Agartala Conspiracy Case

3 Plot and detection

The Agartala Conspiracy Case (Bengali:

Urdu:

)was a sedition case

in Pakistan, brought by the government of Pakistan in
1968 against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then leader
of the Awami League and East Pakistan, and 34 other
persons.[1]

The plot was conceived by Sheikh Mujib in an attempt

to ignite an armed revolution against West Pakistan that
would result in the secession. Two of the accused,
navy steward Mujibur Rahman and the educationist Mohammad Ali Reza went to Agartala, Tripura, a city in
Eastern India to seek Indian support for an independent
Bangladesh.[4]
The alleged conspiracy was uncovered by the Lieutenant
Colonel Shamsul Alam, who commanded the East Pakistan Detachment of the Directorate for Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI). It was during this time that an ocer of the East Bengal Regiment, Rauf ur Rahman, who
was in league with the conspirators made an attempt on
Alams life. Alam displayed great bravery and chased the
would-be assassins; for this Alam was awarded the Sitarae-Basalat, the highest award for bravery in action during
peacetime.

Case

The case was led in early 1968 and implicated Sheikh

Mujib and others in conspiring with India against the
stability of Pakistan. The case is ocially called State
vs. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and others, but is popularly
known as Agartala Shoojontro Mamla (Agartala conspiracy case) as the main conspiracy was purported to have
taken place in the Indian city of Agartala in Tripura state,
where Sheikh Mujibs associates met Indian Intelligence 1,500 Bengalis were arrested in connection with the plot
Bureau ocials.[2]
in 1967.[3] In January 1968 the Home Department of
Pakistan declared that it had detected a scheme to destabilize Pakistan and break the Eastern wing through an
armed revolt, and had arrested 8 people. Later on January
18, the Department implicated Sheikh Mujib as well. He
2 Accused
and others were arrested on 9 May 1968, and were subsequently released, only to be arrested later.[3]
The government of Pakistan resolved to frame charges
against 35 political personalities and high government
ocials under civil law. They were Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, Ahmed Fazlur Rahman CSP, Commander
Moazzem Hossain, Steward Mujibur Rahman, former
LS Sultanuddin Ahmad, LSCDI Nur Mohammad, Flight
Sergeant Mahz Ullah, Corporal Abdus Samad, former Havildar Dalil Uddin, Ruhul Quddus CSP, Flight
Sergeant Md. Fazlul Haq, Bibhuti Bhushan Chowdhury
alias Manik Chowdhury, Bidhan Krishna Sen, Subedar
Abdur Razzaque, former clerk Mujibur Rahman, former Flight Sergeant Md. Abdur Razzaque, Sergeant Zahurul Haq, Benedict Dias, A.B. Khurshid, Khan Mohammad Shamsur Rahman CSP, AKM Shamsul Haque,
Havildar Azizul Haq, Mahfuzul Bari, Sergeant Shamsul
Haq, Shamsul Alam, Captain Mohammad Abdul Muttalib, 21 Baluch Regiment, Captain Shawkat Ali, Captain
Khondkar Nazmul Huda, Captain A.N.M Nuruzzaman,
Sergeant Abdul Jalil, Mahbub Uddin Chowdhury, Lt. M
Rahman, former Subedar Tajul Islam, Ali Reza, Captain
Khurshid Uddeen Ahmed, Master Warrant Ocer Abdul
Latif Mazumder, and Lt. Abdur Rauf.[3]

