related issues had recommended taking away the gallantry award given to former President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman citing his alleged involvement in the assasination plot of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members on 15 August 1975 in Dhaka. However, the minister made no comment on this issue. In 1996, when the Awami League returned to power under the leadership of Hasina, it cleared the path to bringing the killers to justice. Of the twelve sentenced to death in the trial, five were executed, one died outside custody and five more remain at large.