Maudud Ahmed

This is the Moudud Ahmed, always successfully keeping himself in prominent roles in power politics of Bangladesh, and his dubious and ambitious career goes on without any check and balance from any government in Bangladesh! This stained character always remains “clean” due to our power hungry anti people politics! Even Awami League also flirts with him time to time! During our liberation war this young ambitious lawyer got the post of Post Master General, though he was never be an AL standard bearer politician rather doing AL’s main political rival Bhasani politics at that time! After 1975 tragedy Moudud’s star turned from glimpsing one to a shining one due to Ziaur Rahman’s success in making politics an open field for the most opportunists and principle less power hungry ones! Turned to Deputy Prime  Minister in Zia era and did lots of misdeeds at that time! After fall of BNP regime under unscrupulous Bisho Behaiha Ershad’s coup one of the first victim of BNP ministers was Moudud, who was arrested for multi corruption charges but in one fine morning nation surprisingly knew that without any trial, conviction or any legal proceedings against this most corrupted minister (mind it unscrupulous Ershad justified his coup against BNP’s Sattar government by highlighting the Corruption issue and that was the main factor of that coup to bring the most corrupt regime in power in Bangladesh and that saga is still going on in Bangladesh) not only released from the jail rather enthroned with getting back powerful ministries under Bisho Behaiha Ershad! Ershad pours all the old wines in new bottles in Bangladesh politics and such a way Moudud continued his prominent roles in our government and political arena. He started his ministerial duplicity probably by giving back the abandoned properties to the Pakistani Razakars and collaborators, which he began in Zia era and completed in Ershad era! He visited Pakistan at that time with the intention to make profit from his unscrupulous counsel to anti Bengali people in Pakistan to get back their fallen properties in BD!
 

After our liberation war our government abandoned lots of properties, which belonged to the people who publicly expressed and showed their allegiance to Pakistan – not to Bangladesh and its people and government – who were termed as “collaborator”! Bongobondhu’s government allotted most of those abandoned properties to martyred families. Dolly Azad was the female MP in Ayub’s Parliament from Ayub’s Muslim League party and she was involved in her all through political career with anti Bengali activities. In 1971 Dolly Azad openly took side with Pakistani killer regime and worked against our liberation war. Eventually she lost her citizenship of Bangladesh right after our independence alike Nurul Amin, Golam Azam etc. due to anti Bnagladesh role! She had a very big house along with a vast land in 19 New Eskaton Road and that was just next to Nurul Amin’s house! Both the houses were declared abandoned in 1972 and allotted to martyr families/some organizations to work for distressed women/Martyr families! The 19 New Eskaton House of Dolly Azad was allotted to the families of the prominent journalist of the land Shaheed Serajuddin Hossain, the Ex-News Editor of Daily Ittefaq and Dhaka University’s Professor of Mathematics Dr. Abul Kalam Azad – both the intellectuals were brutally killed by Razakars and Al-Badars, the cadres of Jamati Islam on 10th and 14th December 1971 respectively!

Moudud visited Pakistan as a minister in early 80’s and gave counsel to those Pakistani Collaborators, who lost their properties in Bangladesh due to loosing Citizenship for their perpetrating roles and collaborating with Pakistani killers in 1971, how to get back those properties and how to evade the existing law of the land! Under Moudud’ guidance and counsel those Pakistani Citizens produced forged  court documents by putting back date on the documents, which proved that those collaborators before loosing their Bangladeshi citizenship handed over their respective properties to their children or wife or any family members, who are lawfully Citizen of Bangladesh; So, Bangladesh government cannot take any Citizen’s property under the Abandoned Property Law because that property was not Abandoned at all! By doing that Moudud opened up the way once more to launder our properties to Pakistan – thus, Pakistani Citizens’ closest family members, who were Citizen of Bangladesh, just superficially lodged a case against the government in the court and demanded to get back their properties, which were “unlawfully” taken by Bangladesh Government, and Zia and Ershad’s governments did not contest those cases in the court and “willingly” lose each and every case and those properties in wink of an eye transferred to those collaborators’ hands and right away they cashed in those property by selling those properties and took the money from Bangladesh to their beloved country Pakistan!


In that duplicity Dolly Azad got back her property but while Zia/Sattar governments willingly subdued; rather facing the case they gave up so early stage that then families of Shaheed Serajuddin Hossain and Dr. Abul Kalam Azad went to the court and Dr. Kamal Hossain and his law firm fought for them in the court! But before the court proceeding got any shape Ershad’s coup was being completed and another most opportunist and corrupt regime got in to the power. Since Ershad’s Martial Law prohibited all civil liberties, so, then there was no way to remain in court fight because citizens of the land lost that civil right under ML! So, in this interim period the interested party took all the chances under Martial Law – with 2 hour eviction notice a magistrate came with 2 platoons of Police forces to evict the families of martyr of this land Shaheed Serajuddin Hossain and Dr. Abul Kalam Azad! The police activities to evict the Shaheed families in such a way generated immense curiosity to the street people – at least to them that appeared that the Police was acting against some criminals! In 2 hours with 8 children the widow of Shaheed Serajuddin Hossain had to leave the house and came down to the street by the order of Bangladesh government – irony of fate was that in this Bangladesh another government with full respect, dignity and honor gave the shelter to the widow and 8 children of Shaheed Serajuddin Hossain in that same house just few years ago!

At that time there was an analytical report published in Weekly Bichitra, which indicated how Zia government’s prominent minister (Moudud) made that bartered deal with collaborators of Pakistan to give them back their fallen properties in Bangladesh to cash in and launder that to Pakistan by depriving Bangladesh once again!

This is the tale of our “patriot” politicians of Bangladesh and its politics! And thus Moudud saga continues and we, the public, are eagerly waiting to see what is next in Moudud’s duplicity to betray our nation once again!

Saleem R. Noor, New York, USA
[Saleem R. Noor is the son of Shaheed Serajuddin Hossain]