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Alim ordered killing of 9

Witness to Joypurhat war crimes tells tribunal

Staff Correspondent
Former BNP lawmaker Abdul Alim had ordered the killing of nine Hindus in Khetlal upazila of Joypurhat during the Liberation War and their bodies were buried by the river, an eyewitness told the International Crimes Tribunal-2 yesterday.
Abdul Momen, a former student leader and the first prosecution witness in war crimes case against Alim, also told the tribunal how Alim in a meeting during the war asked his followers to loot the properties of
the Hindus.
The 71-year-old witness also said Alim, the then Convention Muslim League leader, formed and led the Shanti Committee (a collaboration force of the Pakistan army) in Joypurhat and he himself recruited Razakars
Kabir with members Justice Obaidul Hassan and Judge Md Shahinur Islam also recorded the cross-examination of the witness yesterday before adjourning the case proceeding until August 27. The defence had filed a time petition.
The defence of Alim, a
(another collaboration force) at his home.
The three-member tribunal led by its Chairman Justice ATM Fazle
former minister of late president Ziaur Rahman's cabinet, yesterday submitted a list of 3,328 defence witnesses and documents before the tribunal.
Momen, during his 50-minute testimony, said he was a resident of Khetlal upazila and was the founding president of East Pakistan Chhatra League of Azizul Haque College in Bogra in 1954.
A few days before the Eid-ul-Fitr in 1971, Abdul Alim and Major Afzal, a Pakistan army official responsible for Joypurhat during the war, had reached Hatsahar Hat in Khetlal upazila around 3:00pm on a four wheel drive vehicle, said the witness, adding that the Pakistan army, Razakars and local Shanti Committee leader Mohammad Ali and Salman Member were present there too.
Around 500-600 Shanti Committee members of the union and thana levels were there, said Momen.
“Major Afzal addressed them in Urdu and Abdul Alim translated his speech in Bangla and later Abdul Alim also addressed them," said Momen.
“In his speech, he [Alim] said that they would offer their upcoming Eid prayers at the Garer Math in Kolkata (apparently wishing to occupy some parts of India during the war] and said 'loot all properties of the Hindus'.”
“I had heard Alim's speech from 30-40 yards away from the spot,” said the witness but he could not recall the exact date of the meeting.
Seven or eight days after the meeting, Momen went to the house of Paban Babu of Hatsahar Hindu Palli in the morning and heard that the Pakistan army, Razakars and Shanti Committee members had laid siege to Hatsahar village, said the witness.
“The Pakistan army picked up Badal, Sachin, Bhanu, Bishu, Pravash Chandra Sheel, Manibhushan Chakrabarti, Kartik, Nitai and Prionath from there and took them to the office of Khetlal Shanti Committee at Puratan Dakterkhana in the Hospital area," said the witness.
He said the detainees were tortured there.
Momen said the detainees were later taken to the Shanti Committee office of Joypurhat Mahakuma, established at Shownlal Bajla'shome.
“At that time, Abdul Alim was present at the Shanti Committee office and coming out of the office, he [Alim] ordered to kill the detained people," said the witness, adding, “Pakistan army, Shanti Committee members and Razakars shot them dead at the river bank near Khanjanpur Khuthibari and buried them.”
“I had followed them (Pakistan army and their collaborators] from Khetlal to the Joypurhat Shanti Committee office and Khanjanpur Khuthibari,” said Momen, adding, “The
Hindus were known to me and the incident took place probably in May [1971].”
Tribunal-2 on June 11 framed 17 specific charges of war crimes against Alim, which include genocide, murder of Bangalee civilians, and burying people alive during the Liberation War. Charge eight was related to the killing of the Hindus.
In his testimony, Momen said he was involved in student politics. He was arrested in 1969 for political reasons and was released from jail on April 22, 1971. After the war he became a private job holder.
He said Alim was a Muslim League leader and when former speaker of Pakistan Fazlul Quader Chowdhury formed Convention Muslim League in 1970, Alim joined the party and became the president of its Joypurhat chapter.
Alim ran in the election to Pakistan National Assembly the same year but was beaten by Awami League candidate Mafiz Chowdhury, added Momen.
