CHATTOGRAM, Jan 24, 2024 (BSS) - Awami League (AL) Joint General Secretary and Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today said late Jatiya Party Chairman HM Earshad and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia awarded the main accused of Chattogram Mass Killing during their tenures.
 
Terming the then Police Commissioner Rakibul Huda as the main accused of Chattogram genocide on January 24, 1988, Dr Hasan said, he was promoted by Ershad, later Khaleda Zia also promoted him.
 
On this day, as many as 24 people were killed and over 200 others injured when police opened fire on a mammoth public meeting of the then chief of the 15-party alliance Sheikh Hasina at Laldighi Maidan.

"The Police Commissioner was not charged for that, but rewarded," Dr Hasan Mahmud told a discussion organized by Chattogram city, north and south district Awami League (AL) at Bangabandhu hall of Chattogram Press Club held marking the 'Chattogram Mass Killing' this evening.

Hasan Mahmud said Bangladesh is now a dignified country before the world under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina.

"At the NAM Summit, I had meetings with the foreign ministers of many countries and the UN and Commonwealth Secretaries. Everyone praised the leadership of Sheikh Hasina. Many of them congratulated her on here reelection as prime minister," he added.

BNP, he said, is paying extreme frustration as the party leaders now can realize that boycotting the January 7 election was suicidal. "Today, the whole world is congratulating the Prime Minister for her reelection. It made the BNP leaders upset," he said.

He said those who try to raise questions about the voting are actually raising questions to save their faces.
 
City AL President Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury presided over the function while Chattogram South District AL President Motaherul Islam Chowdhury, MP, Chattogram north district AL President M A Salam, city AL Vice President Alhaj Khorshed Alam Sujan, north district AL General Secretary Sheikh Ataur Rahman and Zilla Parishad Chairman ATM Payrul Islam, among others, addressed the function.

Chattogram South District AL General Secretary Mofizur Rahman conducted the function while Mohiuddin Bachchu, MP, and City AL Organizing Secretary Noman Al Mahmud, among others, attended the function.