Assassination of SAMS Kibria

please visit: www.kibria.org

THE NEWS
Former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria and four other Awami League (AL) activists were killed in a grenade attack on an AL rally at Boidder Bazar in Habiganj yesterday evening. About 70 others were injured in the grisly attack, similar to the August 21 carnage on Sheikh Hasina's rally in the capital last year that had claimed 23 lives and left several hundred wounded.

The four other dead were identified as Kibria's nephew Shah Manjurul Huda, 40, and AL activists Siddique Ali, 35, and Abdur Rahim, 50, of Bongaon village and Abul Hossain of Shayestaganj.

The AL called a countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal for tomorrow protesting the attack. It blamed the BNP and the Jamat for the carnage and planned a 'non-stop agitation' after the shutdown. District unit AL also called for a daylong hartal today in Habiganj.

Immediately after the attack, critically wounded Kibria and Habiganj District AL General Secretary Abu Jahid were rushed to the capital by an ambulance. Kibria died on the way to Dhaka and doctors at Birdem Hospital declared him dead at about 12:30am, soon after he was taken to the hospital.

Kibria's nephew Shah Manjurul Huda, AL activists Siddique Ali and Abdur Rahim died on the spot. Abul Hossain who was brought to Dhaka along with three others died at Birdem at about 1:00am.

An advisor to the Awami League, Kibria was elected a member of parliament from Habiganj-3 constituency in the 2001 general elections.

In instant protest, people torched a ruling BNP office and at least 15 other establishments, vandalizing some of them, in the northeastern district town, 15km off the spot. Additional police forces were called in to quell the tense situation prevailing in the district.

Habiganj Superintendent of Police Abu Musa Fakhrul Islam said primarily they were suspecting it to be a grenade attack. But an investigation could confirm whether those were grenades, he added.

Kibria went to Habiganj on Wednesday on an organizational tour. His elder brother Shah Shamsul Huda and nephew Shah Manjurul Huda accompanied him. He spoke as the chief guest at the meeting organized by Laskarpur Union unit of AL.

THE ATTACKS
Witnesses said the first grenade was hurled at the end of the rally at Boidder Bazar Primary School playground when Kibria was about to board his car after speaking at the rally.

District AL Joint Secretary Alamgir said the grenade was hurled at Kibria at about 7:05pm. "It was a close call," he said as Kibria sustained serious injuries all over his body.

Former chairman of Habiganj Pourashabha Shahid Uddin Chowdhury, a witness to the grisly incident, told newsmen later that when leaders were getting down from the dais after the meeting, the first grenade was thrown at them and then the second one came when they ran for cover.

Hit by splinters, the former finance minister and others fell to the ground. Kibria became unconscious sustaining injuries on different parts of his body with his two legs fatally wounded.

He was first rushed to Habiganj Sadar Hospital where resident medical officer Dr Abdullah gave primary treatment to an unconscious Kibria. After consultation with party President Sheikh Hasina, local leaders decided to send him to Dhaka by an ambulance as they failed to manage a helicopter.

The conditions of district AL Joint Secretary Alamgir, Organizing Secretary Rajan Chowdhury and General Secretary of district Awami Ainjibi Parishad advocate Abdul Ahad Faruq were also reported critical. They along with scores of other wounded AL leaders and workers were admitted to Habiganj Sadar Hospital.

At Habiganj Sadar Hospital, where 37 people with splinter injuries were rushed in, was overcrowded with the friends and relations of the victims.

Protest rally against Kibria murder: leaders of 14 party alliance (top) people of Habiganj (below)

COMMENTS
Mr. Kibria  was killed as part of the secret Islamist-military (Jamat-BNP) plan to subvert Awami League by eliminating its key leaders. The process started on 15 August 1975 when the leader of Awami League and the president of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujib was killed by the army. The second wave of killing was directed to the key associates of Mujib and the leaders of Bangladesh Liberation War: Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam, Kamaruz Zaman and Capt Mansur Ali. Since 1975 the military-Islamist clique systematically killed the leading secular politicians and intellectuals.

