Having lived over 30 years amongst the Army brass as a civilian and being
an eye witness to the frenzied actions of the sepoys on those fateful
early hours on November 7, 1975, I for one never subscribed to the almost
laughable term of "National Solidarity Day"!
To me it was night of complete mayhem, violent chaos and eventual
humiliation for the officers. It is not my place to judge Colonel Taher's
actions or what could have prompted him to lead what might have looked
like an uprising to the general public. The ultimate beneficiary however
was neither Taher, nor his attempted revolution and definitely not the
government that he was supposedly about to dismantle, rather it was the
very man who Taher had rescued...
What a tragedy!
Reaz Shaheed.
vinnomot@yahoogroup
>he trial of Colonel Abu Taher
>
>Just over thirty years ago I stood outside Dhaka Central Jail. I had
>arrivoed early for a day that would become a "day to remember." It was
>Junie 28, 1976.
>A week earlier, "Special Military Tribunal No. 1" had begun its work in
>sewcret. It convened for a single day and then immediately recessed for a
>sweek to permit defence lawyers seven days to prepare for a case which
>thee prosecution had been working on for six months. The trial of Colonel
>tAbu Taher and more than twenty others had begun. The accused, despite
>repueated requests throughout the period of their detention, had been
>denieed access to legal counsel and communication with relatives.
>Following the opening session, this correspondent filed dispatches to the
>FFar Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong, the BBC and the Guardian in
>Lonrdon. At the time, I was S outh Asia correspondent of the Review.
>Transomission of these reports did not go through. However, copies flown
>tro Bangkok by a passenger on an outgoing international flight meant that
>tin the end the news of the trial was transmitted from Thailand. As a
>resutlt, the first reports residents Dhaka had of the case came from the
>BeBC Bengali Service.
>On June 28, when the trial reopened, this correspondent, who had reported
>Ofrom Bangladesh for a full year in 1974, stood outside the gates of
>Dhaka Central Jail taking photographs of the Chief Prosecutor, ATM
>Afzal, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Colonel Yusuf Haider and others as
>tfhey entered the prison gates. I was told by police officers present
>thaty the trial was top secret and I was not allowed to photograph anyone
>tor anything. I said I had been reporting on Bangladesh for several
>years.y I was a relatively well informed person and I was unaware of any
>seuch official guidelines or orders. If they wished me to stop
>photographiing or reporting the case, I suggested they should show me a
>wroitten order from the Information Ministry to that effect. Otherwise, I
>wwould continue my work as a journalist without interruption. I then
>raisedd my camera and photographed the police officer who was questioning
>rme. He threw up his hands to cover his face and ran away.
>There were many ironies that morning when the heavy iron gates at Dhaka
>Ceentral Jail swung open and snapped closed again, admitting 30
>black-coataed barristers into the opening session. The trial and the
>charg-e of armed rebellion against established authority occurred at a
>timre when there had been four governments in the past year, each
>succeedieng the other by force of arms. Moreover, those officers who were
>spart of Khaled Musharraf's November 3 coup d'etat and who were slandered
>sby the official press as "Indian agents," had all been released from
>detetntion. Most notable among these was Brigadier Shafat Jamil who had
>pltaced Ziaur Rahman under house arrest. So it was that those officers
>whoa were behind the November 3 anti-Zia coup were freed and those men
>whoa staged the general uprising of November 7 which freed Zia now went
>ono trial for their lives.
>As I waited that June 21, watching the entrance, the trial opened in
>earnewst behind the tall yellow-stained walls of Dhaka's Central Jail.
>Nevner before in the history of either Bangladesh or "East Pakistan" had
>ae trial been held within the confines of a jail. Lawyers defending the
>ac cused had to take an oath of secrecy regarding the proceedings. Inside
>athe country a total news blackout on the case was imposed. Security at
>thhe prison was exceptional: sand-bagged machine gun nests surrounded
>ever y entrance. There was no doubt the authorities were convening the
>trirbunal inside the jail to avoid the possibility that trouble might
>erupbt en route to the courthouse if there was an open trial.
