Information Minister and Awami League joint general secretary Hasan Mahmud has said there is no evidence of ex-president Ziaur Rahman's body being buried in the Chandrima garden, the site of his mazaar.
On Friday afternoon at his official residence in the capital, the information minister said this to the reporters, adding that the Prime Minister had rightly said that no one had seen Zia's body.
Hasan Mahmud said, “I am from Rangunia, where BNP claims that Zia was first buried. The then chairman of Rangunia, Zahir Saheb who is still alive, said three bodies were unearthed but none of those were of Ziaur Rahman. Even Ershad and Mir Shawkat, close associates of Ziaur Rahman, both said they had not seen Zia's body.”
Asked about the removal of Zia’s grave from Chandrima, he said that a grave without any body is like cheating the country's people and it’s also against the religious rules and regulations. He also raised the question of what is the valid reason to have the grave at Chandrima garden.
In a counter to BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir's remark to the effecr that Awami League is "torturing BNP for permanent power", Hasan Mahmud said that Awami League will run the country as long as the people want, not even a day more.
"The Awami League does not believe in the suppression of the opposition," he added for good measure.