BNP's coalition with Jamat, a fascist Islamist party in Bangladesh that opposed the independence of Bangladesh rendered Jamat an opportunity to unleash its onslaught on the secular leftwing intellectuals and political activists. While Jamat's armed operatives are directly involved in killing it gets administrative and logistics support from BNP in eliminating their common enemies: the Awami Leaguers and the leftists.

On 21 August 2003 the military and the BNP-Jamat staged the 2nd biggest operation to wipe out the Awami League in just one big hit. Hired professional assassins were deployed with grenades and sub machine guns to kill the top Awami League leaders including sheikh Hasina, Mujib's surviving daughter and the icon for the united Awami league. 21 Awami activists were killed and Hasina barely survived the assault. It was reported that regular Bangladesh army issue grenades were used to kill Hasina. It was also reported that the army and the police were directly involved in the crime scene to facilitate the assault. One of the former chiefs of Bangladesh army lost his rank while he blamed the military involvement in the assassination attempt in his analysis of the assault.

Mr. Kibria was killed because he was the key (and competent) policy maker of Awami league with international recognition and connection. He was a high profile international figure-the under secretary general of the UN. Unlike the dubious Kamal Hossain, Mr. Kibria had the competence and the profile to lead Awami League in future. Like late Mr. Ahsanullah MP, Mr. Kibria had the unparallel support in his constituency and was as competent a statesman as late Tajuddin Ahmed, the prime minister of Bangladesh during the liberation war.

SAMS Kibria: A Profile 

SAMS Kibria was born on May 1, 1931. He obtained BA Honors in economics from Dhaka University in 1952 and completed MA in the subsequent year. He secured first class first position in both honors and master's.
Kibria was Bangladesh's finance minister during Awami League's rule from 1996 to 2001. He got elected as a
Member of Parliament for the first time in 2001 from Habiganj-3 constituency.

On completion of education life, Kibria joined the foreign service by securing first position in Pakistan Central Superior Service examinations in 1954. He was a director at Pakistan's foreign ministry and also served as Pakistan's envoy to USA, India, Egypt and Indonesia during the period between 1957 and 1970. He disassociated himself from the Pakistan government during Bangladesh's Liberation War and left Pakistani embassy in Washington on August 4, 1971. During the Liberation War he worked for mobilizing public opinion in favor of Bangladesh's independence in the US. He used to edit a news bulletin with extensive coverage on Bangladesh Liberation war. 

After independence, Kibria was called back home and given the responsibility of director general of political wing of the foreign ministry. He became Bangladesh's foreign secretary on March 11, 1972. He was appointed Bangladesh's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in 1976. He discharged the responsibility of foreign secretary for the second stint in 1978 and in the same year he also took over as the executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (Escap).

SAMS Kibria joined AL as a member of its advisory council in 1992. He became political advisor to Sheikh Hasina in 1994. Besides, he served as the head of the central election conducting committee of Awami League.

SAMS Kibria left behind his wife Mrs Asma Kibria, a renowned painter, a son, Dr Reza Kibria and a daughter Dr Nazlee Kibria, associate professor of sociology in Boston University USA.

Source: bhoreh Kagoj, Janakantha, Daily Star

FACT SHEET
Assassination of Shah AMS Kibria, MP, Former Finance Minister of Bangladesh and UN Under-Secretary General
Prepared September 2005 by the Kibria family

 

I FACTS OF THE ATTACK

Date and place: January 27 2005, Baidderbazar Primary School, Habiganj (NE Bangladesh).

Grenade attack: Newspaper reports indicate “Arges” grenades of the type used in the August 21 (2004) attack on Sheikh Hasina (Leader of the Opposition) in Dhaka and the May 2004 attack on the British High Commissioner in Sylhet. Grenades are apparently the same type as those in the shipment of over 20,000 grenades intercepted in Chittagong in April 2004.

