Re: [chottala.com] Re: [Alapon] Col.Taher (Retd)

people should know every action has equal opposite reaction.
killing react kill love react loving

--- On Sat, 2/4/11, Dr. Jamir Chowdhury <americamyland@gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Dr. Jamir Chowdhury <americamyland@gmail.com>
> Subject: [chottala.com] Re: [Alapon] Col.Taher (Retd)
> To: alapon@yahoogroups.com
> Cc: "Abdul Mannan" <abman1971@gmail.com>, chottala@yahoogroups.com, khabor@yahoogroups.com, Diagnose@yahoogroups.com
> Received: Saturday, 2 April, 2011, 1:04 PM
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> Dear Sir, I appreciate and
> thank you for your article. You clearly stated that Siraj
> Sikder was a Maoist and Noxalities. I would like to add that
> he fought against the liberation war and killed many freedom
> fighters. He was no different than a Pakistani soldier who
> killed, tortured and raped my people during the liberation
> war. Siraj Shikder should have been brought to justice. I
> believe, document will show that a number of army
> officers including late Gen. Shawkat, Sisu and others
> supported Zia for killing Col. Taher. However, it was Zia
> who killed Taher. What was the role of Gen. Ershad at that
> time? It would be very interesting to know. Though Col.
> Taher's killing was unfolded, I would like to hear more
> about Gen. Manjoor's death and the reason behind it. Was
> Manjoor thep planner/ killer of Zia? I think, all the
> evidences would show that Majoor was not a planner
> or killer. He was removed by Gen. Ershad to paved his way
> to power. It is the right time to unfold real reasons
> behind the killing of one of the most brilliant officers in
> the Army, Gen. Manjoor. Thanks.
>
>  
> Regards,
>  
> Jamir Chowdhury
> Professor and Director
> ------------------------------------------------------
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> On Sat, Apr 2, 2011
> at 6:32 AM, Abdul Mannan <abman1971@gmail.com>
> wrote:
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> My fortnightly column appears in today's Daily Sun.
> It is on Col (retd) Taher. It s copied below.
> Thanks.
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> Todays
> NewspaperEditorialFeatureePaper
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> DHAKA | Saturday | 02 April 2011 | 19 Chaitra
> 1417 BS | 27 Rabius Saani 1432 Hijri
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> Editorial
> NEWS
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> The
> �judicial� murder of Col (Retd) Taher
> Abdul Mannan
>
>
> The day (March 22) when the High Court Division of the
> Bangladesh Supreme Court declared that the Trial of Col
> (Retd) Abu Taher, Bir Uttam held in 1976 was illegal I
> posted just the news without any personal comments on an
> internet blog. By late evening my inbox was flooded... more
> ›
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> The
> ‘judicial’ murder of Col (Retd)
> Taher
>
>
>
>
>
> Abdul
> Mannan 
> The day (March 22) when the High Court
> Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court declared that the
> Trial of Col (Retd) Abu Taher, Bir Uttam held in 1976 was
> illegal I posted just the news without any personal comments
> on an internet blog. By late evening my inbox was flooded
> with mails from blog participants. Many hailed the verdict,
> some condemned the government and court for bringing out the
> issue after so many years and some thought I was always bent
> on promoting all the dirty jobs of the ruling party. The
> people who hailed the verdict said they waited for last 35
> years for this day. Those who condemned the verdict fell
> back on the conspiracy theory and said it was nothing but a
> dirty trick to demean the name and fame of
> ‘Shahid’ Zia the ‘Swadinotar
> Ghoshok’ and the saviour of Bangladesh. One of my
> former students, who currently resides in Canada in his own
> very humble way wanted to know my opinion as to what will
> happen to the trial of the killing of Shiraj Shikder in
> police custody in 1975 ? Will I support such a trial? I
> normally do not get involved in the unnecessary blog
> debates. But I told my student, time permitting I will try
> to answer his question.
