& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Ghulam Azam, others aided Pak army

Prof Muntassir Mamoon tells ICT

Staff Correspondent
Historian Muntassir Mamoon yesterday told International Crimes Tribunal-1 how some political parties and their leaders, including Jamaat-e-Islami and its former ameer Ghulam Azam, aided the Pakistani occupation forces to commit genocide during the Liberation War.
He said this at his three-hour-long
deposition before the tribunal dealing with the crimes against humanity case against Ghulam Azam.
Ghulam Azam was the ameer (chief) of the East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971 and Muntassir was the first prosecution witness at the trial yesterday.
Muntassir, 61, a professor of the
SEE PAGE 6 COL 1 FROM PAGE 20
Department of History of Dhaka University, narrated the brutal role some auxiliary forces, including the Peace Committees, Razakars and Ai-Badr played during the war. The forces were formed by the leaders of the Jamaat and some other political parties.
"We who were in the country IBangladesh] at the time [during the war] saw and heard about the brutal activities of the Razakar Bahini [force], Ai-Badr and the Peace Committees," said Muntassir. He was a third-year history student at Dhaka University and was in Dhaka until October 1971.
With around 40 years' experience in research on the Liberation War, Muntassir said the leaders of those parties, including Ghulam Azam, instigated and provoked members of the Peace Committees and the forces to commit brutal acts like killing, rape and looting.
Muntassir said those leaders gave members of the forces licence to kill through their political speeches.
Muntassir said he was in Pallabi in the capital until March 29, 1971. The major-
ity of the inhabitants of the Mirpur area were not Bangalees and they helped the Pakistani military kill Bangladeshis and loot their homes. However, some families survived with the help of non-Bangalees.
He said people read the newspapers to know about the steps of the government and its allies during the war. "We also looked into the activities of 'miscreants' in those newspapers since the Pakistanis referred to freedom fighters as miscreants,” he said, adding that they also relied on the BBC, Radio Australia, Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra and Akashbani to crosscheck the authenticity of the news.
After March 1971, different wings of the Muslim League, Jamaat-e-Islami, PDP and the Peoples' Party helped the central government of Pakistan. "However, the role of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muslim League, as the main political parties, was more than that of the others," Muntassir said.
Their first step was to meet Tikka Khan, governor of East Pakistan, in the first week of April 1971, when the Pakistani occupation forces
were conducting mass killings and lootings throughout the country, he said.
Nurul Amin and Ghulam Azam were well known among the leaders of the political parties. “Upon their [Nurul Amin and Ghulam Azam) suggestion and persuasion, Shanti Bahini [Peace Committees] were formed," said the witness, adding that the peace committee had later been decentralised right up to the grassroots level.
The collaborator forces— Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams—were formed later on in places where Jamaat-e-Islami influence was more significant.
“When I say Jamaat, I mean Jamaat, including its student wings and front organisations," he explained.
He said if one looked at the newspapers of that period, one would find speeches of the then ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Ghulam Azam prominently displayed.
The leaders of those parties had encouraged others to join the collaborator forces and committees and Ghulam Azam played a vital role in aiding the
Pakistani military, the witness said.
“It seemed to me, had the Pakistani forces got no cooperation, then the magnitude of devastation would have been less and we would have got independence sooner,” he said.
In his research, he tried to find out the psychology of the collaborators and how a person could be so brutal towards his own kind. He also tried to find out the subtle differences in the auxiliary forces.
“All of them [the auxiliary forces] wanted connection to power, become wealthy and kill the freedom fighters. They used killing and rape to fulfil their demands and repress the people,” he said.
Muntassir analysed the speeches of Ghulam Azam and pointed out three points which he underscored in every speech. Preventing and rooting out of “miscreants" and supporters of the Liberation War; calling upon the “patriots” (Pakistanis) for support; and arming the “patriots” if required.
They could instigate murder, arson, rape and looting since they did not
have any obligations to anyone and the then Pakistani army authorised it, he claimed.
Muntassir said even after 40 years, when he recalls the killings, lootings and torture by Razakars, and the peace committees, Al-Badr and Al-Shams members, he shivers.
There was a difference between Al-Badr and other collaborator forces, he observed. The main objective of Al-Badr, which was led by incumbent Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Matiur Rahman Nizami, was to kill intellectuals and professionals.
Since Dhaka University was the hub of all democratic movements and struggle for independence, the Pakistani army and their followers held a grudge against its students and teachers, he said. “They wanted to create a vacuum among liberation votaries," he added.
Muntassir said the Pakistani occupation forces
killed many teachers of Dhaka University on the night of the crackdown on March 25,1971.
"Afterwards, members of Al-Badr force killed our teachers and many of those [slain teachers] were involved in the Liberation War,” said Muntassir.
Recalling martyred teacher Giasuddin Ahmed and while trying to hold back his tears, Muntassir told the court that most of the Al-Badr men were from the student wing of the Jamaat, the Islami Chhatra Sangha.
"I never found any instance [in history] where students have killed teachers," said Prof Muntassir. "My students believe in different political ideologies, but they have never shown disrespect towards me as a teacher and I have also treated them equally irrespective of their political ideology," he said.
"How devoid of humanity
could a student be to kill a teacher after picking him up through telling lies?” Prof Muntassir said.
Muntassir referred to a note from Pakistani General Niazi that he had used in one of his books. “In his memo Gen Niazi said it would be right for the Pakistanis to turn the Bangalees into a minority,” he said.
There was an ethnic cleansing to make the Bangalees a minority in Pakistan. The goal was to eliminate Hindus and people of other religions except Muslims, said Muntassir, adding that it was done systematically.
He said it was asserted that three million people were killed during the war. "The number is actually higher," said Muntassir, explaining that he had got this perception through his research.
He said, "In most cases the dead bodies were thrown
into the rivers." Those bodies were not counted for as they were not buried in mass graves and were never found.
The professor of history also believed that the number of rape victims was much mo re than four lakh.
After completion of his deposition, defence counsel Mizanul Islam cross-examined Muntassir for an hour.
He asked about some historic political events before and after the Liberation War, personal matters related to Muntassir, and inquiries about his research.
Ghulam Azam's counsel wanted to know how Muntassir had got hold of the documents on which his research was based.
Muntassir said he found the documents in an archive in Rajshahi, which was established with the personal initiative of Prof Mahbubur Rahman, a Rajshahi University history teacher.