Zia's medal removed from nat'l museum

The government yesterday removed the Swadhinata Padak (Independence Award) of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman from the National Museum.

Ikram Ahmed, acting director general of the museum, told The Daily Star yesterday afternoon that the crest and accessories were taken away from the museum.

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He declined to say where those had been taken.

Yesterday, Ziaur Rahman's name was also struck off the 2003 list of Independence Award recipients on the official website of the Cabinet Division.

In 2003, the then BNP-Jamaat four-party alliance government gave the Swadhinata Padak, the highest civil award, to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Ziaur Rahman for their role in the Liberation War and nation building.

Then main opposition in parliament, the Awami League, had strongly criticised the government's move and refused to accept the award. They had said that giving award to Bangabandhu and Zia was a conspiracy to compare the two on a same scale.

As the AL refused the award, the government had then sent the medals and citation papers to the National Museum for display.

On August 24, the cabinet committee on national award affairs in a meeting recommended revoking Zia's Swadhinata Padak and removing medal and documents from the museum.

The BNP on several occasions had said it would be suicidal for the AL if it revoked Zia's Swadhinata Padak.

Sources at the museum said the medal and other accessories had been in the museum store before they were taken away yesterday.