A seminar titled "3rd November Jail Killing Day Pledge: BNP-Jamaat-Rajakar must be stopped" was held at the Abdus Salam Hall of the National Press Club on Friday morning, organised by Bangabandhu Parishad.
The seminar was presided over by AAMS Arefin Siddique, ex vice chancellor of Dhaka University. Other members of Bangabandhu Parishad including Parvez Zaman, ABM Faruque, Liaquat Hossein Khan, Fuad Hossein Chowdhury, and Afroza Jamil Kanka were present.
Parvez Zaman said, "Joy Bangla is a national slogan. It’s not any specific political party's slogan. Bangladeshi freedom-fighters fight against the Pakistanis with this slogan. Those who don't accept the Joy Bangla slogan are seditious. The upcoming election is a fight for our survival. We have to do what is best for our independent Bangladesh."
Ex IGP prison Liaquat Hossein Khan described in details the 3rd November, 1975 jail killings.
Documentary Filmmaker Fuad Hossein Chowdhury said, "Normal people need to be aware about current situation of Bangladesh. Without people's awareness, this country can't overcome this unstable situation."
Brigadier General (posthumous) Jamil Uddin Ahmed's second daughter, Afroza Jamil Kanka, said: "Politically we can be called orphans. From the language movement to the liberation war and later, those who took the country forward have been killed. The generation that grew up during Ziaur Rahman's time was alienated from the culture of Bangladesh. Now the people of all parties have benefited from the development of Bangladesh but the opposition parties of the country are spreading misinformation about it."
DUET Vice Chancellor Md. Habibur Rahman said after the death of Bangabandhu, the country could not move forward with the ideals that it was supposed to.
"After 1975, healthy politics stopped," Dr Rahman said.
In the president's speech, Professor Arefin Siddique said the conspiracy to kill Bangabandhu and the four national leaders was not hatched overnight, but rather from the time of the Liberation War.
Although Khandaker Mushtaq was supposed to lead the observation team of the Mujibnagar government sent to the United Nations in the last phase of the war, eventually he was not retained.
"Abdus Samad Azad was sent instead. This was because Tajuddin Ahmed was informed by the Indian intelligence agency that if Khandaker Mushtaq went to the United Nations, a ceasefire and confederation with Pakistan would be proposed," Prof Siddique narrated.
"Bangabandhu called for independence and Tajuddin's task was to achieve victory through war. Because then there was no alternative to war. So Khandaker Mushtaq was not sent," he concluded.
Prof Siddique said: "A few people together committed the Bangabandhu and Jail murders. But this would not have been possible if they had been resisted from the cantonment. Then they could not have left the country safely after committing murder. If everyone had done his own duty properly, then this incident would not have happened."