Azmi wants to change the national anthem and constitution
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Photo: Abdullahil Aman Azmi/Collected
Dhaka: Abdullahil Aman Azmi, the son of Jamaat-e-Islami's former Amir Professor Ghulam Azam, has *of Bangladesh. After a long eight years, he was released from the secret jail’Aina Ghar’ on August 7. After this, the dismissed Brigadier General of the army spoke about his own experience and wishes to the journalists for the first time.
During this time, he called the national anthem of Bangladesh as 'the bane of the existence of freedom' and demanded to change it, along with the formulation of a new constitution, to determine the exact number of martyrs in the liberation war of 1971 through a survey.
Abdullahil Aman Azmi joined the press conference held at the National Press Club on Tuesday (September 3) virtually.
Aman Azmi said, "In 1905, Rabindranath Tagore wrote 'Amar Sonar Bangla I love you' to nullify the partition of Bengal." This national anthem is to unite the two Bengals. Do we want to be one Bengal? Do we want to keep independent Bangladesh, or want to be a united state of West Bengal in India?
We want an independent Bangladesh, we want to have an independent Bangladesh. This national anthem is antithetical to the existence of our independent Bangladesh. I strongly demand that our new national anthem be made.
Terming the 1972 constitution as 'illegal', the former army officer said, "In 1970, the Awami League took the mandate from the people to build the state of Pakistan under the constitution of Pakistan, not by writing an independent constitution. Pakistan imposed war on us in 1971, we fought and became independent - Alhamdulillah.
But they did not take any mandate from the people to draft a new constitution. So this constitution is not valid in my view. A new committee should be formed to make a new constitution, it should be cancelled.
Aman Azmi was dismissed in 2009 when he was a Brigadier in the Bangladesh Army. In 2015, he was criticized on social media as the information of 30 lakh martyrs in the Liberation War was 'fictitious'.
He raised the same question again in the press conference and said, "Sheikh Mujib Sahib said 3 million while saying 3 lakh and it has become 3 million." By saying 30 lakh martyrs without any survey, they have cheated people by exploiting people's emotions.
I appeal to the government, you should survey and find out whether it is 30 lakh or 3 crore. According to my knowledge, it is 2 lakh 86 thousand. They have made 3 lakhs into 30 lakhs. There is still time, let the nation know the true history. Don't let our new generation build on lies. You make arrangements by doing a real survey.'
Abdullahil Aman Azmi said he was picked up on August 22, 2016. In the following years, detention and torture were carried out. They kept me missing for two reasons. My paternal identity and I am anti-Indian. I was eating with my mother, while the government's thugs - I say thugs because picking them up without a case, without a warrant, is the work of thugs. He also commented that those who have done this work are the gangsters of the government.
Aman Azmi said that he could not sleep due to the fear of death while he was missing. "In the room where I was kept, I felt like they were taking me to the crossfire if I heard the sound of footsteps all night. I recited Tahajjud and prayed, Allah, if this prayer is my last prayer. If I die at the hands of the oppressors, give me the status of a martyr. And my corpse should not be eaten by dogs and cats. Deliver my dead body to my children.'
Azmi said that he did not see the light of the world for eight years, "I did not see the sky or the sun while I was imprisoned there for the last eight years." Sometimes they blindfolded me in such a way that I felt like my eyeballs would burst. While wearing handcuffs, the hands would get bruised. For eight years I was in a dark room, I could not see anything in the world during this time.
Aman Azmi returned home two days after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5. He said, "After coming back, I came to know that they have misbehaved with my wife too. They wanted to pick her up too. The young maid of my house, they also raised their hands on her. The one who takes care of us in my house, our manager - threw him and jumped on his chest.