Number of persons killed and injured: 5 killed, including Shah Kibria and his nephew, over 80 persons injured.

II LEGAL STATUS OF THE CASE

Two cases, a Murder Case and an Explosives Case, have been filed.

1. MURDER CASE: Filed by Advocate M.A. Majid Khan (“the informant”) on January 28th 2005 at 0005 hrs; General Register (G.R.) Case Number 26 of 2005 (Habiganj) under the Penal Code of Bangladesh.

Charge-sheet: On April 19th 2005, 10 persons, including Qaiyum Chowdhury, were charged. All persons are active, low-ranking members of the ruling party BNP. Of those charged, 8 arrested and 2 absconding.

Legal appeals: Three appeals have been lodged.

Appeal #1. On April 30th 2005, prayer for further investigation was lodged by the informant. It was rejected by the magistrate, on the following grounds:
a. Four accused persons have mentioned the name of accused A.K.M. Abdul Quayum who has supplied grenades and as such there is no necessity for further investigation on this point. NOTE: The existing investigation provides no explanation as to where Quayum obtained these grenades or how he obtained funding for the attack. Newspaper reports suggest the source was a foreign terrorist group with links to BNP leaders.

b. Police in the report has stated that accused Abdul Quayum refused to make any statements before the Magistrate. Thus any further investigation in this regard will not give any result. NOTE: This is false- on 16/4/2005 when the police report was being heard by the magistrate, Quayum expressed his desire to make a confessional statement.

c. Nothing has been mentioned in the Police report that at the instance of some influential persons accused Abdul Quayum took decision to kill Mr. Kibria. Thus there is nothing to investigate on this allegation. NOTE: This does not preclude the need for further investigation, particularly since the official police report was prepared under the direction of the Government. There is no separation of the executive from the judiciary in Bangladesh.

d. Already some persons who were present in the place of occurrence have been made witnesses and as such there is no necessity to hold further inquiry in this matter. NOTE: Only one of Shah Kibria’s senior local party colleagues who were present at the incident was questioned by police but neither he nor any of his colleagues who were eye-witnesses to the crime were made witnesses in the case.

Appeal #2. On May 4th 2005, Criminal Revision 6008 (for further investigation) was filed by the informant in the Court of the Sessions Judge, Habiganj. The case was heard and rejected on the following grounds:

a. There is no need to find out from where the accused Abdul Quayum collected grenades. Note: This reflects the authorities’ general refusal to probe into the source of the weapons used in all such attacks. Note that all the hundreds of bomb attacks under the BNP-Jamaat-I-Islami Government have gone unsolved.

b. It has been stated that accused Abdul Quayum is politically ambitious person who wished to be nominated for election from the constituency of Shah A.M.S. Kibria and for this reason he planned to kill him but from where he was assured to be nominated is not a material fact to be investigated in this case. Note: In fact, there were several more senior BNP leaders in Habiganj who would have had a far stronger claim to being the BNP nominee.

c. After submitting the police report the investigating officer has every right to submit supplementary charge sheet at any time subsequent to the submission of police report if any facts comes out regarding the offence. Note: In view of the Government’s complete control over the police service, the investigating officer will not make such a request without instructions from his superiors.

Appeal #3. The case was transferred to the Divisional Druta Bichar Adalat (Quick Trial Tribunal) on May 25th 2005. The informant filed an application before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh re: Criminal Miscellaneous Case No. 6008 of 2005. Further proceeding of G.R. Case No. 26 of 2005 has been temporarily stayed.

NOTE: The investigation is an incomplete one. If the case was to go to trial as it stands now, it would be virtually impossible to re-open it for further investigation. The case is no longer under active investigation by the police.

2. EXPLOSIVES CASE: Filed by Advocate M.A. Majid Khan on January 28th 2005. General Register (G.R.) Case No. 27 of 2005 (Habiganj). The case under Explosive Substance Act was sent to the Special Tribunal No. 1, Habiganj (Special Tribunal Case No.16 of 2005) for trial.

