Former army chief KM Shafiullah, in his deposition in the trial court, had said that resentment persisted in the army over the dismissal and promotion of some officers before the assassination of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members, on August 15, 1975. Shafiullah’s deposition was read out on Sunday at the Appellate Division by Abdullah Al Mamun, the counsel for death-row prisoners Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, from the High Court judgment delivered by Justice ABM Khairul Haque upholding death sentences of 15 former army men.

Till the fifth day’s hearing in the appeals in the Sheikh Mujib murder case on Sunday, Mamun read out 1240 pages of the paper book which contains of over 1,500 pages. The remaining portion of Justice Khairul Haque’s judgment will be read out when hearing resumes today. According to his deposition, Shafiullah, who was a major in 1971, was made the army chief on April 7, 1972 although late president Ziaur Rahman was senior to him. Zia was later made deputy chief of staff. Both of them were promoted to the rank of major general in September 1973.

Shafiullah also said that the army was deployed countrywide before August 15, 1975 to recover illegal arms, as the police had failed to do so despite deterioration of law and order. Certain untoward incidents had taken place in the drive as major Shariful Huq Dalim along with some other army officers had raided the house of Awami League leader Gazi Golam Mostafa following an unsavoury incident involving Mostafa’s son and Dalim at a social function at that time, said Shafiullah adding that Dalim was later dismissed. Shafiullah said that major Nur Chowdhury, now a condemned convict, who was the personal secretary to Zia, was dismissed for making adverse comments on the government. Against the backdrop, Shafiullah had requested Sheikh Mujib to assign to some other organisation the task of arms recovery and Rakkhi Bahini was created as a substitute of the army, he mentioned.

-New Age