Mirza Rakibul Huda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mirza Rakibul Huda was a police officer and commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Chittagong Metropolitan Police.[1][2] He is best known for ordering the 1988 Chittagong massacre.[3]
During the Bangladesh Liberation War, Huda served as a major in the artillery unit of the Pakistan Army in Jessore.[4] He was taken prisoner of war and returned to Bangladesh after the end of the war.[4] He was one of 17 former officers of the Pakistan Army inducted into the Bangladesh Police by President Ziaur Rahman.[4][5]
Huda ordered the Chittagong Metropolitan Police to fire on a rally of the Awami League on 24 January 1988, killing 24 in the incident known as the 1988 Chittagong massacre.[6][7] The rally was led by future prime minister Sheikh Hasina.[6] Hasina was saved by members of the Chattogram District Bar Association and taken to Chittagong Court.[8] The bodies were taken to a crematorium, and journalists were refused access.[9] On 5 March 1992, after the fall of President Hussain Mohammad Ershad, a case was filed over the massacre, and Huda was one of the accused by advocate Shahidul Huda.[6][10][11] The court initially rejected the case as the accused were police officers.[12] The police pressed charges in 1998 after Sheikh Hasina led Awami League came to power.[6][13] The Criminal Investigation Department pressed supplemental charge sheets including Huda and inspector Gobinda Chandra Mondal.[10] The plaintiff in the case died in 2005 and his son, Ershad Hossain, took over the case.[8]