Legal Appeals. The informant also filed an appeal for further investigation in this case. It was heard and rejected on the following grounds:

a. Where grenades were collected by A.K.M. Abdul Qaiyum is not a matter to be decided in a case under section 3/6 of the Explosive Substance Act. Note: It is not clear why this should not be in fact one of the key issues for investigation.

b. It has been stated that the accused A.K.M. Abdul Qaiyum is a politically ambitious person who wished to be nominated as M.P. in the constituency of Shah A.M.S. Kibria and for this reason he planned to kill him but from where he was assured to be nominated is not a material fact to be investigated in a case under section 3/6 of the Explosive Substance Act. Note: In fact, there were several more senior BNP leaders in Habiganj who would have had a far stronger claim to being the BNP nominee.

c. After submitting police report the investigating officer had every right to submit supplementary charge sheet at any time. Note: In view of the Government’s complete control over the police service, the investigating officer will not make such a request without instructions from his superiors.

III OVERVIEW

The legal cases re: the assassination of Shah AMS Kibria are currently on hold, pending a higher court ruling on our requests for a complete criminal investigation. The lower courts have consistently ruled against further investigation, despite the availability of leads which have not yet been exploited. This affirms our belief that some elements within the current BNP-Jamaat-I-Islami coalition Government have compromised the case and are working to ensure that those behind the attack are not prosecuted. There is no separation of the executive from the judiciary in Bangladesh. The government has been anxious to rush the case through the courts and declare the issue “closed”. Once the current case is closed, it would be virtually impossible to re-open it for further investigation.The Kibria family is determined to ensure that the real culprits behind the assassination are caught and punished. The campaign for justice will continue until a full and independent investigation takes place. See: www.kibria.org

 

IFTWCB PRESS RELEASE

We strongly condemn the killing of the former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria and five other Awami League (AL) activists in a grenade attack on an AL rally at Boidder Bazar in Habiganj.

About 150 others were injured in the grisly attack, similar to the August 21 carnage on Sheikh Hasina's rally in the capital last year that had claimed 23 lives and left several hundred wounded.

It seems that it was pre-planned to annihilate the political adversaries and it was part of a blueprint to kill AL’s leaders and activists. It is nothing but to kill prospective leaders and workers of AL at grassroots level.

Getting the green signal from top level of the ruling party, police and government-backed Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh and special forces are oppressing and killing Awami League leaders and workers.

The killing of Awami League leaders Ahsanullah Master, Manjurul Imam and Momtajuddin show that the government has engaged the religious extremist groups and the police to eliminate the activists of Awami League and other opposition parties.

The August 21 grenade attack in Dhaka and yesterday's one at Habiganj proved that there was no security of life of the opposition leaders, activists and the people in general.

All sections of the people must unite for freeing the nation from the oppressive rule of the alliance government.

Mustafa Jamil, European Chapter (Sweden)
 

Protest statement by the women of Bangladesh
 

We, the Citizens of Bangladesh Demand Security...

The latest in a series of bomb attacks occurred on 27 January 2005 at an Awami League public meeting in Habiganj, Sylhet. In this attack Shah A M S Kibria, member of Parliament, internationally renowned economist, freedom-fighter, language movement activist, member of Awami League's Presidium, the former Finance Minister and 5 others ( Abul Hossain, Farid, Manjurul Huda Manju, Siddiq Ali, Abdur Rahim) were killed. According to newspaper reports, nearly a hundred persons were injured. The targeted killing of a high-ranking leader of a large
political party has shocked people at large. Citizens are now fearful that bomb attacks may occur in the most unsuspecting of public places. They are also distrustful because of the administration's failure to take action against the perpetrators of previous bomb attacks, or to take adequate security measures. The situation is leading to increasing desperation, and encourages criminality and violence. We think the present situation is highly dangerous for the nation as it signals an absolute breakdown of political and social morals.

