Sergeant Zahurul Haque’s 54th death anniversary observed

Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) observed the 54th death anniversary of martyred Sergeant Zahurul Haque with due solemnity on Wednesday.

On 15 February 1969, Sergeant Zahurul Haque, an accused in the Agartala conspiracy case, was killed by the Pakistan military while being detained in Dhaka Cantonment.

On his death anniversary, a milad mahfil was arranged at the central mosque of Bangladesh Air Force Base Zahurul Haque, Chattogram after Zuhr prayer seeking the divine blessing for his departed soul of and continued peace and prosperity of the country.

Air Officer Commanding of BAF Base Zahurul Haque, Air Vice Marshal Md Badrul Amin, senior officers, airmen, and other members of the Base attended the programme, reads an ISPR press release. 

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the liberation of the country, a student hall of Dhaka University was named after "Sergeant Zahurul Haque Hall" and the Chattogram base of the Bangladesh Air Force was also named after him in 1982.

He was awarded the "Swadhinata Padak" by the government in 2018.

Sergeant Zahurul Haque, a Bengali member of the then Pakistan Air Force, was arrested in December 1967 in the Agartala conspiracy case filed by the Pakistan government and kept in the Dhaka Central Jail.

In the case, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was mentioned as the prime accused and martyred Sergeant Zahurul Haque was mentioned as the 17th accused. Under the Air Force Act, Sergeant Zahurul Haque was later held captive in Dhaka Cantonment.

Pakistan's military ruler Ayub Khan was forced to withdraw the Agartala conspiracy case in the face of the mass uprising in 1969.