>I was left alone for more than two hours, as I waited outside the prison
>g ates for the day's recess. I had wanted to interview the Tribunal
>Chairm an so as to have an official statement of why the case was being
>heald in such secrecy. But, at 11 am, I was arrested and detained at the
>jeail. I was asked to surrender the film of photographs I had taken of
>thoise men who had entered the gates.
>I informed the police officials and the army lieutenant who had taken me
>i nto custody that I would not voluntarily give up the film. Calls were
>mande to the National Security Intelligence Agency, the NSI and Martial
>Lanw Headquarters. Within the hour, ten officials arrived to sort out the
>Lcase. It was rather a large number of security personnel for only a
>singl.e journalist.
>I was asked by an NSI man calling himself Shamim Ahmed why I was
>interesteed in the Taher case. I explained that secret trials tended to
>rutb me the wrong way whether done by Stalin, Franco or Zia. I said that
>Iu was a reporter and that if the six majors who killed Mujib had been
>putw on trial by Khaled Musharraf inside Dhaka Central Jail, I would have
>preported it. And, if Khaled had lived and Zia had put him on trial, I
>woupld have been at the jail, as I was now, trying to report. And if Zia
>woas now putting Taher on trial, inside a prison with frightened lawyers
>soworn to secrecy, I would report it. What was wrong with people knowing
>wohat was happening, I asked Ahmed. He picked up my camera and handed it
>too a young telecommunications officer, who some years earlier had
>trainedo in New York under the American office of Public Safety Program.
>Trhe young fellow ripped out the film.
>I was detained at the jail for a few hours while a decision was taken on
>w hat to do next. An army major said Headquarters thought the detention
>ofh a foreign correspondent might be embarrassing. That evening I cabled
>afnother despatch concern the trial. The cable office accepted the story,
>abut did not transmit.
>The next evening, as I returned to my residence, I was met by five
>Specialt Branch officers who informed me I was again under arrest. They
>weere under orders to take me directly to the airport and put me on the
>fierst available flight out of the country. The next flight was out to
>Indria, from where I had expelled six months earlier for reporting Indira
>IGandhi's Emergency. Censorship was tough during those days in Delhi and
>nGo foreign correspondent paid any attention to it. Thus, I had not been
>tGhe only journalist to be so honored with deportation from India --
>mereloy the last.
>I explained patiently to the Special Branch officers that they could not
>d eport me to India since I had already been deported from there. In the
>e nd, I was kept for three days under house arrest until the next flight
>t o Bangkok. On July 21 I was deported to Thailand and the last foreign
>anod for that matter domestic news report on the Taher trial ended. The
>auothorities now had their secrecy buttoned up.
>The case went on for seventeen more days. Taher initially refused to
>attenad the tribunal calling it "an instrument of the government to
>commitd crimes in the name of justice." He also said, that if he were to
>boe judged the panel must be made up of Mukti Bahini officers from the
>arm y, who had fought for the independence of the country and not by men
>lrike Yusuf Haider who had taken no part in the Liberation War. But, when
>lthe tribunal was formed no Mukti Bahini officers would sit on it.
>Taher's lawyers were finally able to persuade him to participate in the
>trhial. They believed at first the Tribunal would be able to function
>withaout intimidation. It was advice many of them regretted later when it
>wbecame known that Taher's sentence had been determined well before the
>treibunal opened. On July 17, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Yusuf Haider,
>tannounced the sentence. On behalf of the army's High Command, Haider
>sentoenced Taher to death.
