Sheltering Bangabandhu's killers shameful for US, Canada: Momen

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday said it is shameful for the United States and Canada as they so far failed to deport Bangabandhu's convicted killers, despite being major advocates of human rights across the globe.

"The self-declared killers have been living in the same countries [US and Canada] that lecture about humanism, speak out about human rights, but give refuge to these self-confessed murderers. They should be ashamed," he said.

The foreign minister was speaking at a tree-planting event at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on the first day of August, the month of mourning to commemorate assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members.

The government so far traced out Bangabandhu's two convicted fugitive killers - Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury - residing in the US and Canada respectively, while the whereabouts of other three fugitives - Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim and Moslehuddin Khan - are yet to be ascertained.

"The killers of Bangabandhu are still on the run. We know about two cases - one in the United States and another in Canada. The whereabouts of three other fugitive convicts are still unknown," Momen said.

After tracing the locations of the two killers, the Foreign Ministry and the Law Ministry have been deeply engaged with the US and the Canadian authorities to bring back these two absconding murderers.

Earlier, Momen said the Foreign Ministry had sent letters to all missions abroad as part of the campaign to hunt down the fugitive killers.

The foreign minister had also urged expatriate Bangladeshis to keep a vigil on suspected locations of the killers alongside the Bangladesh missions in their respective host countries.

About Noor Chowdhury and Rashed Chowdhury, Dr Momen had suggested Bangladeshis living in the US and Canada to mount community pressures on the authorities there for their return, lunching a signature campaign, supplementing the government efforts for their extradition.

Dhaka had also activated its missions abroad to confirm fugitive 15 August carnage assassins' locations in countries where they are presumed to have hidden, in line with primary intelligence reports.

A total of 12 sacked military officers were sentenced to death after a protracted trial process while six were executed by now and one died a natural death abroad.

Three of the six executed assassins were brought back from three countries - Thailand, the United States and India - after their trial in absentia.

Security agencies earlier said their reports suggest some of them might be changing their locations from one country to another as Interpol had issued "red notice" to track them down.

A police headquarters official said one of the masterminds of the carnage sacked lieutenant colonel Abdur Rashid was reported to have taken clandestine refuge in an African country.

Previous reports speculated some others could be hiding in Pakistan, Libya, Zimbabwe, Spain and Germany.

The government had formed a special squad comprising members from different intelligence and law enforcement agencies headed by police's Special Branch chief, an additional inspector general of police to track down the absconder 1975 killers.

Along with the foreign Minister, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen planted three saplings separately on the premises of the Foreign Service Aacademy marking the month of mourning.