The Supreme Court's upholding of the convictions of the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family should now bring a long national agony to an end. The pains the nation has gone through since the Father of the Nation and most members of his family were cut down on 15 August 1975 have also been for it a living shame. The shame stems from the fact that for twenty-one years from 1975 to 1996, the course of justice was obstructed by the infamous indemnity ordinance protecting the assassins. The ordinance, decreed by the usurper regime of Khondokar Moshtaq in September 1975, was incorporated in the constitution through the Fifth Amendment by the Ziaur Rahman regime in 1979. Nowhere in the world has there been such an instance of a deliberate closing of all avenues to justice. And this was the shame we lived with, until the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina repealed the black law in 1996 and brought Bangabandhu's assassins to trial. In November 1998, Bangabandhu's assassins were condemned to death. The process unfortunately was not taken to a logical judicial conclusion. The delays, the frequent instances of judges feeling embarrassed to hear the appeals of the convicted and the clear, pathetic indifference of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government toward pursuing the case were to lead to a stalemate. Despite exhortations to reconstitute the bench by placing new judges there, the then government kept looking the other way. It could have done better.
The judgement delivered on Thursday is a new milestone for the nation. The reasons are not difficult to comprehend. In the first place, it upholds the idea that the people of Bangladesh, for all their trials and tribulations in the past, are wedded to the rule of law and will therefore go all the way to ensure the supremacy of this principle in their collective social and political life. In the second, the judgement is a clear reflection of Bangladesh's belief in due process, in the thought that crime of any kind and degree can best be handled by a transparent judicial system rather than by special tribunals or special courts. It goes to Sheikh Hasina's credit that back in 1996 she opted for a trial by open court rather than short-circuit the process. We can now proclaim to the outside world with pride that even if the process of trying Bangabandhu's killers has been painfully long and arduous, there can be no question that it has fulfilled the demands of the law. That is our achievement as a people. And now that the law has spoken, through making it clear point by point why the appeals of the convicts could not be entertained, it will be the expectation of the nation that the bad culture of changing politics through assassination and other violent means will come to an end. That crime cannot remain unpunished is a truth now re-emphasised by the judgement.
For the nation, we will note, it has been deeply disturbing that the trial and conviction of Bangabandhu's assassins took as long as it did. And yet our satisfaction is in knowing that finally the wheels of justice have rolled. Justice was derailed, yes. But finally it has prevailed, which makes it unmistakably clear that while the truth may be suppressed for sometime, there will eventually be a moment when it reveals itself and emerges triumphant. History cannot be rewritten or written off. That is what Thursday's judgement so palpably demonstrates. Let this triumph of justice now make the path easier for our democracy to run smooth and clear.
The judgement delivered on Thursday is a new milestone for the nation. The reasons are not difficult to comprehend. In the first place, it upholds the idea that the people of Bangladesh, for all their trials and tribulations in the past, are wedded to the rule of law and will therefore go all the way to ensure the supremacy of this principle in their collective social and political life. In the second, the judgement is a clear reflection of Bangladesh's belief in due process, in the thought that crime of any kind and degree can best be handled by a transparent judicial system rather than by special tribunals or special courts. It goes to Sheikh Hasina's credit that back in 1996 she opted for a trial by open court rather than short-circuit the process. We can now proclaim to the outside world with pride that even if the process of trying Bangabandhu's killers has been painfully long and arduous, there can be no question that it has fulfilled the demands of the law. That is our achievement as a people. And now that the law has spoken, through making it clear point by point why the appeals of the convicts could not be entertained, it will be the expectation of the nation that the bad culture of changing politics through assassination and other violent means will come to an end. That crime cannot remain unpunished is a truth now re-emphasised by the judgement.
For the nation, we will note, it has been deeply disturbing that the trial and conviction of Bangabandhu's assassins took as long as it did. And yet our satisfaction is in knowing that finally the wheels of justice have rolled. Justice was derailed, yes. But finally it has prevailed, which makes it unmistakably clear that while the truth may be suppressed for sometime, there will eventually be a moment when it reveals itself and emerges triumphant. History cannot be rewritten or written off. That is what Thursday's judgement so palpably demonstrates. Let this triumph of justice now make the path easier for our democracy to run smooth and clear.
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