Why did Zia summon two BNP leaders to Dhaka before coming to Chattogram?

It was May 29, 1981. It was a stormy, rainy day. President Ziaur Rahman had come to Chattogram on a visit. It was the last day of his life. He could not return to his home, to his loved ones, from Chattogram. He returned as a corpse. In the dead of night, he was brutally murdered by a group of rogue soldiers.

At the Circuit House on Kazir Deuri hill in Chattogram, built in the British aesthetic architectural style, many people accompanied Zia throughout the day during his programs. Nearly all of them have since departed with the currents of time. Among the few who remain alive, carrying the painful memories, is Jahangir Alam. At the time, he was the General Secretary of BNP's Chattogram city branch. As the mournful day returns each year, the octogenarian searches through the memories of Zia's final day. He shared the details with Agameer Samay.

During the conversation, Jahangir Alam revealed an important piece of information. He said that President Ziaur Rahman had called him and the President of the BNP city branch, Salimullah, to Dhaka three days before coming to Chattogram.

What was discussed with Zia?

He said, "On May 26, Salimullah Sahib and I went to Dhaka and met with the President. The President gave strict orders that on May 29, we should not attempt any gathering of people at Chattogram airport or the Circuit House. We were a bit surprised. Why such an instruction all of a sudden? Were we called to Dhaka just to say this?"

Jahangir Alam has still not been able to solve that mystery. However, he believes that Ziaur Rahman may have sensed "something" conspiratorial before he fell victim to the assassination.

"If he hadn't sensed something, why would he call us to Dhaka three days in advance? And why would he forbid us from gathering people?"

Jahangir also found information that intelligence agencies had forbidden Zia from coming to Chattogram. "As far as I know, the SB and NSI had forbidden him from coming to Chattogram. He was strictly told not to go. He did not listen. He was confident that no one would harm him."

Jahangir admitted that the BNP leaders of Chattogram had not the slightest inkling of the conspiracy to assassinate a president at the Circuit House. However, the behavior of the President's military personal assistant (PS), Colonel Mahfuz, seemed mysterious to Jahangir Alam. He said, "At the Circuit House, I saw that the President's military PS, Colonel Mahfuz, was receiving repeated phone calls. I told Mahfuz, 'We can't even sit down because of the nuisance of your telephone.' He said, 'When calls come, transfer the line to me upstairs.' I observed this—why were so many calls coming to him? This Colonel Mahfuz was the main protagonist of the conspiracy. He was later executed."

He said that if a dispassionate investigation had been conducted, the masks of all those involved in the conspiracy would have been uncovered. "There should have been a full investigation. It's true that military personnel killed him. Surely there were many other factors. There should have been a civilian investigation into this. But that didn't happen. Why it didn't happen—they know that better."

On the same subject, Jahangir Alam brought forward another piece of information. It is often said that Zia lost his life while coming to Chattogram to resolve internal conflicts within the BNP. He called this completely false. "Totally false. Propaganda. There was no political dispute in Chattogram that required Ziaur Rahman to come and resolve. The faction of the military that was involved in the conspiracy and assassination of Zia spread this propaganda. In reality, the President had come on an official visit."

At one point, Jahangir Alam had to step away from a Zia-less BNP. Whether he stepped away or whether Jahangir, an important witness to history, was forced to step away—no clear answer to that question was obtained from him.

In 1975, following various shifts in Bangladesh's political landscape, then-Army Chief Ziaur Rahman came to power. Later, he entered politics, first establishing the JAGDAL (Jatiya Ganatantrik Dal) and subsequently the BNP.

Jahangir Alam described the day of Zia's Chattogram visit: Amidst heavy rain, around 10 AM on May 29, 1981, President Ziaur Rahman arrived at the Circuit House. He was accompanied by Standing Committee member Dr. Badruddoza Chowdhury, Barrister Nazmul Huda, Mohibul Hasan, and a female leader.

Earlier, the President's military officer had sent a list of 10 BNP leaders to the Circuit House to receive the President. According to the list, 10 leaders including Salimullah, Abdullah Al Noman, Jahangir Alam, Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud (who later joined the Jatiya Party), went to welcome Zia.

He said that Ziaur Rahman was quite cheerful from the beginning of the Chattogram visit that day. "Over tea, he told us, 'I love Chattogram very much. I will build a house here. Find a place for me.' Looking at me, he said, 'Jahangir, I might not be able to keep you in the BNP, brother. I have made a law—no more than two children. You have three sons and two daughters.' I replied with a smile, 'Sir, my five children were born before you made the law.'"
Throughout the day, President Zia held meetings in phases with officials from various levels of the administration and with professionals. A meeting with professionals that began in the evening continued late into the night. From 11:30 PM, he called BNP leaders inside one by one, separately, to learn about the organizational situation in Chattogram. At 12:30 AM, he entered the VIP room. Suddenly, he came out again and instructed the Deputy Commissioner to make arrangements to send Salimullah and Jahangir Alam home by car. Amidst the storm and rain, they did not reach their homes until 2 AM.

In the early hours of the morning, Jahangir Alam was startled awake by the sound of the telephone. "It was a call from our BNP leader Rojy Kabir. In the Chattogram dialect, she said, 'Badda (big brother), there's been gunfire at the Circuit House, apparently.' I didn't know what to do or say. Before I could even hang up with Rojy, the phone rang again. The then-Commissioner of Bagmoniram Ward, Abdul Mannan (deceased), called and told me the same thing—that gunfire was taking place at the Circuit House. The distance from the Circuit House to his house was 500 yards."

After that, he hailed a taxi from his house in Bakolia and went to Salimullah's house in the Old Church area. He was putting Salimullah into the taxi, about to leave, when Yuba Dal leader Ekramul Karim came and joined them in the taxi.

Jahangir said that after they reached Kazir Deuri intersection, close to the Circuit House, the police stopped them. "A traffic sergeant asked where we were going. We said we were going to the Circuit House. The sergeant said, 'You cannot go there. The President has been martyred. Army personnel have arrived; they will take the body shortly.'"

"We couldn't say anything. We couldn't understand anything. What had happened in the night! The whole city was tense. Army personnel supporting the murderer, General Manzur, were roaming across the city. We went into hiding."

Jahangir Alam said that they did not stop at just the murder; they also attempted to bury Zia's body and hide it. "The army took the body from the Circuit House. None of us knew where the body was. Three days later, it became known that the body had been found inside a hilly jungle in Rangunia. Then Brigadier Hannan Shah went and recovered Ziaur Rahman's body. After giving the body a ritual bath at the cantonment, it was sent to Dhaka."