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Nizami was seen in Pak army pickup

Witness testifies on killings in Pabna

Staff Correspondent
A prosecution witness yesterday told a war crimes court that he saw Jamaat Chief Motiur Rahman Nizami with Pakistani soldiers on a pickup carrying the headmaster of a Pabna school and two others shortly before they were killed on June 10, 1971.
"Two pickups came and stopped at Madhpur intersection [in Pabna). I saw Nizami sitting beside a [Pakistani] major in the first pickup," said Yusuf Ali Biswas, the 21st prosecution witness in the war crimes case against Nizami.
He told International Crimes Tribunal-1 that he saw three people, blindfolded, in the back of the vehicle.
Yusuf, a freedom fighter who is now 68, was at Madhpur Bazar on that morning to have a cup of tea.
"I saw Nizami signal the Pakistani soldiers towards Sathia and the pickups drove off in that direction. About 15-20 minutes later, we heard gunshots from the bank of the Ichhamati," Yusuf said, adding that he and two others hid inside a nearby house.
The pickups returned to the intersection and moved towards Pabna town after another 10-15 minutes, with Nizami still sitting in the truck, Yusuf recalled.
"I went to the spot [the river bank] and saw three bullet-ridden bodies in a hole, their blood coursing to the river. I
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squatted down and removed the blindfolds. I recognised the body of Maulana Kasimuddin, head teacher of Pabna Zila School."
The witness said he even heard locals saying Nizami, president of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, had brought the Pakistani men
and killed the three Bengalis.
Yusuf asked some locals to bur}' the bodies with proper religious rites and left.
He went to India for training in warfare on June 15 that year and later returned to take part in the Liberation War.
Defence counsel Mizanul Islam cross-examined the
witness when he finished his deposition.
The proceedings of the case were adjourned until today.
Nizami, facing 16 war crimes charges for alleged involvement in crimes against humanity, was produced before the three-member tribunal led by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir.