Staff Correspondent
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday once again questioned Ziaur Rahman's loyalty during the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.
"(Mirza) Aslam Beg (who was an army officer at that time in Bangladesh) wrote a letter to Ziaur Rahman during the Liberation War expressing satisfaction with his activities," she said.
This raised the question of whether Zia had fought for Bangladesh or Pakistan, she said while addressing a discussion meeting at Awami League office in city's Tejgaon, organised by the AL on the occasion of the Independence and National Day celebrated on Tuesday.
In that letter, she claimed, Mirza Aslam Beg also said that wife and sons of Ziaur Rahman were fine in Dhaka Cantonment. "The question is if the person had proclaimed the independence then why the Pakistanis took care of the wife and sons of that person in cantonment, and wrote a letter stating satisfaction over his job," she said.
The ruling AL chief said that the war was fought in the eleven sectors of the country during the Liberation War, but the sector led by Zia saw the most killings of the freedom fighters. "The most casualties were in there," she said. She said that during any operation Ziaur Rahman used to keep himself in a safe place pushing the freedom fighters to the action field which caused huge casualties as he could not take decision based on ground reality.
"The casualties happened due to the lack of proper leadership by him (Ziaur Rahman)," she said.
She mentioned that the successful operation in any battle means attaining desired goal through fewer casualties.
"Zia could not do that, as a result Aslam Beg expressed satisfaction," she said.
General Beg served as the third Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from 1988 until his retirement in 1991.
