The prime suspect in the murder of Colonel Khandkar Nazmul Huda, Major (retd) Abdul Jalil, has not been located, according to law enforcement officials, including the police. His existence has been verified. It has been discovered that he formerly resided in an apartment in the capital’s Siddheshwari neighborhood. Nobody knows for sure where he now resides. According to a law enforcement source, he could be overseas. Authorities are attempting to locate him.
On November 7, 1975, a gang of military men murdered Colonel Khandkar Nazmul Huda, also known as Bir Bikram, in the MP Hostel of the Jatiya Sangsad in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, the capital. On that day, Major General Khaled Mosharraf Bir Uttam and Lieutenant Colonel ATM Haider Bir Uttam, two sector leaders of the liberation fight, also perished. In a complaint brought about the murders by Naheed Ezahar Khan, the late Colonel Nazmul Huda’s daughter and an Awami League MP in a reserved women’s seat, Major (ret.) Abdul Jalil has been named as the primary culprit. In the complaint filed 47 years after the murder, the late Lieutenant Colonel Abu Taher, who was connected to JSD, and the late Ziaur Rahman, a former army leader and the founder of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), were also named as defendants. On November 7, 1975, Ziaur Rahman took over the center of power after a series of coups that followed the murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family. In his capacity as a member of Gono Bahini, the armed branch of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Lieutenant Colonel Abu Taher participated in the coup.
The lawsuit that was finally brought after all these years generated a lot of debate in the political sphere.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War, Colonel Nazmul Huda oversaw a division of Sector 8. In the Agartala Conspiracy Case, which was brought in 1968 and included 35 defendants, including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he was one of the accused.
The BNP has questioned the justification for bringing the case over Colonel Nazmul Huda’s murder. The opposition party thinks the administration may have encouraged the family to launch the lawsuit before the election.
The impacted family, according to home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, may submit a complaint at any moment, according to Prothom Alo. Investigations will be done since the family has now made a case.
Major Abdul Jalil’s identity
As an army officer, MA Hamid saw the 1975 counter-coups. Colonel when he retired. In a book named “Tinti Sena Obhyuthan O Kichhu Na Bola Kotha” (“Three army coups and some untold stories”), he chronicled the events. In May 1993, the book was first released. On July 25, 2008, MA Hamid passed away.
In his book, Colonel (retd) Hamid offers a few stories of the killings of Khaled Musharraf, ATM Haider, and Khandkar Nazmul Huda. His account claims that Major Jalil went to the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar MP mess with a few upset troops. After each other, three people were shot to death. In the course of the events that day, the name of a Major Jalil is mentioned in the book, but no more information on his identity is provided.
The Major Jalil cited in the book by Lieutenant Colonel MA Hamid was not the then-JSD commander Major MA Jalil, according to a former army officer who wished to remain anonymous. According to this former army officer, Major (retired) Abdul Jalil, who is implicated in the case, enlisted in the independence struggle as a cadet in 1971. In October 1971, a total of 60 cadets received army commissions. The first commissioned officers of the Bangladesh Army are reported to be those cadets. Among them was Abdul Jalil.
Prothom Alo reviewed the situation with two other former army officials. They both have links to two political parties. They said that the 10th East Bengal Regiment’s Rangpur brigade commander was Colonel Khandkar Nazmul Huda. Additionally serving in the 10th East Bengal Regiment was Major Jalil. At the time, Khaled Musharraf supported a counter-coup, and Nazmul Huda traveled from Rangpur to Dhaka with 700 members of his brigade. When the shootings happened, he and his men were residing at the MP hostel in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
The previous authorities were unable to give any information on Major Abdul Jalil’s retirement date or his subsequent activities.
How is Abdul Jalil doing?
Law enforcement organizations are unsure of Major Jalil’s exact whereabouts at this time. Many police personnel at various levels who were contacted suggested that Major Abdul Jalil could be overseas. However, they were unable to pinpoint any nations in which he may be right now. They don’t even know when he departed the country; they don’t even have that information. Some believe that Major Jalil could still be in the nation. He hasn’t been the subject of any conversations during the last forty years. Additionally, he abstained from all social and political events.
The officers, JCOs, and soldiers of the 10th East Bengal, together with Major (Retd) Md Asad Uzzaman and Major (Retd) Md Abdul Jalil, shot three army officials—Colonel Nazmul Huda, Khaled Mosharraf, and ATM Haider—with the purpose to kill, according to the case statement submitted by Colonel Nazmul Huda’s daughter. After shooting them, the attackers bayoneted them to make sure they died. Along with Abdul Jalil, the name of another former army officer, Major (retd) Asad Uzzaman, was included in the statement as one of those who were primarily responsible for the murder. A few months ago, Asad Uzzaman passed away. The existence of Abdul Jalil is acknowledged in the case statement.
The case’s plaintiff, Naheed Ezahar Khan, also informed reporters that Abdul Jalil was included as an accuser since he was still alive when her father was murdered. When Prothom Alo approached her, she declined to comment on the situation.
According to Asaduzzaman Khan, minister of the interior, the probe will reveal the truth. Why now, after 47 years?
After many coups, Ziaur Rahman came to power in 1975 and went on to become the president of the nation. At the moment, he founded the BNP, his own political party.
The BNP has questioned the rationale for the hurriedly filed case regarding the murder of Colonel Khandkar Nazmul Huda on November 7, 1975. The party’s secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, said that the government brought up this lawsuit so many years after the occurrence in order to spread misinformation about Ziaur Rahman at a time when the BNP is organizing a campaign ahead of the national elections.
Abu Taher, the colonel, has ties to JSD. He is now a defendant in the lawsuit as well. Awami League, which is in power, now has the support of a faction of the JSD. Hasanul Haque Inu, the head of the JSD, did, however, praise the case’s filing.
He advised Prothom Alo that the facts need to be discovered even after much time had passed. However, he said that tying Colonel Abu Taher’s (retd) name to this case will obfuscate the true circumstances, details, and reality.
Mahbub Ul Alam Hanif, the joint general secretary of the Awami League, disagrees with Inu and told Prothom Alo that the issue cannot be seen politically. At that time, the families of the three officials killed, notably Khaled Mosharraf and Nazmul Huda, were unable to pursue justice. He said that the afflicted family should initiate a complaint at this time. The issue is unrelated to the government.
*Farjana Liakat translated this article from its original Prothom Alo print issue into English.
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