Since the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, over the last thirty years Bangladesh has seen the days of sunshine and promises as well as the gruesome realities of death and destructions. A country which was born out of a bloody battle costing millions of lives fell again into the tricky traps of coup and counter coup and secret political killings paving its way to terrorism in politics. Beginning with the murder of its founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , followed by the jail killings of highprofile political leaders whose contributions to the liberation of Bangladesh can hardly be underestimatedand of course the murder of General Ziaur Rahman , the former President of Bangladesh, the killing spree has continued over the last nearly four decades.Surprisingly, the perpetrators of such heinous crimes have not been brought to justice till today. In some cases , the procedure continues , in others the process is so slow that one cannot be sure when the criminals would get their due share from the court of law.
In our this edition of HelloWashington, our distinguished guests, while answering the questions of our listeners have analyzed and reflected on these issues . They said that this state of impunity should not be continued. They also held the government mechanism, the process of investigation and the political interference responsible for the delay , if not the denial of Justice .
Amongst the major killings which were discussed in the program were the murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of the members of his family which Barrister Amirul Islam described as a “mini-mass murder”, the bomb attack in Awami League’s meeting on August 21 , the murder of SAMS Kibria , the former Finance Minister of Bangladesh and the killing of Nurul Islam , the President of Bangladesh Ganatanri Party and his son .
Amongst the participantswere Reza Kibria, the son of the slain finance ministerSAMS Kibria and the Moutushi Islam, the daughter of the murdered political leader Nurul Islam. They raised questions on unusual delays in investigations and bringing the perpetrators of crime to justice.
Our Guests were Barrister Amirul Islam , a renowned jurist from Bangladesh , Justice Ghulam Rabbani , a retired Justice of the Appellate Division of Bangladesh Supreme Court, and Dr Ali Riaz , Professor Department of Government and Politics, Illinois State University .