Clockwise, Brig Gen Fazlul Bari, a DGFI director and one of the most influential figures during the past military-backed caretaker government's rule, faces wrath of Dhaka University students on August 20, 2007 as the campus flies into a fury over the beating of three students by army men. Students injured in fights with law enforcers are admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital later that day. Much of the city turns into a battleground as students continue clashing with police for the second day.Photo: File Photo
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had binned a proposal for prosecuting former army chief Moeen U Ahmed and members of the army-backed caretaker regime of 2007-2008, according to a leaked cable of the US embassy in Dhaka.
All but a handful of ruling Awami League politicians supported Hasina's position not to seek revenge, former US ambassador James F Moriarty quoted in the cable LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam as saying.
Both Hasina and her main political rival, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, were imprisoned on graft charges by the military-backed caretaker government, Moriarty added.
The main opposition BNP and some AL leaders have demanded actions against former army chief and others in the caretaker government and security forces for “extra-constitutional activities and torture of politicians”.
The cable, sent to Washington on June 22, 2009, is based on the ambassador's discussion on June 18 the same year with Syed Ashraf, who is also the general secretary of AL.
Syed Ashraf “disparaged” a parliamentary body chairman who was seeking to compel former chairman and commissioners of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to testify about their activities during the caretaker government's tenure, said the cable, adding a note saying: “The committee chairman, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, was convicted in a case brought by the ACC.”
The parliamentary standing committee on the public undertakings asked former ACC chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury and commissioners M Habibur Rahman and Abul Hasan Manzur Mannan in early 2009 to appear before it and explain the commission's activities during the emergency period.
But they refused to respond to the committee's call. Irked by this, the committee drew proceedings against them of contempt of parliament and wrote to the Speaker to order police to ensure their presence before the committee.
The move remains shelved since then.
“Of all the senior Government of Bangladesh leaders, perhaps no one talks as sensibly about policies and politics as Ashraf,” Moriarty commented, adding that Ashraf's “reasoned approach to politics is precisely what is needed in Bangladesh, where hyperpartisanship often has hampered and even set back development”.
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