The healing of the soul
FIFTEEN years back on a rainy after-noon of August 1994, when I stood in silence in front of Bangabandhu's mazar in Tungipara, I wondered whether the nation would ever be able to dispense justice to Bangabandhu and his family in our lifetime for the carnage in which the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, and his entire family were massacred. It was sheer stroke of luck that his two daughters were spared as they were not in the country then.
Bangabir Kader Siddiki had organised a weeklong program in Tungipara to mark the day. Each day's program was presided over by a person who was involved with the burial of Bangabandhu on the afternoon of August 16, 1975. A very noble gesture indeed. I managed to talk to about half a dozen of these fortunate individuals and each and everyone had two wishes they wanted to see come true in their lifetime. One was to see the killers of Bangabandhu and his family tried and hanged and the other was to see the Sheker Maiya, Hasina, as the prime minister of the country her father struggled to create. The second wish came true in 1996 and the first one on November 19, 2009. I am not sure how many of those people are still alive to see their dream come true.
It was a long wait to see justice delivered. Thirty-four long years. Too long in contemporary history. Too long for civilisation to endorse. And all the delay in delivering justice was not by chance but by design. The design meticulously conceived by the perpetrators, the conspirators and their accomplices. First came the Indemnity Ordinance promulgated by Khondakar Mushtaque, one of the key conspirators of Bangabandhu killing and the self-styled president, on September 26, 1975. It was one of the most bizarre laws enacted in any civilised country, whereby rule of law was put behind closed doors by another law.
The cries and the demands for justice and trial of the killers of 1975 fell on deaf ears until 1996, when Awami League was voted into power. During these long years, General Zia, Justice Sattar, General Ershad and Begum Zia ruled the country, either as the chief martial law administrator, or president or prime minister. None of them ever felt the necessity of repealing this infamous ordinance and helping the country to return to the rule of law.
In 1996, when the Bill to Repeal the Indemnity Ordinance was tabled in the Seventh Parliament by Awami League the beneficiaries were not happy. On November 12, the Bill was passed and the opposition BNP and Jamaat were conspicuous by their absence in Parliament.
The trial of the killers of Bangabandhu could have been pursued in a Special Tribunal. This would have been very much within the purview of law. Instead, the then Awami League government decided to follow the normal process of law and hoped that the final verdict would be arrived at within a reasonable period of time. On November 8, 1998 the Trial Court pronounced the verdict and sentenced fifteen killers to death by hanging.
Five killers who were already behind bars appealed in the higher court. Seven judges either felt embarrassed or refused to hear the appeal, thus causing a further delay in disposal of this important case. On April 30, 2001 the final verdict of the High Court was delivered, upholding the death sentence of twelve killers. The five condemned who were already in prison appealed in the Appellate Division for a review of the case. By stroke of luck Awami League was voted out of power in 2001.
The final review process was put on hold by the BNP government. The Appellate Division did not have enough judges to hear the case. Some of those already in the Appellate Division may have already heard the case in the lower court or felt embarrassed. The promotion of judges in the Appellate Division was also done in way that those who felt embarrassed or refused to hear the case in High Court Division were promoted. Appointment of two ad-hoc judges to the Appellate Division could have solved the problem. The request, even from the chief justice, fell on deaf ears.
Finally, justice was delivered by the apex court of the country on November 19. It is as though, for thirty-four long years, the nation had carried on its shoulders the the moral remains of Bangabandhu and his family members, with its soul full of pain and guilt. Finally the soul has been healed.
Hasina, by allowing the case to be heard and tried in a normal court of law, has marked a place in history for herself. It was not a prime minister demanding justice for her family's brutal murder. It was a daughter seeking justice for the death of her parents. It was a sister seeking justice for the killing for her brothers. It was a civilised human being seeking the return of rule of law in a society which was denied such a rule for decades. It was a step towards making her a statesman. Her and her family's patience must be admired. One good deed and a good gesture can make a person immortal. Maybe this is the one for Hasina. My prayers for the martyrs of August 15. Let this day be the beginning of the return of rule of law in this country.
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