পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (পঞ্চদশ খণ্ড).pdf/১৮৩

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ পঞ্চদশ খণ্ড

notice had already been served assailing the trial, and it was for them to accept it also he would not countenance walking out while the other accused remained in custody.

 When I informed Genera Muzaffaruddin of this, he said that he should speak to Zafar over the telephone. Zafar was then told that the formula suggested by him was unacceptable to Sheikh Mujib and that whether he could accept the notice or the matter would be proceeded with in the high court and the high court could make an order of release. Zafar said that he would telephone after some time. He telephoned to say that the High court procedure would be time consuming and instead the Tribunal could be asked to sit and to grant an interim order to release Sheikh Mujib and this would be in the nature of a release on bail

 Sheikh Mujib was informed of this development. He said that there was no question of his applying for bail. In the meantime, the two Bengali judges of the special tribunal had been brought to the Cantonment and also one of the prosecuting lawyers, who proposed that Sheikh Mujib may be released on bail. When my colleague, Amirul Islam, went to Sheikh Mujib to inform him of this development Sheikh Mujib firmly rejected the proposal to release him on bail. He was infuriated by a report which had been broadcast while Amirul was talking to him, to the effect that Sheikh Mujib was being released on bail.

 Hearing that Sheikh Mujib might be released that evening, thousands of people had started walking down the Airport Road to the cantonment, In view of Sheikh Mujib firm refusal to be released on bail, a military vehicle had rushed out with loudspeakers to inform the people that no release was taking place in that evening. In the meantime Khawja Sahabuddin and Admiral A.R. Khan, members of Ayub’s cabinet, had arrived in Dacca. As I was leaving Sheikh Mujib after reporting to him that we had told the tribunal of his position, Admiral A.R. Khan and Khawja Sahabuddin were seen entering to talk to Sheikh Mujib.

 If was clear that Ayub was floundering in retrospect, it is evident that the service Chiefs had made it clear to him that a military option was not open to him. He therefore had to negotiate with political leaders. This option was only available to him if Sheikh Mujib would be released since negotiation excluding him would have little relevance so far as the eastern wing was concerned.

 The next morning at about 11.30 the report spread through Dacca that Sheikh Mujib was released. They had fallen back on the formula which had been suggested a month earlier in the legal notice that the trial was constitutionally invalid and therefore the entire trial had to be abandoned.

 Sheikh Mujib emerged as a great National Hero and the unquestioned leader of the mass movement which had development in East Bengal. He took the position that he would only consider going to Rawalpindi for the Round Table conference after he bad addressed the people in a public meeting pledged in Dacca and received their mandate. A mammoth public meeting of over a milling pledged their support to his six point autonomy demand and conferred on him the title of ‘Bangabandhu' (The friend of Bengal).