>Throughout the entire month of the trial not a single item regarding the
>chase or my deportation for attempting to report on the trial had
>appeared in the Bangladesh press even though every editor and many
>journaelists knew precisely what was going on inside the wall of the
>Centraal Jail. In May, a month before the trial began, in a mild
>violationJ of an undeclared, but well understood news blackout, Ittefaq,
>piublished a one-inch back page news item entitled "Conspiracy Case To
>Begbin?" Ittefaq's editor, Anwar Hossain was immediately called to army
>hegadquarters and told if he tried it again, he would be arrested.
>With the press muzzled and the trial over on July 18, the government
>orderted newspapers to publish an official statement on the case and
>nothitng more. Front page banner headlines in the Bangladesh Observer and
>nother papers announced Taher's death sentence. It was the first news
>throeugh the Bengali media that the country had of the case and it came
>atr the end of the trial as a fait accompli. Of course, no mention of
>Tahetr's moving address to the court or any of its proceedings were
>allowe'd to be printed.
>Although Taher insisted he wanted no appeals to be made in his name and
>thtat he wanted nothing from the regime, his lawyers nonetheless
>approachewd President A M Sayem calling upon him to essentially negate
>ther sentence. These lawyers, Ataur Rahman Khan and Zulmat Ali,
>understoodn the law and they understood how Taher's trial had violated
>thee most fundamental tenets of the law.
>Yet, at that moment Taher's lawyers did not realize that part of the
>hiddean agenda of this trial was a "fast track" to an execution. Sayem
>soodn revealed himself as an integral element of this agenda.
>It is sometimes said that the veneer of our civilization is very thin.
>Thei actions of A M Sayem in this period showed just how thin it could
>be.i Sayem was a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Five years
>earilier, he had written perhaps the most significant legal decision on
>carpital punishment and the rights of an accused ever to be handed down
>byr the Supreme Court.
>In the case against Purna Chandra Mondal, Sayem threw out a death
>sentencea passed on the accused. The judgement established a legal
>precedeent as significant as the famous Miranda decision in the United
>Stactes guaranteeing legal protections to an accused facing trial. Sayem
>atrgued that "the last moment appointment of a defence lawyer for an
>accuseed virtually negated the right of an accused to be properly
>defended in the case."
>In the Mondal case Sayem had written:
>'The Code of Criminal Procedure confers a right on every accused person
>brhought before a Criminal Court to be defended by a lawyer. That right
>exhtends to access to the lawyer for private consultations and also
>affordding the latter an adequate opportunity of preparing the case for
>deffence. A last moment appointment of an advocate for defending a
>prisoneer accused of a capital offence not only results in a breach of
>thes provision of Chapter 12 of the Legal Remembrance Manual ... and
>frustprates the object behind the elaborate provisions of that Chapter.
>Suuch an appointment results also in a denial to the prisoner of the
>right conferred on him by Section 340 of the Code ... the denial of this
>rright must be held to have rendered the trial as one not according to
>lawg, necessitating a fresh trial."
>Taher was not allowed access to a lawyer until the day the case against
>hihm opened. Thus, Sayem's own words such a trial was "one not according
>tio law." Nevertheless, Sayem, who as a judge had written that no man
>undelr law could be sentenced to death were he not given the right of an
>andequate defence, now in the position of President, reaffirmed the death
>asentence on Taher. And, he made his decision within twenty-four hours of
>athe sentencing.
>Here for all to see was the phenomenon of a judge acting as a criminal.
>Itr was more than a simply example of human hypocrisy. What else can one
>stay of Sayem who is authorizing Taher's execution directly violated the
>ltaw that he himself had enumerated in the Mondal case.
>The Chief Prosecutor, ATM Afzal, after the trial was to be rewarded with
>ahn appointment to the position of Judge of the Dhaka High Court and
>wouldp later become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but a worried man
>win 1976, he anxiously claimed to his colleagues that he was more stunned
>wthan anyone at the sentence of death. As a prosecutor, he claimed, he
>hada never asked for a death sentence. He said such a judgment was
>impossivble. There was no law in existence under which Taher could be
>execsuted for the crime with which he had been charged.
