Controversial BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury said on Monday that some of the central figures behind the events of 1/11 were now queuing up to join the ruling Awami League.

Chowdhury referred to the recent participation, as chief guest, of former army chief Moeen U Ahmed at an Awami League programme to mark National Mourning Day in Florida, America. "It is now clear to the people how a record 87 percent of the votes were cast for the Awami League on December 29," said Chowdhury at a discussion on the planned Tipaimukh dam and withdrawal of army from the Chittagong Hill Tracts at the National Press Club.

He also claimed that "other perpetrators of 1/11", including retired Brig Gen ATM Amin and Gen Masud Uddin Chowdhury, currently the Bangladeshi envoy to Australia, were now trying to become AL presidium members. "That's why the AL does not want trial of those behind 1/11," said Chowdhury. Chowdhury, currently embroiled in a furore of over his recent claim that the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and members of his family had been "inevitable", denounced the ruling party's backlash against him over the remark.

"My late father was on the side of Pakistan during the Liberation War, that's why his son Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury has been accused as an anti-liberation supporter," he said. "I would now give my support to any kind of liberation movement so that my son did not face the same fate," said Chowdhury.

Calling Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 'uncle', he continued: "Bangabandhu was a gentle man and a huge politician." He said no one could deny Mujibur's contribution to the independence of Bangladesh, adding that he intended to visit his grave when the opportunity arose. Long-standing allegations against Chowdhury that claim he established a torture camp at his Goods Hill residence in Chittagong, and of killing the owner of a local pharmacy, continue to circulate widely in the country.

On Sunday, state minister for law Kamrul Islam said Chowdhury had been directly involved in killings in 1971, and that he would not be spared from a war crimes trial. Earlier, state minister for home Shamsul Haque Tuku said the government had evidence of Chowdhury's direct involvement in the killing of Nuton Chandra Singh, the owner of the pharmacy. On the issue of the army withdrawal from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Chowdhury said the army should remain in place until "tribal and non-tribal Bangladeshis coexist peacefully". He also voiced his support for the pro-independence movements in the seven north-eastern states of India.