Abdul Aziz Pasha | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | আবদুল আজিজ পাশা |
| Died | 2 June 2001 Harare, Zimbabwe |
| Allegiance |  Pakistan (Before 1971) Bangladesh |
| Service/ |  Pakistan Army  Bangladesh Army |
| Years of service | 1969–1996 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant Colonel |
| Unit | Regiment of Artillery |
| Commands held |
|
| Known for | Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman |
Abdul Aziz Pasha (died 2 June 2001) was a Bangladesh army officer who was convicted for involvement in the 1975 assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. [1]
Pasha had fought for the Independence of Bangladesh during Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971. [2] He was the commanding officer of the first artillery battery raised, which was known as the Mujib Battery. [3] Pasha's companions from the war described him as "an easy going and laid-back" person. [4]
On 15 August 1975 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the president of Bangladesh was assassinated during a military coup. Pasha was one of the 12 self-confessed assassins. [5] He and Risaldar Moslemuddin gunned down Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's wife Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, Sheikh Jamal and his wife Rosy, and Sheikh Kamal's wife Sultana. [6]
After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the new government headed by Lieutenant General Ziaur Rahman, appointed Aziz as the first secretary to the Bangladesh embassy in Rome. He was arrested in Dhaka for his role in the 17 June 1980 attempted coup in Bangladesh. He was freed after agreeing to turn state witness. He was then posted to Nairobi, Kenya. He was in Zimbabwe when the Bangladesh Awami League government recalled him to Dhaka. He refused to return and as a result was dismissed from the foreign service. He applied for and received political asylum in Zimbabwe. [7] [8] [9]
On 8 November 1998 Pasha, along with 15 other defendants, was sentenced to death for his role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On 14 December 2000, the Bangladesh High Court confirmed his death sentence. [10]
Pasha died on 2 June 2001 in Zimbabwe. [11]
The Awami League government which came to power in 1996 dismissed him from government service. When Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power in 2001 they changed the government decision to show that he retired from service. This entitled his widow, Mahfuza Pasha, to his government pension. [1]
After the assassination of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Pasha purchased the house of Jitendra Lal Basu in Sreebari, Ghior upazila, Manikganj. His house was seized by police in 1997 when an arrest warrant was issued for him. His house was bought by his brother in 2001 after he died. On 31 January 2010 the house was vandalized and burned down by activists of Bangladesh Awami League. [12]
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, popularly known by the honorific prefix Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist and diarist. As a politician, Mujib had held continuous positions either as Bangladesh's president or as its prime minister from April 1971 until his assassination in August 1975. Mujib successfully led the Bangladeshi independence movement and restored the Bengali sovereignty after over two centuries following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, for which he is honoured as the 'Father of the Nation' in Bangladesh. In 2011, the fifteenth constitutional amendment in Bangladesh referred to Sheikh Mujib as the Father of the Nation who declared independence; these references were enshrined in the fifth, sixth, and seventh schedules of the constitution. His Bengali nationalist ideology, socio-political theories, and political doctrines are sometimes called Mujibism.
Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad was a Bangladeshi politician. He was the fourth president of Bangladesh from 15 August to 6 November 1975, after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He was involved in the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975. He took on the role of president immediately after the assassination, praised the assassins as "sons of the sun" and put cabinet ministers loyal to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in jail.
Syed Faruque Rahman was a coup member involved in toppling the Sheikh Mujib regime in Bangladesh. He was convicted and hanged on 28 January 2010 along with co-conspirators Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda in Dhaka Central Jail, Old Dhaka, for the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder and first President of Bangladesh. Syed Faruque Rahman and his close ally Khondaker Abdur Rashid were the chief organisers of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975. He was 2IC of the 1st Bengal Lancers Regiment of the Bangladesh Army who led a group of junior army officers in order to overthrew the regime of Sheikh Mujib and install Khondaker Mushtaque Ahmed as President of Bangladesh.
