Dhaka, August 28: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had in 1996 rejected a plea from Muammar Gaddafi to pardon her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's killers, who were given shelter by the now beleaguered Libyan leader.
Hasina told a gathering here that Gaddafi had written to her, invoking the Holy Quran to seek pardon for Sheikh Mujib's assassins.
Addressing a meeting to commemorate the martyrdom of Sheikh Mujib, she said Gaddafi who is now witnessing his own downfall, in 1996 had written a letter requesting her to forgive her father's killers, Farruq Rahman and Abdur Rashid, The Daily Star reported.
”Gaddafi in his letter cited a quotation from holy Quran. I also replied to him with another quotation from Quran... I said that if I would not try to bring the killers to law, I won't perform my duty as the daughter of a father,” Hasina said.
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) arranged the discussion to commemorate the martyrdom of Bangabandhu and the National Mourning Day.
Hasina said that when the greatest Bengali of all times, Sheikh Mujib, started rebuilding the country after its liberation, the defeated force killed him along with most of his family members on August 15, 1975.
”In one night, we the two sisters had lost everyone of our family including our father, mother and brothers,” she said in an emotion choked voice.
Several of the killers of Bangabandhu were offered shelter in Libya under the Gaddafi regime as a subsequent counter coup after the August 15, 1975 carnage forced the putsch leaders to flee the country, the Daily Sun reported.
Most of the killers, however, were rewarded with diplomatic assignments by the post 1975 governments though two of the key coup masterminds, sacked Lieutenant Colonels Farruq Rahman and Abdur Rashid, preferred to stay back in Libya under his patronage.
The PM said that after the killing of Bangabandhu, the military dictators did not work for the development of the masses, rather, they got busy amassing wealth and property.
Hasina urged all leaders and activists of BCL to build their life imbued with the spirit of patriotism and self-sacrifice.
”If you want to stay connected with Chhatra League, you've to have a sacrificing mind. You'll have to work for people's welfare,” she said. PTI
