All institutions named after Ziaur Rahman will be remnamed: Bangladesh

Bangladesh will rename all government institutions named after "illegal autocratic ruler" Ziaur Rahman, a former president, a day after it rechristened the Dhaka international airport named after him, sparking strong protest from the opposition BNP.
       
A cabinet meeting last night renamed the airport Hazrat Shahjalal, after a great Muslim saint when it also decided to change the names of other establishments after Rahman, the general-turned-politician who had founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) currently being led by his wife Khaleda Zia.
    

"According to the cabinet decision no structures or institutions will bear name of illegal autocratic ruler Ziaur Rahman following the High Court verdict regarding cancellation of the Fifth Amendment," prime minister Sheikh Hasina's press
secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters during a post meet briefing last night.

He added that the cabinet also decided to change the name of Shaheed Ziaur Rahman University, Barisal to Barisal University.
    
Referring to an earlier civil aviation ministry proposed Azad said the renaming of ZIA was justified also as all other major airports were named after great Islamic Sufi saints who shaped the peoples mind with their liberal outlook.

But in an instant reaction BNP said the government would have "pay severely" for the decision saying a countrywide movement would be launched as a protest.