The Hindu, 3 February 2010
"Truth and justice have finally prevailed." This has been the near-universal reaction in Bangladesh to the execution on January 28 of five of the 12 former Army officers who in 1975 assassinated Bangladesh's founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Indeed, nearly 35 years after he and his family members, bar Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehena, his two daughters, were gunned down within three-and-a-half years of the country securing Independence from Pakistan, justice has been done to at least half the number of assassins who were behind bars.
The historic trial and the execution of the convicts were no easy tasks. It took almost 13 years to complete the process. The trial took place under the normal law of the land, thanks to the Sheikh Hasina government that came to power through democratic elections a little more than a year ago. The execution of the killers of Bangabandhu, the popular title Mujib still enjoys for having led the struggle for the nation's freedom, amounted to a return to the rule of law, and a warning that anyone who commits a crime should not expect to get away with it easily. It is history that the small South Asian country has created.