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Online Desk//

The three influential leaders of the outgoing Awami League government, who are on remand, have accepted their responsibility for the anarchy and political violence in the country. They are former Law Minister Anisul Haque, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s adviser Salman F Rahman, the discussed army officer Major General (retired) Ziaul Ahsan.

Sources related to the investigation said that although these three accused are on remand in the murder case of Shahjahan Ali, a papash seller in Newmarket area on August 16, they are being interrogated on various issues. Detailed inquiries are being made as to who was behind the creation of anarchy and political tolerance in the country. In the beginning they put the blame on the former home minister and the former bridge minister, but now they are putting the blame on the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

They are saying in almost the same tone, ‘We have only tried to implement the directives of the Prime Minister.’ But they have already admitted that they have given orders at the field level to implement the plans they have made to implement the directives of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Although they have admitted their responsibility behind the murder, the arrested have not yet given any specific information.

When asked what information the remanded accused are giving outside of the murder case, the relevant sources said that on May 5, 2013, the leaders and activists of Hefazat Islam were attacked and killed in the capital’s Shapla square, purchase of cutting tools for special purposes, the creation of a mirror concept to ax power by intimidation and many people. They have admitted that they had a hand in the disappearances and murders.

Sources also said that several other cases are being prepared against Salman F Rahman, Anisul Haque and Major General (retd) Ziaul Ahsan. Among the cases that will be prosecuted are the share scam, the attack and killing of Hefajat Islam leaders and activists at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel, the purchase of Aripata machine Pepasus software, the mirror concept and many cases of financial irregularities and corruption including numerous disappearances and murders.

Sources related to Dhaka Metropolitan Police said that Ziaul Ahsan was arrested according to the information given by Salman F Rahman and Anisul Haque, who are in remand. All three are now remanded in the custody of Dhaka Metropolitan Detective (DB) police in a murder case at Newmarket police station. Meanwhile, the affidavit of the case in which they have been remanded is being amended. The plaintiff in the case submitted the amended statement to the police station on Saturday. Later it was sent to the court according to related sources.

Salman F Rahman and Anisul Haque were arrested on Tuesday in the murder case of hawker (cloth seller) Shahjahan Ali filed at DMP Newmarket police station. On Wednesday they were produced in court and requested to be remanded for 10 days. After the hearing, the court granted them a 10-day remand. Later they were taken directly from the court to the DB office. After his arrest, Ziaul Ahsan was produced in the court on Friday in the same case and his 10-day remand was sought. After the hearing, the court granted his 8-day remand. All three are now in police remand in DB custody.

According to sources, Salman F Rahman, Anisul Haque and Ziaul Ahsan are being interrogated by two teams. A team is led by the OC of Newmarket police station and includes the investigation officer of the case and junior police officers. They are mainly members of Thana Police. Another team consists of DMP headquarters and DB officials. This team is mainly made up of high level officials. The junior team is only interrogating the mystery of the case. They are not interrogating anything beyond the allegations stated in the statement of case. And the senior team is not limited to the content of the case in questioning. They are interrogating various issues of the state apparatus. However, since most of the DB officials have been transferred and all the newly commissioned officers have not yet joined, extensive interrogation was not possible. Being dominant defendants, some are afraid of their interrogation.

When asked what kind of expression the accused are showing during interrogation, the concerned officer said, Anisul Haque is smiling most of the time. Saying, ‘I just followed the guidelines given to us by the Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina). Why did you remand me in the murder case? Arrest those who directly participated in the killing. Ziaul Haque said, “I was not in charge of any unit. I have worked under the instructions of the top order in the government.” The interrogators asked him, ‘You were the Director General of NTMC (National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre). He destroyed people’s privacy to get ad. On your orders, many people of opposing views were taken to the mirror room and tortured. Many have been victims of disappearances and murders.’ Then he said, ‘I have worked under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Tried to implement the instructions of the ministry. I was also kept for eight days in the mirror room in question. After that I was shown arrested.

Citing the complaints received, sources related to the investigation said that since the Awami League came to power in 2009 until 2015, hundreds of BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists were victims of disappearances and murders. Ziaul Ahsan used some officers working in different units of RAB across the country to implement the mission of these extrajudicial killings. The summaries of the phone conversation records of the cabinet secretary, IGP and other senior officials and some ministers were recovered from Gana Bhavan during the student agitation. In that, information about various strategies including internet shutdown to suppress the movement came out. A police official said that Ziaul Ahsan used to record the private phone conversations of many people. He especially used to record the calls of BNP leaders and listen to them. The mobile internet was stopped from last July 17 during the movement under the banner of anti-discrimination students demanding quota reform. Later, broadband internet service was also stopped from July 18. After five days of shutdown, broadband internet was restored. The then Minister of State for Information Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak and Major General Ziaul Ahsan ordered the closure of the data centers. Ziaul Ahsan closed some data centers with threats.

When asked, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mainul Hasan told the media that the three remanded accused are being interrogated on various issues. There will be many more cases against them. They will be remanded for a few days. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to say anything now about the remand interrogation and the information obtained. Giving almost similar information, Joint Commissioner of DB Aminul Islam said on mobile phone that journalists are not allowed to enter DB at the moment. I am saving your number. You will be notified at a later date if any disclosure is required regarding information received on remand. Ayesha Begum, the plaintiff in the case in which Salman F Rahman, Anisul Haque and Ziaul Ahsan were arrested, said that the Awami League government was in power when the case took place. While writing the statement, the police mentioned that the unknown anti-quota Jamaat-Shibir and BNP were deliberately behind my son’s murder. But my son died in police firing. The statement was not read to me after it was written. As I grieved over the loss of my son, I lost much of my self-awareness. On that occasion, the police signed the statement. After reading the statement later, the error was noticed.

When the matter was reported to the OC of the police station, he proposed to amend the statement. Accordingly, I went to the police station today (Saturday) and submitted the amended statement. The words of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir have been omitted in the amended statement. The accused have been identified as unidentified perpetrators. Now it is the responsibility of the police to find the criminals and bring them to justice.

When asked, Newmarket Police Station OC Aminul Islam said, “We are only interrogating the accused regarding the allegations of the case. Information that is available cannot be released at this time for the sake of the investigation. In response to a question, he said that the amendment submitted by the plaintiff to the Ejahar police station has already been sent to the court.