Dawn
30th January 1969
Sheikh Mujib, Muazzam plead not guilty statements before court in Agartala Conspiracy Case
DACCA, Jan 29: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Awami League leader and principal accused in the Agartala conspiracy case, yesterday before the Special Tribunal denied the prosecution allegation that he had conspired with his co-accused in the case to bring about East Pakistan secession by an armed revolt with Indian arms and money.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman pleaded not guilty to the prosecution charge of conspiracy and said he was absolutely innocent and knew nothing about the alleged conspiracy.
The Awami League leader, who along with 34 others is facing the charge of conspiracy to bring about East Pakistan’s secession, made a statement at the close of the prosecution evidence as provided under the Criminal Procedure code. Lt-Commander Muazzam Husain also similarly denied the allegation of conspiracy to deprive Pakistan of its sovereignty over its Eastern Wing.
Reading out from a prepared statement Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said: “I have never done anything to separate East Pakistan from Pakistan and I never entered into any conspiracy either with the Army, Navy or Air Force personnel or with anybody else to separate East Pakistan from Pakistan.”
CONSPIRACY
He said the present (conspiracy) case is nothing but the culmination of a process of oppression and suppression and the result of a conspiracy hatched out by the present ruling clique to carry on the exploitation by vested interests. Sheikh sahib said he had been falsely implicated in the case out of vengeance. He said his Awami League party was a constitutional political party and he never believed in unconstitutional politics. He said his party’s six- point programme, which stipulated regional autonomy for provinces, including East Pakistan, also sought justice to both the Wings of the country.
He said: “I have been made to suffer by the ruling clique and vested interests who want to perpetuate their exploitation of the Pakistani masses, particularly East Pakistan’s, by suppressing me and my party.”
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said, “I have been falsely implicated in this so-called conspiracy case only to torture me, disgrace and de-game me and my party and to suppress the legitimate demands of East Pakistan, that is, regional autonomy on the basis of the 6- point programme, and to forestall East Pakistan’s legitimate demand of parity in all respects, especially in economic and political spheres and in the services.”
ARRESTED
The Awami League leader said he had never seen Lt-Comm. Muazzam Husain and other Army, Navy and Air Force people accused in the case. He said he, however knew three CSP officers- Shamsur Rahman, Ahmed Fazlur Rahman and Ruhul Quddus-in course of his official work as a Provincial Minister. But, he said, he had never talked to them about politics or of any conspiracy.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said the present regime had put him in jail on many occasions and had brought several cases against him, in many of which he was acquitted. He said that in May, 1966 he was arrested and was under detention till January last year when one night he was released from detention from the jail. He said immediately after his release from jail some military personnel forcibly brought him from the jail gate to the Dacca cantonment, where he was detained in close rooms. “I was segregated and kept in solitary confinement and was not allowed to see anybody else. I was not even allowed to read even the newspapers. In fact I was completely cut off from the rest of the world for five long months.” He said that during that period he was subjected to inhuman mental torture and was denied all amenities.
MONEY NOT PAID
Replying to court questions Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said that he had not attended any meeting of conspiracy anywhere as had been alleged by the prosecution. He also denied that there was any meeting of any conspiracy in his house or in the house of his partyman Tajuddin.
The Awami League leader in his reply to questions denied that he had helped any conspiracy financially, or he had paid money to any one of the alleged conspirators.
Replying to a question if he had conspired with his co-accused to wage war against Pakistan to deprive it of its sovereignty over East Pakistan with Indian arms and money Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said: “This is absolutely false.”
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said, since his school days he had ceaselessly worked for the achievement of Pakistan and was a very active member of the Muslim League before independence.
He said, in post-independence days they had organised the Awami League under the leadership of Mr. H.S. Suhrawardy and his party was always a constitutional democratic organisation.
He said twice he had been a Provincial Minister, besides being a member of the National Parliament and the Provincial Assembly.
CRIMINAL CASES
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said, following Martial Law the present regime had started oppressing him. He said he was arrested on Oct 12, 1958 under the Safety Ordinance and detained without trial for about a-year-and-a-half. During his detention, he said, half a dozen criminal cases were started against him, but he was acquitted in all those cases. He said he was released from detention in December 1959, or January 1960. He said after his release from detention different restrictions were imposed on him and he was required to report his movements to the Special Branch and that he was always shadowed by the Intelligence Police.
The Awami League leader said that with the arrest of his leader, Mr. Suhrawardy, in 1962 on the eve of the promulgation of the 1962 constitution, he was also jailed under the Safety Ordinance and detained without trial for about six months.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said, the Awami League party on its revival in January 1964 after the death of Mr. Suhrawardy, decided to fight Presidential election as a component of the combined Opposition party, and the party supported Miss Fatima Jinnah against President Ayub Khan and started its election campaign. “The regime again started oppressing and harassing me by starting a number of cases on my speeches,” he said.
The Awami League leader said he was one of the political leaders who during 1965 war with India had condemned Indian aggression and had asked his party and people to support the Government’s war efforts.
He said, during the war he, along with other political leaders of East Wing, had issued a joint statement and condemned the Indian aggression and asked the people to work unitedly and help the country’s war efforts. He said after the war when President Ayub visited East Pakistan, he and all other political leaders had met him on invitation, when he had appealed to the President to give regional autonomy to East Pakistan and to make it self- sufficient in defence in the light of the experience during the war.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said that he also supported the Tashkent Declaration as he and his party believed that all international disputes should be settled by peaceful means, as they believed in world peace for progress.
SIX-POINT PROGRAMME
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said in early 1966 he had placed his 6- point programme before a committee of the All Party National Convention in Lahore as a programme for the constitutional solution of East Pakistan’s problems vis-a-vis those of West Pakistan.
He said the 6-point programme stipulated full regional autonomy, both for East and West Pakistan. Then his party, the Awami League, accepted the 6-point programme and they started holding public meetings to mobilise public opinion in its favour, so that economic and other disparities existing between the two Wings might be removed.
He said at this the Government machinery and the Government party leaders, including the President, threatened him with “language of weapon” and “civil war” and started harassing by instituting more than a dozen cases against him. He said in May 1966 he and many of his party men were arrested. This, he said, was followed by a general strike on June 7, 1966, to protest against the Government action. He said during the protest 11 persons were killed in Police firing in Dacca and Narayanganj and about 800 party workers were arrested and a number of cases were started against countless others.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said Governor Monem Khan had even told more or less openly to groups of officers and other that so long as he was in office Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would have to be in jail. This was very widely known, he said.
MUAZZAM DENIES CHARGE
Accused Lt. Commander Muazzam Husain also denied that he had conspired with his co-accused to deprive Pakistan of its sovereignty over East Pakistan with Indian help.
He replied mostly in the negative to questions put to him by the court in one of his replies, he said that the allegation of his attending 23 different meetings of conspiracy was false. He also denied his alleged meetings with the Indian High Commission official P.N. Ojha for arms supply, and his acceptance of money from him. He said he had never met Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his life before coming to the court. The court rose for the day yesterday 40 minutes ahead of schedule in view of the curfew in the city.
Accused Lt-Comm. Muazzam Husain will read out his written statement when the court resumes hearing today (Wednesday).-APP
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