By IANS,
Dhaka : A book on Tajuddin Ahmed, who headed the government-in-exile in 1971, has revived memories of Bangladesh’s freedom movement and raised questions whether the country has been able to determine its direction and political identity.
Ahmed’s colleague and eminent jurist Kamal Hossain has hailed him as one of the leading figures of that era who envisioned a democratic and secular Bangladesh and worked for it.
Hossain said democratic and secular values demonstrated by leaders like Ahmed tremendously helped the constitution committee frame the 1972 constitution.
“I spent my best time as a political activist under the leadership of Tajuddin Ahmed,” said Hossain.
However, expressing doubts whether the task begun by Ahmed had been achieved in the manner in which he wanted, Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman, senior jurist who headed the 1996 caretaker government, observed: “The state of instability, which ensued in the aftermath of the liberation war in 1971 is still prevailing in the country.”
Rahman said Bangladesh was “still undecided on the state affairs”.
“We are still busy with dialogue on very basic state issues,” he was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper Friday.
The book titled “Tajuddin Ahmed: Birth of Bangladesh and Afterwards”, is the result of research by Kamal Hossain, a teacher at Rajshahi College.
The military leaders, who assassinated Mujib and his family in a coup, detained Ahmed and other top leaders in August 1975. He was gunned down in Dhaka jail three months later during a counter-coup.