The first president of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and most of his family were killed during the early hours of 15 August 1975 by a group of Bangladesh Army personnel who invaded his Dhanmondi 32 residence as part of a coup d'état. Minister of Commerce, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, immediately took control of the government and proclaimed himself president. The assassination marked the first direct military intervention in Bangladesh's civilian administration-centric politics. 15 August is National Mourning Day, an official national holiday in Bangladesh.
Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni was a Bangladeshi politician. He was one of the nephews of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. He was the founder of Mujib Bahini Bangladesh Liberation Force-BLF one of the major guerrilla forces of the Bangladesh Liberation War and also the founder of Bangladesh Awami Jubo League, the youth wing of Bangladesh Awami League.
The independence of Bangladesh was declared on 26 March 1971, at the onset of the Bangladesh Liberation War by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman; the following day the declaration was broadcast by Major Ziaur Rahman from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra radio station in Kalurghat, Chattogram. On 10 April, the Provisional Government of Bangladesh issued a proclamation on the basis of the previous declaration and established an interim constitution for the independence movement.
The 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu, or the 7/3 Speech, was a public speech given by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Founding Father of Bangladesh on 7 March 1971 at the Ramna Race Course in Dhaka to a gathering of over one million (1,000,000) people. It was delivered during a period of escalating tensions between East Pakistan and the powerful political and military establishment of West Pakistan. In the speech, Bangabandhu informally declared the independence of Bangladesh, proclaiming: "The struggle this time, is a struggle for our liberty. The struggle this time, is a struggle for our independence." He announced a civil disobedience movement in the province, calling for "every house to turn into a fortress".
Tofail Ahmed is a Bangladeshi politician. He is a 7-term Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Bhola-1, Bhola-2 and Bakerganj-1 constituencies since 1973. Previously he served as the Minister of Commerce and Minister of Industries of the Government of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Jamal was the second son of Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Rehana Siddiq is a Bangladesh Awami League politician. She is the younger sister of the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the daughter of the first President of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She is also the mother of Tulip Siddiq, a British Labour Party politician and elected Member of Parliament (MP) for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency.
AFM Mohitul Islam was a Bangladesh Awami League activist and the personal assistant to the first president of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He witnessed the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and filled the police case in this regard.
S.H.M.B Noor Chowdhury is a Bangladesh army officer who was convicted for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, president of Bangladesh, and for involvement in the murder of four national leaders in the Jail Killing. As of 2017, he was a fugitive, residing in Canada. The Canadian government has refused to extradite him, because he faces the death penalty in Bangladesh.
Mohammad Bazlul Huda was a Bangladeshi Army officer who was convicted of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, president of Bangladesh. On 28 January 2010, Bazlul was hanged along with Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed in Old Dhaka Central Jail.
A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed was a Bangladesh Army officer who was convicted in absentia and executed for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On 28 January 2010, Ahmed was hanged along with Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda in Old Dhaka Central Jail.
The 15 August 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état was a military coup launched by mid ranking army officers in Bangladesh on 15 August 1975. The officers were part of a conspiracy to assassinate Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh, who led the independence struggle during the Bangladesh Liberation War and later served as the first and fourth president and later in between his two presidential terms served as the second prime minister of Bangladesh from April 1971 until his assassination in August 1975. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members were killed during the coup, with the exception of his two daughters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana.
Mohiuddin Ahmed was a Bangladesh Army officer who was convicted of the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On 28 January 2010, Ahmed was hanged along with Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Syed Farooq Rahman, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda at Old Dhaka Central Jail.
The 3 November 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état was a military coup d'état led by Major General Khaled Mosharraf to remove the assassins of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from power.
Mohammad Kismat Hashem was a Bangladesh Army officer who was convicted for his role in the 1975 Jail Killing of four senior Awami League leaders following the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the President of Bangladesh.
Abdul Majed was a Bangladeshi military officer who was convicted for his role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh.
The Mausoleum of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the mausoleum of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder and the first president of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It is located in Tungipara of Gopalganj district, the birthplace of Mujib, and was designed by architects Ehsan Khan, Ishtiaque Jahir and Iqbal Habib.