>
>
> To the present generation the name Shiraj Shikder may be
> unknown. Late Shiraj Shikder was a believer of extreme ultra
> leftist political ideology in the mid sixties and propagated
> the philosophy that revolution is only possible through the
> uprising of the proletariats and physical annihilation of
> bourgeoisie (class enemy). Only proletariats have the right
> to rule. China’s Chairman Mao Tze Tung was their
> friend philosopher and guide and they declared Chairman Mao
> as their Chairman. The violent politics of Shiraj Sikder and
> his party Purbo Banglar Shorbohara (Proletariat) Party was
> heavily influenced by Communist Part of India
> (Marxist-Leninist) founded in the Naxalbari of Darjeeling
> district in North Bengal, India by Charu Majumder, Kanu
> Sanyal and others. Killing of land owners, money lenders,
> government and police officials became rampant in the mid
> sixties and early seventies in Midnapur, West Dinajpur,
> Bihar, Darjeeling and adjoining areas. The wave of brutal
> violence crossed the border and entered the then East
> Pakistan with the active patronage and participation of
> Shiraj Shikder and his party (later the party split into
> many factions). Even to this day some of the activist of the
> party still operates in and around Kushtia, Jessore, Pabna
> and Khulna in many different names (Maobadi, Jonojuddho,
> Lalpotaka, etc). In India they exist in the name of
> Naxalites, Maobadi, Peoples War Group and their activities
> have gone beyond North or West Bengal to Andhra Pradesh,
> Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jamshedpur, MP. They are all into
> killing, extortion, arson, kidnapping for ransom all over.
>
>
> Immediately after the Liberation of Bangladesh it was
> expected that the anti people activities of Shiraj Shikder
> will cease, which did not. His comrade in arms, Abdul Matin
> and Alauddin even waged armed war against the Bangladesh
> army in Atrai of Pabna district of 1973. Abdul Hoque,
> another cohort of Shiraj Shikder on December 16, 1974 wrote
> a letter to the President of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto,
> addressing him as ‘My President’ requesting him
> to give him arms and money to topple the government of
> Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Finally Shiraj Shikder was arrested
> by the police from Halishahar in Chittagong in December
> 1974, and when he was being taken from Dhaka to Savar he was
> killed by police while he was escaping according to the
> police press note. Whatever were the circumstances, the fact
> was this was an act of extrajudicial killing as he died in
> police custody, and as in the case of any other
> extrajudicial killing, it is a condemnable offence and any
> one can go to the court of law asking for justice.
>
>
> The background of the cold blooded murder of our valiant
> Freedom Fighter Col Taher was totally different. The entire
> family of Col. Taher participated in our War of Liberation.
> During the war one of his legs was blown off by the enemy
> shell. After the war was over he remained in the army and
> was posted in Comilla. He had his own dream of replacing the
> conventional army of Bangladesh with a more productive
> ‘People’s Army.’ He dreamt of changing
> the structure of the army. May be his philosophy had merit
> but the process was not proper as it was neither practical
> nor feasible to change the fundamental nature of the army of
> a country by one person’s singular idea and
> philosophy. He soon realized this would perhaps not be
> possible and took an early retirement towards the end of
> 1972 and joined as a Director of Dredging Corporation of
> Bangladesh, a government undertaking. Soon he got inducted
> into JSD politics.
>
>
> JSD was the first opposition party formed in Bangladesh
> with the slogan of establishing ‘Scientific
> Socialism’ in Bangladesh. Rightly or wrongly they
> thought the emancipation of the people will only be possible
> through establishing the rule of ‘Scientific
> Socialism.’ To begin with, first Chatra League split
> in 1972 on the eve of DUCSU election into two. One faction
> was called ‘Mujibadi’ SL and the other faction
> labeled themselves as ‘Boigganik Shamajtontri.’
> Later JSD was formed by Sirajul Alam Khan and others.
> Whether it was the students’ front or the main party,
> all front ranking party leaders came from Awami League.
> Later some retired military personnel joined the party and
> its rank and file swelled. It was able to attract many
> promising youths. This was a time when the world was
> witnessing a sudden rise and success of socialism in many
> countries. America lost the Vietnam War. Marxist Salvador
> Allende was elected the President of Chile. India became
> closer to former Soviet Union and the Non Aligned Movement
> became stronger. Bangladesh adopted ‘socialism’
> as one of its state principles. The slain Marxist
> Revolutionary Che Guevara became a hero of the young
> generation. It was ‘Marxism and Socialism’ all
> the way. But unfortunately JSD politics could not make much
> headway because of short sighted leadership and other
> reasons. AL was too big and strong a party to challenge. In
> hindsight the young people who joined this brand of politics
> were at best ‘Romantic Revolutionaries.’ But
> with all fairness the initial years of JSD was quite
> promising.
