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2001 Post-Polls Violence

Focus on serious crimes

Offences include 3,270 rapes, 355 murders by BNP-Jamaat cadres; probe report handed over to govt

Staff Correspondent
The judicial commission probing the 2001 post-polls violence has found evidence of over 3,625 incidents of major crime including killing, rape, arson and looting by cadres of the then-ruling BNP-Jamaat alliance in 15 months since October that year.
"The commission considered a total of3,625 major offences. Of these, 355 are politically motivated murders while 3,270 are incidents of rape, arson, looting and such other atrocities," said Monwar Hossain, member secretary of the commission, while handing over the report to Home Minister Sahara Khatun yesterday.
The 1,078-page report has five parts describing atrocities committed in Rajshahi, Khulna, Chittagong, Sylhet, Barisal, Bhola, Mymensingh, Jhalokathi, Jessore and other areas of the country.
The report was not made public yesterday. Commission sources said the probe found a number of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were behind the oppression on minorities and the then opposition Awami League activists. They (leaders) included Delawar Hossain Sayedee, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu, Hafiz Ibrahim and Zahir Uddin Swapon.
The Daily Star had run a series of reports on the postpolls criminal incidents.
The judicial commission had also received over 14,000 complaints of post-polls violence during 2003 to 2006 but it did not consider those as its time-frame did not include this period, the sources said.
It has recommended bringing those involved in the post-polls violence to book, and changes in politicalculture.
The recommendations include trying the culprits, resuming cases against them if those were withdrawn and giving financial aid to the victims of violence and taking steps to stop recurrence of such incidents.
Seeking anonymity, a member of the commission said they also recommended creating a congenial atmosphere for practising democracy and changing the mindset to accept polls results both in cases of victory and defeat.
The commission members visited the spots of atrocities, collected evidence, took photographs and collected details of the accused and the victims with help from the local authorities.
Asked about the report, the home minister told journalists, "We will surely make it public within a day or two.”
A commission member told journalists they heard about brutalities which are beyond imagination. Citing an example, he referred to an AL activist in Jessore whose legs were severed as he slaughtered a cow and entertained people after the candidate he had backed won the election.
He also spoke of an incident in which a girl was gang raped and then brutally tortured. In another incident, a girl in Bagerhat was raped by a gang ignoring request from her father.
Besides, all the fingers of an AL activist at Gafforgaon
in Mymensingh were cut off, he added.
Sahara Khatun said all those accused of violence are leaders and activists of BNP and Jamaat. Legal action will be taken against them on the basis of the probe report.
She also said, if necessary, they will seek High Court directives in this regard.
Asked about the allegations, Hafiz Uddin said, "Those are politically motivated. No violence took place in my area after the polls.”
He however admitted that a minority family fell victim to violence, and said he immediately informed police who arrested those responsible and brought them to book.
But this incident was not a politically motivated one, he added.
Zahir Uddin Swapon said some incidents of violence occurred in his area following the polls but those were not retaliation of the violence resorted to by AL activists after the 1996 polls.
He claimed he tried utmost to defuse the violence in his constituency in 2001.
Altaf Hossain Chowdhury said not a single incident of repression on AL leaders or minority people took place in his area following the 2001 polls.
The former air force chief resented that said no member of the commission took his version on the allegations.
He also said incidents of violence took place in different char areas in his region during the period of harvesting paddy but those were not linked to polls or politics.
The other leaders concerned could not be contacted.
The three-member commission was formed on December 27,2009, to probe the atrocities against minorities and supporters of opposition parties after the 2001 polls.
Headed by retired district judge Mohammad Sahabuddin, the commission includes Deputy Secretary of the Home Ministry Monowar Hossain Akand and Special Superintendent of Criminal Investigation Department Mir Shahidul Islam.
The HC had directed the government to form a judicial commission following a writ petition filed on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh on May 6, 2009.