He made the remarks on Saturday (7 November) at a discussion organised by the Retired Armed Forces Officers' Welfare Association (RAOWA) on the occasion of 'National Revolution and Solidarity Day'.
Retired Brigadier General Sakhawat Hossain said JSD claims that they freed Ziaur Rahman from captivity. That credit is not JSD's, because he was rescued by the 2 Field Regiment Artillery, led by the then Colonel Mohiuddin. The 4 Bengal had also tried to rescue him.
Describing the events of that day, Sakhawat Hossain said that at around 6am on 7 November, he went to 2 Field and found Ziaur Rahman sitting in the office of the unit's commanding officer. Beside him was the then acting Director of Military Operations (DMO), Lieutenant Colonel Nuruddin Khan.
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About half an hour later, Colonel Taher arrived there with members of the Gonobahini. After speaking with Ziaur Rahman, he asked him to go with them and to announce before the soldiers that he accepted the 21-point or 17-point demands. But Ziaur Rahman did not agree; saying he had already given his statement on radio and television, he refused to go anywhere else.
Sakhawat Hossain also said that if Ziaur Rahman could have been taken out that day, he would never have returned — giving Colonel Taher and a section of JSD the opportunity to seize state power according to their own plan.
Praising Ziaur Rahman, he said his honesty and courage were unique. He played a role in removing the divide between freedom-fighter and non-freedom-fighter officers, establishing unity in the army, and expanding the force. He also commented that over the past 15 years, the army's professionalism and ethics have been destroyed; to make the country strong, the army must return to the highest level of professionalism again.