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Jamaat honours 5 'Muktijoddhas’

2 demand punishment to its leaders, if guilty

Staff Correspondent
In an ironic move, Jamaat-e-Islami accorded a reception and gave award to five Muktijoddhas (freedom fighters) yesterday, 38 years after the birth of Bangladesh.
This party had termed freedom fighters traitors and miscreants during the Liberation War in 1971. and called for killing them.
Jatiya Muktijoddha Parishad, a Jamaat
patronised organisation, organised the reception at a city hotel.
I he function was held against the backdrop of public demand for and the government’s promise to hold trial of war criminals who had not only opposed the Liberation War but also collaborated with the Pakistani occupation forces in committing genocide during the ninemonth war. FROM PAGE 16
Recipients of the award from Jamaat are Dr Rowshan Ara Begum, Lt Commander (retd) Afazuddin Ahmed, Salahuddin Ahmed, poet Al Mahmud and (posthumous) Major MA Jalil.
Rawshan Ara told this correspondent she did not know that Jamaat was involved in the programme.
Talking to journalists later, both Rawshan and Afazuddin demanded exemplary punishment of Jamaat leaders if found involved in the killings and oppression during the Liberation War.
Salahuddin said the award (Tk 50,000, books and a crest] will help an insolvent freedom fighter like him.
No representative of Jalil was present to receive his award.
Organisers said they would send it to his house as his wife is now abroad.
Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed, who was scheduled to be the chief guest at the function, did not turn up. IJf was represented by Maulana Rafiqul Islam Khan, ameer of city unit of the party.
Several other Jamaat leaders including lawmaker Hamidur Rahman Azad were present at the programme.
Many of the present top leaders of Jamaat including its Ameer Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami and Secretary General Mojaheed were accused ofwar crimes.
Leaders of Jamaat's student wing the then Islami Chhatra Sangha, now known as Islami Chhatra Shibir, and some other groups were involved in anti-liberation activities.
Mojaheed was president of East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha in 1971. Mojaheed asked workers of the organisation to form Al-Badr Bahini to resist freedom fighters, according to a "Fortnightly Secret Report on the Situation in East Pakistan". In line with an official procedure, the report used to be regularly dispatched by the then East Pakistan home ministry to General Yahya Khan, head of the Pakistan government.
Many researches, academic studies, accounts of both victims and collaborators, and publications including news-papers revealed that Mojaheed, who headed the Al Badr team in Dhaka at that time, allegedly led those who had been involved in the killings of intellectuals - only two days before the victory of liberation forces on December 16,1971.
Thousands of people still bear the scars of war crimes by Jamaat, Islami Chhatra Sangha and some other controversial outfits such as Nizam-e-Islami. Jamaat's opposition to the struggle for independence has been documented in different publications including those by the party itself.