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Tortured at Al-Badr camp

Witness testifies against Kamaruzzaman

Staff Correspondent
A freedom fighter yesterday gave International Crimes Tribunal-2 a description of how he was abducted and tortured at an Al-Badr camp in Mymensingh during the Liberation War.
Abul Kashem, the ninth prosecution witness in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader Muhammad
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Kamaruzzaman, said "Al-Badr leaders Kamaruzzaman and Ashraf used to control Mymensingh [during the Liberation War]."
The 62-year-old witness added that he had seen Ashraf, leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, at the Al-Badr camp at Mymensingh District Council Rest House. Ashraf had told him that there was an Al-Badr leader named Kamaruzzaman at the camp, Kashem said.
During his 50-minute testimony, Kashem, a lawyer by profession, said the Pakistan army and Razakars, an anti-liberation force, had picked up his father as he had joined the Liberation War but released him later.
As the prosecution docu-ments show, Kamaruzzaman, the then president of greater Mymensingh Islami Chhatra Sangha, played a key role in the formation of Al-Badr there. The force collaborated with the Pakistan forces in committing genocide and mass killings.
On June 4, the tribunal indicted Kamaruzzaman on seven charges of murder and torture of unarmed civilians and complicity in other crimes against humanity during the nine-month-long War.
The three-member tribunal headed by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir with members Justice Obaidul Hassan and Judge Md Shahinur Islam recorded the testimony before adjourning the case proceedings until today when Kashem is set to face cross-examination.
Kashem said he was a second-year student at Mymensingh Junior Training College in 1971 and took part in armed training after the crackdown on March 25,1971.
Following instructions from Company Commander Noazish Ali Bachchu, Kashem had gone to Mymensingh town on assignment on December 3, 1971 and resided at his college hostel along with one of his juniors, Kutubuddin.
On that evening, when Kashem and Kutubuddin tuned in to Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra along with their hostel super, Rasedul Hasan, "a junior friend" of Kashem, saw them, said the witness.
"Between 8:00am and 9:00am the next day, a group of armed Al-Badr men besieged my room at the hostel. I could identify one of them as Abdul Majid," said Kashem, adding, "They picked up both Kutubuddin and me."
Kashem said although their principal had requested a Pakistani brigadier to release them, the Pakistan army officer, responsible for Mymensingh district, asked the principal to turn them in to the Al-Badr men.
"Then they blindfolded us and took us somewhere by rickshaw. When they removed the blindfold, we recognised the place as the first floor of Mymensingh District Council Rest House Al-Badr camp," said the witness, adding, "I understood that Rasedul Islam had informed the Al-Badr about us.
"Al-Badr men beat up Kutubuddin in front of me. When I asked something, they also beat me up and confined us to room no 2 on the first floor, ” said Kashem, adding, "Eight others were confined in that room.
"When I asked the eight about a large number of sandals beside the bathroom, they replied that Al-Badr men had killed as many people as the number of pairs of shoes I could see," said the witness. He further said on December 4, Al-Badr men brought in another man, who experienced brutal torture in front of them. That man was tied to a window and was tortured by two to three Al-Badr men. He was bayoneted and later taken away. After that they had heard a gunshot, Kashem added.
"On December 8, one of the Al-Badr men told us through a window that a list had been prepared to kill 10 of the 13 captives," said Kashem, adding, "He [the Al-Badr man) might have known me and said my
name was on the list.”
Kashem said an armed group of three to four members, with faces of all but one covered, came to their room between 8:00pm and 9:00pm.
"The person whose face was open was Ashraf. He was known to me; he was a leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha," said the witness.
"Ashraf told us not to turn the lights on or change our seats. He said besides him, there was another person named Kamaruzzaman. He identi-fied himself and Kamaruzzaman as Al-Badr leaders," said Kashem, adding, "I had not seen Kamaruzzaman earlier."
The witness added he heard that before them, Al-Badr men had also brought in Hamidul Haque, Tepa Mia, Shahed Ali, Dara and Dabir Uddin and among them Dara was killed.
Hamidul Haque, a freedom fighter and first prosecution witness in the war crimes case, testified that Kamaruzzaman had tried to persuade him while he was detained at Mymensingh District Council Rest House during the War to join him and root out the freedom fighters.
As per the seventh charge against Kamaruzzaman, on 27 Ramadan during the war, Kamaruzzaman, accompanied by 15-20 armed Al-Badr, men abducted Tepa Mia and his elder son Zahurul Islam Dara from Golapjan Road and took them to that Al-Badr camp.
The next morning, the father and son were lined up along with five others on the banks of the Brahmaputra river. Tepa Mia, when he was about to be charged with a bayonet, jumped into the river.
As the collaborators opened fire at him, he received bullets in the leg but managed to escape. But the remaining six were killed.
When Mymensingh was freed on December 10, 1971, they were released, said the witness.
"Al-Badr leaders Kamaruzzaman and Ashraf used to control Mymensingh [during the
Liberation War] and during my confinement at the camp, we heard that people were killed every night on the river bank adjacent to the camp," added the witness.
Meanwhile, the tribunal recorded the cross-examination of Saidur Rahman, the second prosecution witness in the war crimes case against former BNP lawmaker Abdul Alim, before adjourning the case proceedings until October 8 when the third prosecution witness is expected to testify.