By Maloy Kumar Dutta and Badal Nur

DHAKA, Sept 13, 2023 (BSS) - Bangabandhu's younger daughter Sheikh Rehana had
made the first global call for justice against the assassins of Bangabandhu
and four national leaders in 1979.

On May 10 in 1979, she turned the global attention to the darkest chapter in
the country's history through a speech at an All-European Bakshal conference,
participated by European country heads, the UN chief, and international NGO
high-ups in Stockholm.

At that time, Sheikh Hasina was in Delhi and she had sent her younger sister
who was in Europe to raise voice for global pressure on the then military
backed Bangladesh government after Bangabandhu's assassination.

That incident goes down in the annals of history as the voice for global
pressure -- on the then-Bangladesh government -- was raised through that
emotion-choked rendition.

Revisiting the historic episode on the birthday of Sheikh Rehana, senior
politician and Awami League advisory council member Amir Hossain Amu said
Bangabandhu's daughters reinvigorated the party through different activities
in London, raising voices for the justice for Bangabandhu's assassination.

They formed a probe committee under Sean MacBride and tried to help them come
to the country and investigate the incident but, their visa application was
turned down by the then-Ziaur Rahman government, Amu recalled.

He added: "If the two daughters of Bangabandhu were not abroad at that time,
how long would we be subjected to repression? How long would we be victims of
the conspiracy of assassins?"

AL Advisory Council Member Mozaffar Hossain Paltu said after Bangabandhu
killing, his two daughters played crucial role in building international
public opinion for bringing the killers to justice.

The anti-liberation local and foreign forces blocked the way to justice and
the then military backed rulers did not allow Bangabandhu's two daughters--
Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana-- to return to their homeland, he said.

Sheikh Rehana created international public opinion for her father's murder
trial in European nations in exile by raising demands to the heads of state
of different countries and human rights organisations, he added.

Rehana is an ideal sister, a selfless source of support for her elder sister,
Sheikh Hasina, both on a mission to fulfill Bangabandhu's dreams and goals.

The two sisters are bonded by birth and the pain they have gone through, he
added.

During emergency period of one-eleven in 2007, Sheikh Rehana also played an
important role in shaping public opinion in the country and abroad for Sheikh
Hasina's release.

Sheikh Rehana always stayed beside Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her
struggle to restore democracy in the country and bring the Bangabandhu
killers to justice, he added.

Awami League Presidium Member Abdur Rahman said staying in exile in London
Sheikh Rehana London created international opinion for forming a commission
to investigate the Bangabandhu murder.

Echoing the AL leaders, its Joint General Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim said
Bangabandhu's two daughters who escaped the military coup on August 15, 1975,
could not even seek justice for their father's assassination along with most
of the family members.

Bangabandhu's two daughters lived a very struggling life after Bangabandhu
assassination as many Bangladesh diplomats were very reluctant to extend any
kind of cooperation to them.

"Life was never easy for the two daughters-- Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana-
- of Bangabandhu following the brutal episode of August 15. While on the
previous night they were enjoying a party in a diplomat's house in Belgium,
the same man refused them a lift in the car to carry them to the airport
after news of the coup broke out," he said.

After losing everything in a single day, they approached everyone they could
to bring the killers to justice with keeping profound grief in heart, Nasim
said.

Defying all kinds of odds, they continued their struggle to bring the killers
of founding Father of the Nation to justice, he said.

Finally, the nation has been freed from the stigma by bringing the killers to
justice when Bangabandhu daughter Sheikh Hasina came to power, he added.

As recorded in history, Sheikh Rehana planned to meet acclaimed legal
practitioner Sir Thomas Williams, QC, who had defended Bangabandhu in the
Agartala Conspiracy Case. Bouncing the idea off Sheikh Hasina, she, along
with Dr. Shafique, met him at the House of Commons, requesting him to accept
the post of president of all-Europe Bangabandhu Parishad, to which he
obliged.

On August 16, 1980, commemorating the fifth year of Bangabandhu's
assassination, a huge gathering, the largest till then following the
independence of Bangladesh, was organized, with Sheikh Hasina gracing the
event as the chief guest and Sir Thomas Williams, QC as the main speaker.

Doctor Conrad Wood of the British Conservative Party and two lawmakers from
the British Labor Party spoke at the programme, where Sir Thomas Williams
promised to bring the assassins to the book, said sources at Awami League.

On September 19, 1980, the veteran legal expert formally announced, at a
restaurant near the House of Commons in London, the formation of a probe
committee on Bangabandhu's assassination, with him being the head and Nobel
Peace Prize winner and Irish lawyer Sean MacBride being one of the members.

As Jeffrey Thomas, MP, and Solicitor Abre Rose applied to Bangladesh High
Commission in London for visas in the January, 1981, their application was
turned down, and the visa rejection issue made its way to the House of Lords
in February, 1981.

The then-British Prime Minister Lord Carrington and many others took part in
the discussion.

The international probe committee submitted a preliminary report on the
murder of Bangabandhu and his family and four national leaders on March 20,
1982.