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. The army was called Kaderia Bahini. 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. 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.
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. He and his unit fought mostly in Tangail District. 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. 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. 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. 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. On 16 December 1990, he returned to Bangladesh from self imposed exile in India. He was arrested in Bangladesh on 17 January 1991. 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. In 1999, Siddique was expelled from Awami League. He then resigned from the parliament and formed his own party Krishak Sramik Janata League. 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. On 17 October 2006 his rally was attacked by Bangladesh Chhatra League activists leaving 11 injured in Jamalpur District. 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. 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. He, along with his party, joined the Jatiya Oikyafront to contest the election against the Bangladesh Awami League alliance. His daughter, Kuri Siddique, also applied for nomination from Tangail-8 in case his candidacy was rejected. The Election Commission rejected the appeal filed by Siddique, challenging the cancellation of his nomination on 8 December 2018.
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 after a rally held near Dhaka Stadium on 19 December 1971. Siddique personally bayoneted three prisoners to death and the entire incident was filmed by foreign film crews whom Siddique invited to witness the spectacle. Siddique was subsequently arrested by the Indian Army. 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'.
