Former BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan said those who were involved in crimes against humanity, including killings, rapes and setting fire, during the liberation war should be tried.

In an interview with the state-run news agency at his Gulshan residence yesterday, he said, "Only the trial is not enough, public opinion would have to be created through political means against the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and their associates.”

A veteran freedom fighter Mannan Bhuiyan said the trial of the perpetrators of crimes during the war could not be held earlier for some reasons or the other.

" However, an initiative for the trial has now been taken and it is a good initiative."

It is not right to call anybody war criminal before the trial and felt the need to bring the culprits to book with proper evidence, he added.

The trial process should be transparent, fair and acceptable and the authorities should be careful so that no innocent person is harassed for nothing.