>
>
> Though personally not a believer of JSD politics I always
> thought the hanging of Taher in 1976 was pure and simple
> pre-meditated cold blooded murder. In 1980 I had the chance
> of reading the American journalist Lawrence
> Lifschultz’s book ‘Bangladesh: The Unfinished
> Revolution.’ The book published in London the
> previous year was immediately proscribed in Bangladesh by
> Zia Government. After reading the book, my personal respect
> for Col Taher increased manifold. To me he became an
> ultimate example of a true patriot. In 2008, while attending
> an International Conference on Bangladesh at Harvard
> University I happened to meet Mr. Lifschultz personally. He
> attended a session which I presided, came and introduced
> himself. We spent about an hour taking about different
> aspects of Bangladesh politics and the coming general
> election. Soon we started calling each other by our first
> names and he informed that he planned to write the sequel of
> his original book and for that he might come to Bangladesh.
> However he came to Bangladesh to give testimony to the
> events prevailing at the time of trial of Col Taher. During
> 1976 he came to Dhaka from Delhi to cover the trial for now
> defunct weekly ‘Far Eastern Economic Review.’
> Mr. Lifschultz is a real professional, courageous and
> extremely responsible journalist.
>
>
> After the brutal assassination of Bangabandu on 15 August
> 1975, and the four national leaders in the Dhaka Central
> Jail on November 3 1975, the country virtually did not have
> a functioning government from 3 to 7 November and there
> existed no chain of command in the Army. The country was
> heading towards a total chaos. Brig. Khaled Musharraf tried
> to restore the chain of command along with some officers
> loyal to him but failed due to inept handling of the events
> and lack of farsightedness. Eventually they were also
> killed. Unfortunately all killed were valiant Freedom
> Fighters of 1971. In a total confusion prevailing in the
> country and the Dhaka Cantonment Zia was taken hostage by
> soldiers, some of them believed to be indoctrinated by JSD
> politics. Whatever was the situation, it was very confusing.
> Zia called his friend Col Taher to save his life. Taher
> responded, came and convinced the soldiers and freed Zia,
> who in turn thanked Taher for saving his life. But Zia was
> very clever, shrewd and to some extent a futurist. He could
> feel that Col. Taher though no longer in the army was still
> quite popular among the troops. Zia had Taher arrested on
> November 24 from his residence in Dhaka. On June 14, 1976 he
> had the Chief Martial Law Administrator and President
> Justice ASM Sayem promulgate an Ordinance to constitute a
> Special Tribunal to try Col Taher for mutiny and treason in
> the army. Along with Taher 32 others were also charged of
> whom 18 were serving army personnel and the rest were
> civilians. Though the trial was named as State vs Major
> (Retd) Jalil and others, from the very beginning it was
> clear that the main target was Col. Taher. The trial was in
> camera, the accused were not allowed to talk to their
> defense lawyers, except on the day of hearing and everyone
> had to take an oath of secrecy. Only Daily Ittefaq ran news
> of the commencing of the trial on June 21. The Editor Mr.
> Anwar Hossain was summoned by Army HQ and warned. The trial
> ended on July 12 covering 12 working days. This was a
> summary trial by all definition. On 17 July Col Yousuf
> Haider, the Chief of the Tribunal announced the judgment
> sentencing Col. Taher to death and others to different terms
> of imprisonment. Col. Haider was one of those Bengali
> officers in the Pakistan Army who in spite of being in
> Bangladesh in March 1971 did not think it necessary to fight
> in the War of Liberation. Col. Taher’ death sentence
> came as a surprise even to the State Prosecutors as they
> never appealed for death sentence as the law under which Col
> Taher and other’s were being tried did not have
> provision for death sentence. However this anomaly was
> amended ten days after Col Taher was hanged on the morning
> of 21. July only after nine days of the pronouncement of the
> judgment. Usually there is a gap of 21 days between verdict
> and execution. Even this was not followed in the case of Col
> Taher. During Zia’s regime many such rules were
> flouted. He ran the Presidential election while being in
> service, and promoted himself after his retirement. Many BNP
> leaders say that Taher was responsible for killing of sixty
> army officers. However he was never tried for this alleged
> involvement in these killings, but tried for mutiny and
> treason.
>
>
> The recent trial of Col. Taher’s leading to
> ‘judicial’ murder was a landmark in our
> history. Taher will not return but his memory will live
> forever and hopefully it will haunt those who were
> responsible for such a cowardly act. Long live the memory of
> Col Taher, Bir Uttam.
>
>
> The writer is a former Vice-Chancellor of Chittagong
> University.
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