Zia starts politics of disappearance-killing: Info Minister

Awami League Joint General Secretary, also Minister for Information and Broadcasting Hasan Mahmud said that BNP founder Ziaur Rahman started the politics of disappearance and murder in the country. Begum Zia also continued that trend.

He was replying to the queries of reporters at his residence after a keynote address at an online seminar organized by the Bangladesh Press Institute (PIB) on the occasion of National Mourning Day on Monday (August 30) afternoon.

In reaction to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s statement that the politics of disappearance started after the Awami League came to power, Hasan Mahmud said, “Zia had killed thousands of people including army members to make his power safe. People have been taken from prisons and killed. Mr Fakhrul and Mr Rizvi should remember how many people went missing at the hands of Ziaur Rahman.”

He further said, “Zia, who was deeply involved in the assassination of Bangabandhu, started the politics of assassination after taking power. Mahfuz Babu, the then general secretary of Dhaka Metropolitan Chhatra League, who protested against Bangabandhu’s assassination, and Maulavi Syed of Chittagong were not spared. Therefore, the leaders of his party (BNP) should not talk about disappearance.”