Govt to reward for info on Bangabandhu's fugitive killers: Momen

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said the government would reward those who will provide information on fugitive convicted killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

"If you can give us information, you will be rewarded," he told a discussion at Jatiya Press Club on Monday.

Describing Canada and the USA as countries with very strong rules of law, the foreign minister said they should not give shelter to murderers.

Momen said the government will be very happy if all the killers are brought back to face justice. "But we are yet to do it. If we can, we will feel that it is a great achievement," he added.

Momen said the government has written many letters to the US and Canadian governments seeking steps for returning the killers; even the PM wrote to the US president.

The foreign minister laid emphasis on writing more research-oriented books with solid facts so that they can provide more documentary evidence.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud spoke as the chief guest at the discussion.

Presided over by the Daily Observer Editor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, the discussion was also addressed by senior journalist Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Daily Jugantor Editor Saiful Alam and Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) President Omar Faruk, among others.

The government so far traced out Bangabandhu's two convicted fugitive killers - Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury - residing in the USA and Canada respectively, while the whereabouts of other three fugitives -Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim and Moslehuddin Khan - are yet to be ascertained.

After tracing the locations of the two killers, the Foreign Ministry and the Law Ministry have been deeply engaged with the US and Canadian authorities to bring back these two absconding murderers.

The Foreign Ministry had sent letters to all missions abroad as part of the campaign to hunt down the fugitive killers.

Dhaka had also activated its missions abroad to confirm fugitive August 15 carnage assassins' locations in countries where they are presumed to have hidden, in line with primary intelligence reports.

A total of 12 sacked military officers were sentenced to death after a protracted trial process while six were executed by now and one embraced natural death abroad.

Three of the six executed assassins were brought back from three countries - Thailand, the United States and India - after their trial in absentia.

Security agencies earlier said their reports suggest some of them might be changing their locations from one country to another as Interpol had issued a "red notice" to track them down.

A police headquarters official said one of the masterminds of the carnage sacked lieutenant colonel Abdur Rashid was reported to have taken clandestine refuge in an African country.

Previous reports speculated some others could be hiding in Pakistan, Libya, Zimbabwe, Spain and Germany.

The government had formed a special squad comprising members from different intelligence and law enforcement agencies headed by the police's Special Branch chief, an additional inspector general of police to track down the absconder of 1975 killers.

/KN/