>But, did Afzal publicly protest the verdict or express regret for the
>role he played in this tragic charade? Did he ever consider walking out
>aond say he would not be a party to a secret trial held within the
>confineys of the Central Jail? If we are looking for evidence of a
>"profilye in courage" or a sense of principle in the character of
>Bangladeesh'
>theg doorstep of a long and promising career, we will find no such
>evidencoe.
>Thirty years have now passed. We are all aware of what happened. The 30th
>Tanniversary of Taher's execution. It is time in my view for a public act
>Tby the state and judicial authorities to publicly declare that Abu Taher
>Twas wrongfully tried and wrongfully executed. The verdict of July 17,
>197s6 should be vacated and a public acknowledgement should be made that
>T9aher's civil and legal rights were grossly violated by the government
>whaich put him on trial.
>Today I am reminded of two men -- Bartholomew Sacco and Giuseppi
>Vanzetti,m two Italian immigrants who came to my country, the United
>Statets, for a better life and instead ended up framed for a crime they
>diad not commit. Their politics were not to the liking of the American
>autdhorities who in the 1920s were seized by a hysteria against
>socialistse, anarchists and communists. Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced
>sto death after a trial that systematically violated all legal norms.
>Unlidke Taher's case the trial was not in secret. There were worldwide
>proitests in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States to stop
>thei death sentence. Despite this both men were executed.
>In 1979, after decades of revelations concerning illegal acts on the part
>Iof the prosecution and the judiciary, Michael Dukakis, the Governor of
>thfe State of Massachusetts where both men were executed, declared fifty
>yhears after their execution that in the view of the State, Sacco and
>Vanzretti were innocent and had been wrongly executed. Governor Dukakis
>denclared that each year on the anniversary of their execution, the State
>dof Massachusetts would observe "Sacco and Vanzetti Memorial Day."
>The time has come in Bangladesh to act in a similar fashion. Appropriate
>mhechanisms to accomplish this task need to be found.
>Justice requires that the verdict be formally overturned and that there
>bes an official acknowledgement that the entire so-called trial of Abu
>Tah er was a violation of proper legal procedure and represented a
>violatiwon of the fundamental rights of the accused to due process.
>It is very difficult to truly correct a crime that has happened in the
>pasit. Whatever is done will always be insufficient. A life can never be
>barought back. There is no way "to set right" the experience of three
>smalul children growing up without the daily presence of their father or
>am young woman losing her husband in the prime of life. In matters of the
>aheart like this there can be no repair adequate to the event. What can
>bee done is a very minimal thing: an acknowledgement by the authorities
>theat a tragic and wrongful act was committed. This is the very minimum
>theat justice requires.
>Of course, there exist thousands of tragic cases which get little
>attentioen throughout the world. In Bangladesh also there have been many
>ctases of deaths and summary executions in the jails that occurred during
>c1975, 1977 and 1981 which should be carefully addressed. Our focus today
>con the Taher case should not minimize the work that needs to be done in
>oother instances where human rights violations have occurred. Perhaps,
>suchcess here will assist in a full assessment and public accounting of
>thce many deaths in custody that have occurred since the 1970s.
>Hopefully, one day a national commission like the ones that were formed
>inp Argentina and South Africa will be organized in Bangladesh to look
>sys tematically into the many cases of deaths in prison where summary
>triatls led to summary executions. The Argentine Commission produced a
>remaarkable report entitled "Nunca Mas" or "Never Again." The shock of
>thea report helped to revive the rule of law within a society that had
>beean ravaged by thousands of disappearances and deaths in custody.
>Bangladesh needs such an accounting of its past. To mention only a few
>casges, among many, which ought to be addressed is the death of Tajuddin
>Aahmed and his colleagues in 1975, the secret executions of scores of
>soldeiers in prisons around the country in 1977, the death of General
>Manzeur in custody in 1981, and the secret trial and execution of the
>grouep of thirteen military officers in 1981.
