Information and Broadcasting Minister and Joint General Secretary of Awami League Dr Hasan Mahmud said that there is no evidence of Zia's body in Chandrima Udyan.
Replying to a question on the Prime Minister's statement in Parliament during an exchange of views with reporters at his official residence in the capital on Friday afternoon, he said, ‘Prime Minister said correctly. No one had seen Zia's body.’
Hasan Mahmud said, 'I am from Rangunia, where BNP claims that Zia was first buried. The then chairman of Rangunia upazila Zahir Saheb is still alive. He said three bodies were recovered from there, none of which included Ziaur Rahman's body. Mr Ershad and Mir Shawkat, who is close to Ziaur Rahman, both said they had not seen Zia's body.
Asked about the removal of the grave from Chandrima Udyan, the Information and Broadcasting Minister said, "Asking for a grave without a body is like cheating the people and against the rules and regulations of Islam." The question of the people is whether there is any reason to keep the grave without the body.
Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir's remarks 'Awami League is torturing BNP for permanent power'. Hasan said, 'Awami League believes in the power of the people, Awami League will run the country as long as the people want, not more than one day. People are satisfied with the legacy of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Awami League in the way the country has progressed under the leadership of People's Leader Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the last 13 years. The people are not supposed to be with the BNP which is burning people with petrol bombs and blocking people in the name of blockade. The BNP itself has become an opponent of the people and has moved far away from the people through various programmes.’
"The Awami League does not believe in the suppression of the opposition. If the BNP takes the side of the perpetrators of terrorism, petrol bomb throwing criminal, then no criminal law can be enforced in the country and there will be no justice. So all these things of BNP are ridiculous,” he added.
