Hasanul Haq Inu (born 12 November 1946) is a

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, eponymous bay. Bangladeshi nationality law, Bangladeshi citizenship was fo ...

politician and the former

Minister of Information An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given t ...

of Bangladesh. He leads a faction of the

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal () is a List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The party was founded by Serajul Alam Khan. The party was dominant during the 1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgency. The current party presid ...

and was involved in a Marxist insurgency in the 1970s.

Early life and education

Inu was born in Bheramara,

Kushtia District Kushtia District (; ) is a district in the Khulna Division, Khulna administrative division of western Bangladesh. Kushtia is the second largest municipality in Bangladesh and the eleventh largest city in the country. Kushtia has existed as a sepa ...

to A H M Qamrul Haq, an employee of Karnaphuli Paper Mills, and Begum Hasna Hena Haq. Inu graduated with a degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from the East Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology in 1970.

Political career

Inu joined

Bangladesh Chhatra League Bangladesh Chhatra League, simply Chhatra League (), is the student wing of the political party, Bangladesh Awami League, founded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 4 January 1948. The organisation is banned and listed as a terrorist organisation in B ...

in 1968, and was appointed the general secretary of its Engineering University unit in 1969.

1972–1975

After the

independence of Bangladesh The independence of Bangladesh was Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence, declared from Pakistan on 26 March 1971, which is now celebrated as Independence Day (Bangladesh), Independence Day. The Bangladesh Liberation War started on 26 March ...

, Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing affiliated with the

Bangladesh Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

split following ideological differences between

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangl ...

's nephew

Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni (4 December 1939 – 15 August 1975) was a Bangladeshi politician. He was one of the nephews of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. He was one of the founder of Mujib Bahini Bangladesh Liberation ...

, forming

, led by Serajul Alam Khan. Hasanul Haq Inu joined this faction. The party called for establishing socialism through an armed revolution. It had an armed wing, Gonobahini, which led a violent insurgency against the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In 1974, Hasanul Haq Inu led a group of armed men to attack the residence of the then

Home Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

Mansur Ali, which resulted in the 1974 Ramna massacre. He also distributed anti-government leaflets.

After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

After the

assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, was assassinated along with most of his family members during the early hours of 15 August 1975 by a group of Bangladesh Army personnel who invaded his Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, re ...

and his family in 1975, Inu along with Gonobahini's military leader Colonel Abu Taher rescued army chief

Ziaur Rahman Ziaur Rahman (19 January 193630 May 1981) was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the sixth president of Bangladesh from 1977 until Assassination of Ziaur Rahman, his assassination in 1981. One of the leading figures of t ...

from house arrest, to facilitate a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

takeover of power. On 7 November 1975, Inu led assault on the Indian high commission to kidnap the high Commissioner Samar Sen. Ziaur Rahman realised that the disorder set off by the soldiers' mutiny had to be suppressed firmly if discipline was to be restored in the

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. Ziaur Rahman declared

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

and cracked down on the

Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal () is a political party in Bangladesh. The party was founded by Serajul Alam Khan. The party was dominant during the 1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgency. The current party president is Hasanul Haque Inu. History Th ...

. Abu Taher was sentenced to death by a military tribunal on charges of treason, and Inu was sentenced to

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

Since 2008

Inu was elected from Kushtia-2 in the Bangladesh Parliament. He is the president of a faction of the

, which is a member of the Awami League led coalition government in Bangladesh. He was appointed minister of Information in 2012, replacing

Abul Kalam Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin (11 November 188822 February 1958), better known as Maulana Azad and sometimes referred as Abul Kalam Azad, was an Indian politician, writer and activist of the Indian independence movement. A senior leader of t ...

. This appointment occurred despite protests from senior Awami League leaders. As an only Bangladesh Government high ranking minister Hasanul Haq publicly protested

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

president

Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...

's remarks, describing

Bangladeshis Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the permanent residents ...

as ‘

termites Termites are a group of detritophagous eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, and soil humus. They are distinguished by their moniliform antennae and the sof ...

’. In a strong word, Inu said in a public rally: “Amit Shah has made an unwanted remark by describing Bangladeshis as termites. We in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

do not give any importance to his statement as it does not carry the gravity of an official statement of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

". His comments were widely reported in Indian media and welcomed by Bangladesh social media users. Other opposition leaders also hold him responsible for Sheikh Mujib's killing. When commenting on Inu's activities in 1972– 1975,

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...

leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said: "Inu's attitude at that time was like that of militant kingpins Laden, Zawahiri and Shaykh Abdur Rahman." He also demanded his trial for his crimes before a people's court. Inu contested the national election on 7 January 2024 as an Awami League candidate. He received 92,455 votes but lost to Kamarul Arefin who received 115,799 votes. Inu alleged the vote was rigged. After the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, Inu along with Rashed Khan Menon was charged with a case of murder during the quota-reform movement and was subsequently arrested. Before and after attending at the hearings, they were assaulted by lawyers aligned with the

at the court premises.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haq Inu, Hasanul Living people 1946 births People from Kushtia District Politicians from Khulna Division Notre Dame College, Dhaka alumni Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology alumni Bangladeshi communists 10th Jatiya Sangsad members Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal politicians Ministers of information of Bangladesh 11th Jatiya Sangsad members 9th Jatiya Sangsad members Bangladesh independence activists