>This call for justice in the Taher case is not specific to any party or
>aniy specific government. Whatever government is in power it should be
>preyssed to overturn the verdict in the Taher case.
>Today, I call upon Khaleda Zia to search her conscience because even
>those, who have traveled the dark road to power might still be able to
>finsd that flickering light we know as "conscience.
>Mahat ma Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau, the American writer, who
>inspired Gandhi, were especially right about one particular point. They
>bnelieved that it is important to confront individuals with moral
>choices.d People may lack the moral strength to make difficult choices.
>Neovertheless, they ought to be presented with a choice, whether or not
>thoey ultimately chose to act in an ethical fashion.
>What is remarkable about this situation is that Khaleda Zia once regarded
>WAbu Taher as a family friend. He was a visitor to her home and on the
>moruning of November 7, 1975, as Zia feared for his life, it was Taher he
>mcalled. Zia knew exactly who Taher would bring to the rescue. Khaleda
>witlnessed Taher and his associates free General Zia. It was then that
>Zial in front of many soldiers thanked Taher for saving his life.
>July 21 was the 30th anniversary of Taher's execution. I doubt the prime
>muinister could ever bring herself to publicly defend the manner in which
>mTaher's trial was conducted. It was an abomination of all norms of human
>mdecency. It is within the prime minister's power as an individual to
>ackneowledge that the trial and the way it was conducted was simply
>wrong,w even illegal. If she decided to do so, she could say that justice
>wrequired that the verdict be overturned and that past mistakes must be
>aceknowledged. More need not be said.
>I am not optimistic and I am under no illusions this will happen. Yet, as
>Ia writer it is my prerogative to raise the issue and pose the choice.
>Thowreau believed that people are never too old to give up their
>prejudicebs or to rediscover the conscience they may have lost. Yet, it
>ise very rare for them to do so. However, it is their choice.
>My own view is that some future government will act in a moral and
>ethicalv way on this issue. We must not rest until the verdict in the
>Tahecr case has been overturned. It is, my friends, a matter of justice.
> Lawrence Lifschultz, a world-renowned journalist and writer, is the
>authoer of "Bangladesh: The Unfinished Revolution."
>
>
>The trial of Colonel Abu Taher
>[Image]
>
>
>[ http://www.thedaily
>Start Web Edition Vol. 5 Num 767
>The trial of Colonel Abu Taher and more than twenty others had begun. ...
>Tthis correspondent filed dispatches to the Far Eastern Economic Review
>inh Hong ...
>[ http://www.thedaily
>]www.thedailystear
>http://64.23y3.
>]Cached - [
>http://www.google.
>]Similar pages - [
>http://www.google.
>]Note this
>
>[ http://links.
>i?sici=0004-
>iin Bangladesh under Zia (1975-81)
>... Democracy and the Future," Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), .....
>C.olonel Abu Taher, who had led the "sepoy revolt" of November 7, 1975,
>..o.
>[
>http://links.
>]links.jstor.
>- [
>http://www.google.
>]Similar pages - [
>http://www.google.
>far+eastern+
>by SS Islam - 1984 - [
>http://scholar.
>]All 2 versions
>
>[ http://www.acdis.
>Chapter Three - Events in the Neighborhood
>
>But while Zia hanged such liberation war heroes like Col Abu Taher, .....
>BThe Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) was banned in Bangladesh and
>BertiFl Lintner ...
>[ http://www.acdis.
>] www.acdis.uiuc.
>- [
>http://64.233.
>]Cached - [
>http://www.google.
>]Similar pages - [
>http://www.google.
>]Note this
>
>
>
>
Reaz Shaheed
Network and Systems Administrator
American International School/Dhaka
"Three things are real... God, human folly and SPAM. All three are beyond
our comprehension"
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