4 Trials
Pakistan decided to try the accused by court-martial since
a lot of the accused involved military personnel. However, this was overturned in favor of a civil trial in order
to implicate the politicians ahead of the 1970 elections as
well as to provide transparency of the trials. Hence, only
35 were nally accused. The accused were then moved
from Dhaka Central Jail to the secured borders of the
Dhaka Cantonment.[3]
The penal codes were amended to benet the prosecution of the accused, and the trial began on 19 June 1968
under a special tribunal. The hearings took place inside
a secured chamber within the Dhaka Cantonment. The
charge sheet of 100 paragraphs were presented before the
tribunal, with 227 witnesses and 7 approvers.[3]
The tribunal was headed by 3 judges - the chair, Justice
SA Rahman was a non-Bengali; the other members MR
Khan and Maksumul Hakim were Bengalis. The govern1

ment was represented by the Attorney General TH Khan

and former Foreign Minister Manzur Quader. Thomas
Williams, a British lawyer, along with local attorneys
challenged the formation of the tribunal by ling a petition in favor of Sheikh Mujib.[3] The approvers appeared
in the witness box and testied that they provided false
evidence under the coercion of the State.[3]
Members of public looked at the case as a conspiracy of
the Pakistan government against the political autonomy
movement of East Pakistan, especially since the government was keen to prove that Sheikh Mujib was an Indian
agent and a separatist. They organized mass movement
and demanded immediate withdrawal of the case and release of all prisoners.[3] According to the government decision, the nal date for the case was 6 February 1969.
However, because of the mass upsurge of 1969, the government had to defer the date.[3]
In the morning of 15 February 1969, a Pakistani habildar
shot point blank at Sergeant Zahurul Haq at the door of
his jail cell, and killed him. The news of the killing led a
furious mob to set re to the State Guest House and other
government buildings,[3] where the chief lawyer for the
government and the Chair of the tribunal resided. They
vacated secretly. Some of the case les and evidence got
burnt as a result of the arson.[3]
In the face of mass movement, the government withdrew
the Agartala Conspiracy Case on 22 February 1969.[3]
The accused were released on the following day and the
Race course Maidan saw a grand reception of the accused, where Sheikh Mujib was given his famous title
Bangabandhu.[3]

Aftermath

The case was withdrawn in the face of a massive popular

uprising, which resulted in the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan and the fall of General Ayub Khan's dictatorship in
1969. The case and the resulting uprising is seen as one
of the major events leading to Bengali nationalism and the
Bangladesh Liberation War.[5]
Sergeant Zahurul Haq were honored by the naming of a
students residential hall of the University of Dhaka after
him.[6]

Confession by conspirators

In 2010, and on the anniversary of the withdrawal on

22 February 2011, surviving conspirator and Deputy
Speaker of the Parliament Shawkat Ali confessed to the
parliament at a point of order that the charges read out to
them were accurate, stating that they formed a Shangram
Parishad (Action Committee) under Sheikh Mujib for
the secession of East Pakistan.[1][4]

EXTERNAL LINKS

Parliamentarian Tofael Ahmed added that had the case

not been led, the plot would have culminated in the secession of East Pakistan without bloodshed, and credit
the Deputy Speaker for planning the liberation of the
nation.[1]

7 References
[1] "'Agartala conspiracy case was not false'".
BDNews24.com. 23 February 2011. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
[2] Asoka Raina (April 1982). Inside R. A. W.: Story of Indias Secret Service. Vikas Publishing House. p. 50. ISBN
978-0706912999.
[3] Begum, Shahida (2012). Agartala Conspiracy Case. In
Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National
Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society
of Bangladesh.
[4] Textbook 'incorrectly' describes Agartala Case:
Shawkat. The Daily Star. BSS. 12 June 2010. Retrieved
2 September 2011.
[5] Badrul Ahsan, Syed (February 2007). February 1969:
Revisiting the Agartala Conspiracy Case. Forum (The
Daily Star). Retrieved 2 September 2011.
[6] 35 'accused' honoured. The Daily Star. 16 February
2011. Retrieved 2 September 2011.

8 External links
Malik, Shahdeen (26 October 2003). Enslaved
daughter, Bhawal Mejo Kumar and the Agartala
Conspiracy Case. The Daily Star.
Agartala Conspiracy Case & Mass-upsurge of
1969. Bangladesh Awami League.

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