Golam Rabbani

By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui, 671/Latif

Golam Rabbani, kit no. 306/Jinnah House joined Cadet College Petaro in 1962 and left the college in 1966 after completing his Intermediate.

He was born on 4 October 1947. He was shot at in an assassination attempt at Chittagong and died on 24 April 2004 at a Bangkok Hospital.

Golam Rabbani belonged to East Pakistan. After passing out from Petaro, he joined the Pakistan Navy.

After the 1971 separation of East Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh, Golam Rabbani became an officer of the Bangladesh Navy. He had participated in the Bangladesh independence movement and was recognized as a freedom fighter, and became the aide-de-camp (ADC) of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and was regarded highly in the Awami League circles. He was also a witness to the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

He retired from the Bangladesh Navy as a Commodore. After his retirement, he was appointed the Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA). Later on, he became the Managing Director of Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ).

On April 11, 2004, Commodore(R) Rabbani was shot at by a group of gunmen on the outskirts of the port city at Muradpur while on his way to KEPZ in a microbus. He was badly injured and a bullet pierced through his throat. He remained in a state of coma and was at first moved to Chittagong Medical College Hospital and then taken to CMH Dhaka. On 14 April, he was flown via a special air ambulance to Bangkok, Thailand and admitted to the Bumrungrad Hospital where he was put on a ventilator. On 16 April 2004, doctors pronounced him clinically dead. However, the life support equipment was not removed until 24 April. His body was then flown back to Dhaka for burial at the Banani graveyard.

According to the primary investigation, Rabbani opposed abuse of power and wanted to take action against misappropriation which led to his murder.

After nearly a year of court cases, on 7 April 2005 the Speedy Trial Tribunal, Chittagong awarded life term to three persons and five-year imprisonment to two others in the sensational murder case of Commodore (R) Golam Rabbani. Two other accused persons were acquitted.

The Speedy Trial Tribunal, Chittagong, after hearing testimonies of 26 witnesses, sentenced accused Mohammed Salim, son of late Alhaz Aminullah of west Demchar under Satkania upazila, Abdul Malek Sohel alias Sohel, son of late Abdul Jalil of Sher Shah colony in the city and Mohammad Hashim, son of Makbul Ahmad of Enayet Bazar in the city to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for life and fined taka 50,000 each today. The tribunal sentenced five-year RI to Engineer Abu Naser Chowdhury, ex Managing Director of the KEPZ (who was replaced by Cdre.(R) Golam Rabbani) and Humayun Kabir Chowdhury Manu, ex security officer of the KEPZ and fined taka 50,000 each. The Tribunal acquitted two accused Saiful Islam alias Bilya Saiful and Monsur Alam.