Tajuddin Ahmad

"Tajuddin Ahmed's place in history has been excluded from most Bangladeshi treatments. He was the Awami Leaguer who led the government in exile from Mujibagar, established near Calcutta. Tajuddin Ahmed and Mujib disagreed over the creation of Baksal, a one-party state. He was forced to resign his post as minister in the government in 1974."

"Tajuddin Alimed was one of the most important actors leading to the creation of Bangladesh. He was the acting prime minister in the government in exile, while the war was raging in his country and Sheikh Mujib was in prison in the western wing. Tajuddin's strained relationship with Mujib was brought about in part, by intrigues orchestrated by General Khandaker Mushtaq Ahmed, whose name, as Mascarenhas wrote, has become synonymous with treachery"."

"Of all the actors in the Bangladeshi drama, Tajuddin's determination to be true to the vision of the liberation movement is unparalleled. Yet, he is ignored in history. Tajuddin's ideas for a pluralistic democratic Bangladesh were betrayed by his friend and mentor Sheikh Mujib. He was politically sidelined in the early years, as his country crashed headfirst in to constitutional chaos."

"Tajuddin was murdered by the order of a scheming colleague Khandaker Mushtaq Ahmed, who had made himself president after Mujib's assassination. The murder of Tajuddin was preplanned. Khandaker Mushtaq then promulgated the original Indemnity Ordinance to exonerate those who had killed Mujib. Indemnity was also given to the military men who had stormed the jail that night in November 1975, and murdered Tajuddin along with three other prominent Awami League leaders. The Indemnity Ordinance was institutionalized into the constitution by General Zia. All these things have not made it into the textbooks."

"Tajuddin Ahmed was one of the main players in the war of Liberation. He was also the most honest of many of those players. In 1998, he was posthumously awarded the long overdue respect denied to him. This "rehabilitation" at was accorded to him when the Awami League was in power, has certainly been withdrawn by the BNP. Army personnel brutally murdered him to ensure that no civilians capable of leading the nation remained alive. The military wanted to keep the power. It was therefore essential to murder all democratic statesmen."