Detective Branch chief Shafiqul Islam told Mozaffar is now in police custody. Since he had remained a fugitive all this time, he will first be handed over to the Army in line with regulations. Shafiqul did not disclose further details on when or from where Mozaffar Hossain was arrested.Zia,
Special Correspondent : Detective police have arrested a former Army officer over his alleged involvement in the assassination of president Ziaur Rahman at Chattogram Circuit House four and a half decades ago.Md Mozaffar Hossain, then a major in the Bangladesh Army, fled after the assassination. A reward was announced at the time for his capture.Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch chief Shafiqul Islam told “Mozaffar is now in police custody. Since he had remained a fugitive all this time, he will first be handed over to the Army in line with regulations.”
Shafiqul did not disclose further details on when or from where Mozaffar Hossain was arrested.Zia, founder of the ruling party BNP, was killed in a military coup in Chattogram in the early hours of May 30, 1981.He had travelled to the port city on a two-day visit the day before, primarily to resolve disputes among local BNP leaders.After a series of meetings with party leaders and activists on the first day, he went to bed around midnight.
Within hours, a group of Army personnel opened fire on him, killing him at the scene.His death was announced on radio the following morning.The then government later said in a statement that soldiers identifying themselves as a “Revolutionary Council” had killed the then president Zia.
The then vice-president Justice Abdus Sattar then assumed the role of acting president.Hours after the assassination, Zia’s body was secretly taken to Rangunia and buried in a hilly area.The government later had the body exhumed and brought to Dhaka, where it was reburied beside the parliament building on Jun 2 that year.Coup plotters, meanwhile, took positions on various roads, cutting Chattogram off entirely from communication with the rest of the country.
They also refused to hand over Zia’s body.Amid this standoff, the then Army chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who later became president himself, ordered General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Chattogram Cantonment major general MA Manzur and all others involved in the coup to surrender by noon on May 31.
Major Manzur and several other officers involved in the coup fled Chattogram Cantonment that night.On Jun 1, reports emerged that Lt Col Matiur Rahman and Lt Col Mehbubur Rahman, both involved in the coup, had been killed by government-loyal troops while attempting to flee Chattogram.
A reward of Tk 500,000 was announced for Manzur’s capture. Government control over Chattogram Cantonment was subsequently restored.Major general Manzur was captured at a tea garden in Fatikchhari on Jun 2 and taken to a police station.A government statement broadcast on radio and television later said he had been killed by a group of unruly soldiers at the cantonment.
Eighteen Army officers were tried on charges of “mutiny” at the time. Thirteen of them were sentenced to death, while the rest received prison terms of varying lengths.Major Khaled Mosharraf and major Mozaffar, both of whom took part in the coup, managed to escape.A reward was also announced at the time for their capture.
