Abdul Kader Siddique

Abdul Kader Siddique is a Bangladeshi politician. He is popularly known under the title of Bangabir. He served as a Mukti Bahini member and organizer of the Bangladesh Liberation War. He fought with an estimated 17,000-strong guerrilla force in the Tangail region against the Pakistan Army.[2] The army was called Kaderia Bahini (Kader's Army). At the end of the war, on 16 December 1971, Siddique's forces entered Dhaka along with the Indian forces, signaling the end of the war.[3] He was awarded Bir Uttom by the Government of Bangladesh. Since 1999, he has been serving as the leader of his own-formed party Krishak Sramik Janata League.[4]

Abdul Kader Siddique
আবদুল কাদের সিদ্দিকী
Siddique in 2017
Member of Perliament - Tangail-8
In office 1996–1999
Preceded by	Humayun Khan Panni
Succeeded by	Shawkat Momen Shahjahan
In office 2001–2008
Preceded by	Shawkat Momen Shahjahan
Succeeded by	Shawkat Momen Shahjahan
Personal details
Political party	Krishak Sramik Janata League (since 1999)
Other political affiliations	Bangladesh Awami League (1996-1999)
Spouse(s)	Nasrin Siddique
Relatives	Abdul Latif Siddiqui (brother)[1]
Awards	Bir Uttom
Military service
Branch/service	Mukti Bahini
Battles/wars	Bangladesh Liberation War

Career

During the Bangladesh Liberation war, he formed Kader Bahini to fight against the Pakistan military. The Kader Bahini had 17 thousand personnel. He was loyal to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.[5] He and his unit fought mostly in Tangail District.[6]

After the Independence of Bangladesh, Siddique went back to his home town of Tangail where he enjoyed considerable patronage from the Awami League, the party of Prime Minister Mujibur Rahman.[7]

After the assassination of Mujibur Rahman in 1975, Siddiqui and his followers organised attacks on the authorities of Khondakar Mushtaque's government. Elements loyal to Siddiqui operated from bases in Assam province in India and were actively supported by India's Border Security Force.[7] In the insurgency against the military government of Bangladesh 104 rebels were killed and more than 500 were injured. The insurgency lasted more than two years.[8] He was tried by a military court on 24 July 1978 and sentenced to 7 years in jail. He was sentenced to life imprisoned on revolt and murder charges. He was accused of killing a major and a number of soldiers of Bangladesh Army after the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman following the 15 August 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état.[9] On 16 December 1990, he returned to Bangladesh from self imposed exile in India. He was arrested in Bangladesh on 17 January 1991.[10]

Siddique was elected member of the parliament of Bangladesh from different constituencies of Tangail.

In 1996, Siddique was elected to Parliament as a Bangladesh Awami League candidate from Tangail-8.[11] In 1999, Siddique was expelled from Awami League. He then resigned from the parliament and formed his own party Krishak Sramik Janata League.[4] This triggered a by-election, which he lost to the Bangladesh Awami League candidate, Shawakat Momen Shahjahan. Siddique was elected to parliament from Tangail 8 in 2001 Bangladesh General Election as a candidate of Krishak Sramik Janata League.[11] On 17 October 2006 his rally was attacked by Bangladesh Chhatra League activists leaving 11 injured in Jamalpur District.[12]

A court in Dhaka issued an arrest warrant for Siddique on 11 November 2014 over a defamation case for calling Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir Alamgir, Minister of Home Affairs, a Razzakar.[13][14]

In 2017, Bangladesh High Court disqualified Siddique from contesting a by-election from Tangail-4 because he had defaulted on a loan. He tried to contest the 2018 Bangladesh General Election from Tangail-4 and Tangail-8 but his candidacy was rejected by Bangladesh Election Commission.[15] He, along with his party, joined the Jatiya Oikyafront to contest the election against the Bangladesh Awami League alliance.[16][17] His daughter, Kuri Siddique, also applied for nomination from Tangail-8 in case his candidacy was rejected.[18] The Election Commission rejected the appeal filed by Siddique, challenging the cancellation of his nomination on 8 December 2018.[19]

Controversy

According to a report in The Times, Siddique and his guerrillas beat up and subsequently bayoneted and shot to death a group of prisoners (who they claimed were members of the Razakars) after a rally held near Dhaka Stadium on 19 December 1971.[20] Siddique personally bayoneted three prisoners to death and the entire incident was filmed by foreign film crews whom Siddique invited to witness the spectacle.[7] Siddique was subsequently arrested by the Indian Army.[2][21] Siddique discussed his involvement in the murders in an interview with Yasmin Saikia, the author of Women, War and Making Bangladesh: Remembering 1971. After describing an event in which Siddiqui shot a Mukti Bahini soldier for stealing a shawl from a civilian, Saikia states, referring to the Dhaka stadium incident, that 'at the time he did not think of his act as a crime against humanity, being swayed by the Bengali public sentiment for revenge. Today he knows that both...were violent acts, and he is pained by his past'.[22]