Under the leadership of Alim, offices of Shanti Committee, Razakars and Major Afzal were set up at Shownlal Bajla's home, said Momen, adding that Alim's home was on the other side of the road where he used to recruit Razakars.
When defence counsel AEM Khalilur Rahman approached the witness to cross-examine, Momen said, “Both of You [Khalilur] and Abdul Alim were arrested under the Collaborators Act [after the Liberation War]. He [Khalilul should not be involved in the case.”
Prosecution lawyers calmed the witness down saying that Khalilur was discharging his professional duties.
Khalilur then cross-examined the witness for around 40 minutes and asked around 30 questions mostly on different Hindu dominated areas of Joypurhat.
After the court proceeding, defence counsel Tajul Islam told reporters that Khalilur, a four-time elected BNP lawmaker of Joypurhat, was not a collaborator and was never arrested under the Collaborators Act.
QUADER MOLLAH
The Tribunal-2 yesterday completed recording the cross-examination of Shafiuddin Mollah, the sixth prosecution witness in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah.
During the 30-minute cross-examination yesterday, defence counsel Abdus Sobhan Tarafder asked Shafiuddin around 25 questions.
The tribunal adjourned the case proceeding until tomorrow when the seventh prosecution witness is expected to testify.
On August 1, Shafiuddin in his testimony had said
Quader Mollah directly took part in the killing of 360-370 Bangalees on April 24, 1971, at Alubdi village in Pallabi of Dhaka and he had seen the Jammat leader fire on the people of Alubdi hiding in a bush.
Defence counsel Abdus Sobhan suggested that the witness did not see Quader Mollah in the village or even beside the village on that day.
Shafiuddin said, “It is not true.”
“You [witness] are involved in politics and have given the testimony for political reasons," the lawyer suggested.
Shafiuddin denied it.
Meanwhile, the tribunal yesterday decided to expunge some answers recorded during the cross-examination of Shafiuddin on Sunday as the defence counsels had asked questions regarding a book which was not mentioned as an exhibit.
On Sunday, the tribunal had asked the defence to produce the book but the defence counsels yesterday could not produce it.
CASE AGAINST KAMARUZZAMAN Meanwhile, the fourth prosecution witness in war crimes case against another Jamaat leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman told the Tribunal-2 the accused was involved in the killing of one Badiuzzaman during the LiberationWar.
Abdul Mannan who was the general secretary of Sherpur College students' union in 1971, said he heard about the killing from an eyewitness.
The tribunal also recorded cross-examination of the witness before adjourning the case proceeding until today when the defence would resume his cross-examination.
The 62-year-old witness said after the LiberationWar, local Awami League leaders in Sherpur were preparing a list about the causality and damages of people in the war and affected people were giving information coming at the local AL offices.
"One day, I was present during the time of providing information and one Sayadur Rahman of Ahmednagar village was giving information," said the witness.
Sayadur said one of his relatives, Badiuzzaman, who worked in the Pakistan army, had taken shelter in their house, as he could not go to India. But Ahmed Ali Member, another of his relatives, was an antiliberation activist.
"One night, some members of Badr Bahini [a collaboration force of the Pakistani army] and Pakistani army took him [Badiuzzaman] to the Ahmednagar camp and tortured him to death," said the witness quoting Sayadur.
The witness added when local AL leaders asked
Sayadur whether he had seen the incident, he replied that he had heard it from his brother Makbul Hossain, who witnessed the incident.
The witness said when he quizzed Makbul about the incident later, he told him, "It was a true incident."
Makbul told Mannan that the Badr members and Pakistan army had also picked him but he managed to flee on the way to the Ahmednagar camp, said the witness.
"I asked him [Makbul] whether he could have identified anyone (of Badr men]. He said he could have identified one Kamaruzzaman who lives in Sherpur," said Mannan, adding, "There is huge hearsay in Sherpur that the present assistant secretary general Kamaruzzaman is the person whom I mentioned.”
During his around 50-minute testimony, Mannan said he was a 21-year-old student leader during the war and he got a wireless message of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman about declaration of independence in the morning of March 26, 1971 through a local wireless centre at Jinaigati in Sherpur and following the instruction of local AL leaders, Mannan conveyed the message to the Indian authorities.
After his testimony, defence counsel Kafil Uddin Chowdhury cross-examined the witness for around 10 minutes and asked him five ouestions. .