Following the resignation of Air Vice-Marshal (retd) AK Khandaker from the post, Maj Gen (retd) KM Shafiullah was elected chairman of the Sector Commanders Forum (SCF) on Friday.
A meeting of the SCF executive committee with its vice-chairman Lt Col (retd) Abu Osman in the chair unanimously elected KM Shafiullah as its chairman, said a press release.
The meeting held at the forum’s central office also relieved AK Khandaker of all duties, including revoking his membership, after accepting his resignation letter that was tendered in the face of strident criticisms for his recently published book ‘1971: Bhetore Baire’.
Terming the book ‘planned propaganda against the objective history of the Liberation War’, the SCF meeting observed that AK Khandaker resorted to falsehood about the universal political and social contexts of the Independence of Bangladesh in the book in motivated and misleading ways.
It also thinks the publishing house and those who edited the book can in no way abdicate responsibilities for the distortion of history.
“The meeting thinks that the basic facts of the Liberation War were depicted almost negatively in the book of AK Khandaker after 43 years of the Independence of Bangladesh, which is the distortion of objective history,” the release signed by the forum’s acting secretary general Haroon Habib said.
The book depicted misleading information about the March 7 historical speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the March 26 proclamation of independence and other well-established historical true facts, it added.
Providing self-contradictory and misleading information in the book, AK Khandaker lost his moral rights to lead a national organisation like the Sector Commanders Forum that is based on the Liberation War’s history and spirit, the meeting observed.
KM Shafiullah Bir Uttam, Col (retd) Shamsul Alam, Dr Sarwar Ali, Haroon Habib, M Hamid, Nurul Alam, Maj Gen (retd) Shahjahan, Anwarul Alam Shahid, Maj (retd) Ziauddin Ahmed, Farjana Shahnaj Majid, Mohd Abdul Hye, Prof Abul Kalam Azad Patwari, Shahjahan Mridha Benu, Nurul Anwar, Sadruzzaman Helal Bir Pratik, Saiduzzaman Tara, Mosharraf Hossain, Dr MSA Mansur Ahmed and Tushar Amin, among others, spoke at the meeting.
Earlier on Wednesday, Air Vice-Marshal (retd) AK Khandaker, who was the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Bangladesh Armed Forces during the War for Independence in 1971, resigned as chairman of Sector Commanders Forum, citing personal reasons.
AK Khandaker, also former Planning Minister of Awami League government, stepped down in the wake of widespread criticisms from different quarters, especially from the ruling Awami League, for his recently published book ‘1971: Bhetare Baire’.
In the book, “1971: Bhetore Baire”, AK Khandaker made the controversial claim that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had shouted “Joy Pakistan” at the end of his historic March 7 speech in 1971. – UNB, Dhaka.