Personal life

Siddique is married to Nasrin Siddique.[23] His elder brother Abdul Latif Siddiqui is also an Awami League politician who served as the member of parliament and the minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology.[1] He, too, was expelled from the party in 2015.[24] Their other two younger brothers are Murad Siddiqui and Azad Siddiqui.[25]

References

1. "Kader Siddique's nomination cancelled, his party calls Tangail shutdown for Wednesday". Retrieved August 21, 2018.
2. Brian May, "Indian Army Arrests 'Tiger of Tangail' After Dacca Bayoneting", The Times, December 21, 1971, pg. 4.
3. Ahmed, Helal Uddin (2012). "Mukti Bahini". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
4. "Quader holds talks with Kader Siddique". The Daily Star. July 26, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
5. De, Barun; Samāddāra, Raṇabīra (1997). State, development, and political culture: Bangladesh and India. Har-Anand Publications. p. 137.
6. "Valour of three teenage freedom fighters". The Daily Star. March 26, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
7. Lifschultz, Lawrence (1979). Bangladesh: The Unfinished Revolution. Zed Press. p. 64. ISBN 0-905762-07-X. Kader Siddiqui appalled both Bengalis and foreigners when, in public, shortly after the liberation of Dacca, he personally bayoneted three alleged collaborators to death. The entire incident was filmed from start to finish by foreign film crews whom he had invited to the spectacle. He returned to Tangail after independence and became the recipient of substantial Awami League patronage. Following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in August 1975, Siddiqui and his followers began to offer resistance to the post-coup authorities headed by Khondakar Mustaque. Elements identifying themselves with Siddiqui gradually withdrew to India and, with the active and direct assistance of the Indian Government's Border Security Force, set up training camps in the Assam border area.
8. Ltd, Banglainsider. "Those who protested that day". en.banglainsider.com. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
9. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Bangladesh: Information on Mr. Abdul Kader Siddiqi (Siddique/Siddiqui)". Refworld. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
10. Ahmad, Borhanuddin (January 1, 1993). The Generals of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Vikas Publishing House. p. 186. ISBN 9780706968590.
11. "4 Siddique brothers to contest from Tangail constituencies". Dhaka Tribune. November 26, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
12. "Kader Siddiqui's rallies attacked in Jamalpur". The Daily Star. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
13. "Arrest warrant for Kader Siddique". The Daily Star. November 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
14. "Arrest warrant issued against Kader Siddique". The Daily Star. November 12, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
15. "Kader Siddique's candidacy rejected". Dhaka Tribune. December 2, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
16. "Kader joins Oikyafront". The Daily Star. November 5, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
17. "Kader Siddique joins Oikya Front". Daily Sun. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
18. "Kader Siddique and daughter submit nomination forms in Tangail 8". Dhaka Tribune. November 28, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
19. "EC rejects Kader Siddique's appeal". Dhaka Tribune. December 8, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
20. Stanhope, Henry (December 20, 1971). "Mukti Bahini Bayonet Prisoners After Prayers". The Times. London. p. 4. The leader of the Mukti Bahini ... took part, casually beating the prisoners with has swagger stick before borrowing a bayonet to lunge at one of the trussed-up men. The leader, Mr Abdul Qader Siddiqui, ... had only 10 minutes before promised the prisoners a fair trial 'as in any civilized country'. Mr Siddiqui ... had earlier haranged [sic] a crowd of 8,000 for nearly an hour ... The rally ended with Islamic prayers in which the prisoners ... joined their captors in offering praise to Allah ... First [the remains of the crowd] began beating up the prisoners, whom they dubbed razakars and who were bound like chickens ... Mr Saddiqui's Mukti guards ... fixed bayonets and charged at the prisoners ... They stabed [sic] them through the neck, the chest, the stomach. One of the guards, dismayed at having no bayonet, shot one of the prisoners in the stomach with his sten gun.
21. "THE TANGAIL LANDINGS A signal for victory". The Daily Star. March 26, 2017. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
22. Saikia, Yasmin (2011). Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh: Remembering 1971. Duke University Press. p. 257. ISBN 0-8223-5038-6.
23. "Wanted Kader Siddiqui waiting for police at home". bdnews24.com. November 13, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
24. "Latif expelled from AL". The Daily Star. October 25, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
25. "Four Siddiqui brothers to run in Tangail-3,4,5,8". The Daily Star. December 4, 2008. Retrieved August 21, 2018.