A petition containing sedition allegations was submitted to a court here on Sunday against BNP senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman, now living in London, for branding Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as ‘Pakbandhu’ and spreading distorted information about the Liberation War. Though heard the petition filed under the section 123A and 124 A of the Bangladesh Penal Code, Dhaka Metropolitan magistrate Mohammad Asaduzzaman Noor did not pass any order over the matter. Bangabandhu Foundation president advocate Moshiur Malek filed the complaint of the ‘condemnation of the creation of the state’ and ‘advocacy of the abolition of its sovereignty’ lodged against the senior BNP leader. In his complaint, the petitioner alleged that he came to know from a report published in the daily Kaler Kontho on September 29 that Tarique Rahman branded Bangabandhu as ‘Pakbandhu’ while addressing a discussion, titled ‘Bangladesher Prothom President Biswaneta Shaheed Ziaur Rahman: Prekhkhit Bangladesh’, in London. The petitioner further said Tarique also remarked that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had considered the Pakistani occupation forces safe instead of lakhs of his countrymen on March 25, 1971. Referring to the report, the petitioner accused Tarique of engaging in a pernicious campaign against Bangladesh history, its Liberation War and Bangabndhu’s role. —UNB, Dhaka
