BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has refuted allegations labeling his late father as an “anti-liberation figure,” asserting that his father, Mirza Ruhul Amin, spent almost the entire duration of the 1971 Liberation War in India.
In a Facebook post published Monday afternoon from his verified page, Fakhrul wrote, “My father became a target of false propaganda during the previous Awami regime. Sadly, over the past year, a group claiming to be part of the July Movement has also joined in spreading these lies.”
Although Fakhrul did not specify the exact allegations, his post appears to respond to renewed social media campaigns portraying his father as a 'collaborator of pro-Pakistani Peace Committee' — an accusation long repeated by Awami League leaders.
Recounting his family’s experience during the war, Fakhrul wrote, “On March 27, 1971, my late father, Mirza Ruhul Amin, took my mother, two younger brothers, and two sisters to my maternal grandfather’s house. Later, in April, he crossed into Islampurin India, where he stayed at a refugee camp for most of the war. When Thakurgaon was liberated on December 3, he returned home to find everything looted. My late mother sold her jewelry to rebuild our lives. I began teaching economics and handed my first salary to my mother. By the grace of Allah, life went on — just as millions of Bangladeshis rebuilt their lives from the ruins after 1971.”
Fakhrul emphasized that his father, a former member of the then East Pakistan Provincial Assembly, ex-MP, and former mayor of Thakurgaon Municipality, was never charged in any case. “Every honest person in Thakurgaon knows my father’s contribution. The foundation formed in his memory was led by respected politicians of all parties. When he passed away in 1997, the government even declared official mourning.”
He added that much of modern Thakurgaon’s development began with his father’s initiatives. “Whatever is modern in Thakurgaon started under his leadership,” Fakhrul wrote.
Reflecting on his own journey from academia to politics, the BNP secretary general said, “Our young generation gave Bangladesh new hope last July. I urge them not to cultivate falsehoods. Let them compete with intellect, integrity, and policy — not deceit. Populism can be bought with lies, but nations are built only with truth and sincerity.”
Concluding his post with a verse from the Holy Qur’an (Surah Al-Hujurat), he wrote: “O you who believe, avoid much suspicion; indeed, some suspicion is sin.”
Fakhrul also attached a page from the book “Muktijuddhe Dinajpur” (Dinajpur in the Liberation War), where the author — writing in the first person — notes: “My father, too, was a Muslim Leaguer. He was a member of the Provincial Assembly at the time. My father also went to India during the Liberation War.”
