90 BNP, 10 AL leaders wanted Gen Moeen to float party:Gen Masududdin Almost 100 senior leaders from both Awami League and BNP had met the then army chief General Moeen U Ahmed requesting him to launch a new political party as, the politicians claimed, they had been fed up with the two ladies. It was how the minus-two formula came up in the media, said Lt Gen Masududdin Chowdhury, a powerful general during the emergency rule, who is currently serving as Bangladesh High Commissioner to Australia. In an interview with Canada-based online newspaper Natun Desh, Masududdin said there were 90 leaders from BNP and 10 from Awami League who met General Moeen inspiring him with political ambition. General Masud Uddin, however, claimed that he strongly opposed the plan to rule the country under emergency since he had no political ambition. He also differed with the contents of General Moeen's book and said he had been saddened with the degree of corruption by the political leaders. He said some of the politicians were trying to create controversy about the role of the Army to get cheap popularity. Some identified politicians from both the ruling party and the opposition are engaged in creating controversy and hindering the democratic process, General Masud told the Natun Desh. Responding to a question about his personal involvement in torturing BNP leader Tareq Rahman, General Masud Uddin said the task of interrogating politicians was performed by DGFI and he was not with that department during the emergency rule. When asked about the telephone call to the President for imposing emergency rule, General Masud categorically denied his involvement saying, "it was true that I served as the GOC of an important division and later as Principal Staff Officer but I had no authority to make a phone call directly to the President of the country". The interview was taken by Harun Rashid Azad from Sydney last week. |
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