In the last 5 years, from March 1999 to January 2005, over 140 persons have been killed in 21 bomb and grenade attacks. These attacks have targeted political public meetings, cultural activities, including theatre performances (Jatra and Baul singing), and even homes of political or cultural activists. We do not think that these incidents are unconnected; on the contrary, they appear to be systematic and well planned. This is why these incidents of bomb and grenade attacks are very alarming. We are concerned with the administration's failure to prevent these attacks, to carry out proper investigations, to make public investigation reports or to bring the perpetrators to justice. What is most alarming is the inefficiency, incapability and lack of a clear political will on the part of the government to stem the tide of political violence.

Information available from different news sources - government and private - reveals that after these bomb or grenade attacks, investigations have remained inconclusive, evidence has been destroyed, enquiry commission reports have not been made public and perpetrators have not been caught. Instead a few arrests made on grounds of suspicion have been a source of harassment, and only once has the accused been charge-sheeted. So far no trial has been held. The inquiry reports that were published after the grenade attack on the Bangla New Year celebrations in 2001 at Ramna, Dhaka, (which killed 10 persons including 1 woman) and the bomb attack on a large Awami League rally on 21 August, (which killed Ivy Rehman and 20 others including 4 women) were incomplete and lacking in credibility. After each such incident the Prime Minister, Cabinet members and high-ranking officials promised to bring the culprits to justice. These promises ring hollow to the citizens of Bangladesh, as successive grenade attacks and bomb explosions have led to the killing of Ahsanullah Master, a member of Parliament from Ghazipur and a popular Awami League leader, several well-respected journalists, such as Manik Shaha and Humayun Kabir and political activists.

In the name of quelling terror attacks and law enforcement, officially commissioned forces such as RAB, Cheeta, Cobra and the police have killed alleged suspects in custody, without giving them the benefit of a trial, and referred to their deaths as "crossfire" killings,. There has been no enquiry into the causes of these "crossfire killings". On the other hand, the administration has remained passive in the face of the vigilantist killings (of 20 persons) and torture perpetrated by Siddiqul Islam aka Bangla Bhai's and his gang in the name of suppressing Shorbohara members. Bangla Bhai remains at large inspite of an order of arrest from the Prime Minister reported in the media in 2004. Several ministers and relevant police officials have dismissed Bangla Bhai as a figment of media imagination despite clear evidence to the contrary.

Irresponsibe acts by those in the highest seats of government and the lack of sincere, committed, and sustained measures for law enforcement has created tremendous insecurity for citizens and is a cause for deep social unrest. The growing tendency to extra-judicial killings has created an alarming deterioration in the law-and-order situation. It has curtailed citizens rights to freedom of political participation and cultural activities. We demand an end to this situation. We also demand that the administration take immediate steps to ensure security for all public and private functions, political and cultural activities (such as the traditional Jatra), and women's sports (wrestling, swimming, football), and to create an environment for the practice of citizen's rights.

We grieve for each life that has been lost, for each life that has been maimed or injured. At the same time, we condemn the terror attacks in the strongest possible language.

We demand:

- an independent and transparent investigation into each bomb blast and grenade attack (free of government intervention);
- medical care for those injured in such attacks and compensation for their families;
- the culprits be identified, and tried and that those found guilty be duly punished
- steps be taken to improve the law and order situation,
- that newly constituted forces stop using methods that are leading to custodial deaths or other forms of torture in the name of law enforcement,
- that measures be taken to reinstate public faith in the law, courts, judicial system and in public institutions
- an environment conducive to the performance of cultural activities (Jatra, Baul singing), to women's sports events (wrestling, swimming, football).


Coalition of Outraged Women
Join us in a silent procession to protest bomb attacks, on 2 February,
2005 at 3 pm starting from Muktangan to Shahid Minar
_______________________________________________________

Signatories: