& 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

Like father like son

Mahbubur Rahman Khan and TUH1N SHUBHRA ADHIKARY
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, who claims to have been a Bangalee by choice, filled his father's shoes and committed crimes against humanity and genocide during the Liberation War in 1971.
His father Fazlul Quader Chowdhury was the president of Convention Muslim League, which had actively opposed the country's struggle for liberation. The political party was subsequently banned after independence for its wartime roles.
According to the prosecution, Fazlul Quader formed Al-Shams, an auxiliary
FROM PAGE 16
force of the Pakistani army in 1971. Several prosecution witnesses said his son had led the infamous force during different operations in Chittagong and executed his father's orders.
Salauddin used to bring detained freedom fighters and pro-liberation people at his father's Goods Hill residence, which was turned into a torture centre, and persecute them in presence of his father, victims and witnesses said.
Several prosecution witnesses also testified that the war criminal had inherited aversion to the Hindus from his father.
Following the path of Salauddin, his brother Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury also allegedly committed crimes against humanity which are being investigated by a special probe agency designated to investigate war crimes.
Soon after independence, their father Fazlul Quader was caught by freedom fighters and the allied force while escaping to Myanmar with 60 kilograms of gold and Tk 7 lakh in cash.
He died in jail in 1974.
Salauddin was lucky enough. Six cases were filed against him with Rauzan police, but none of those had seen any headway after 1976.
The incumbent lawmaker got involved in politics in
independent Bangladesh only eight years after the Liberation War and even became a minister.
Finally, around 40 years after committing the heinous crimes, Salauddin, who acted as a "self-proclaimed brigadier” according to the prosecution, was arrested in 2010.
After a long proceeding, he was convicted and given the capital punishment yesterday.
Born on March 13, 1949, Salauddin passed the Higher Secondary School certificate examination from a Dhaka college. He graduated from Punjab University though the war crimes convict did not submit any documents in support of his academic qualifications.
He was involved in killing around 200 civilians, collaborating with the Pakistani occupation army to kill and torture unarmed people, looting valuables and torching houses and other property, persecuting people on religious and political grounds, and committinggenocide.
There was a commonality between Salauddin and his father. Fazlul Quader despised the Hindus because of his defeat in the 1970's general elections. Several prosecution witnesses said Salauddin had inherited this aversion to the Hindu community from his father.
Massacre and killings were committed in the Hindu majority areas of
Chittagong including Jogotmollopara, Kundeshwari, Shakpura and Modhya Gohira Hindu Para. Alternatively, according to the charges, negotiations were made with the Muslims during the war.
A common pattern in every incident was found according to the witnesses' testimony. Salauddin was either accompanying the army or issuing instructions or was present on the spot.
Several witnesses told the tribunal about the drawing room of the Goods Hill residence where Salauddin was seen either sitting on a couch or standing behind his father during torture of victims.
Salauddin left the country on September 20, 1971 after being injured in a grenade attack launched by the freedom fighters.
The Press Trust of India reported the incident following information given by Fazlul Quader. The then daily Dainik Pakistan, which was renamed as Dainik Bangla right after the liberation, also published a news item based on the PTI's report on September 29, 1971.
According to two defence documents submitted by Salauddin's lawyers to the tribunal, both the father and the son were listed war criminals.
During cross-examination of Salauddin as the first defence witness in
the case, prosecutor Zead Al Malum showed a book "Juddhaporadhider Talika O Bichar Prosongo" [list of war criminals and the context of trial] by MA Hasan published in 2009.
On page 163 there was a list under the heading "Details of politicians accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide". The prosecutor said the list had contained 106 names and Salauddin and his father Fazlul Quader Chowdhury were 98th and 95th on the list respectively.
"Yes,” replied Salauddin but claimed it was the personal observation of the author.
Salauddin's father met Lt Gen Tikka Khan, erstwhile governor general of East Pakistan, on April 19, 1971 and supported the Operation Search Light launched against the Bangalees on March 25.
The news was published by the Dainik Pakistan the following day.
Defence witnesses including Salauddin himself tried heart and soul to establish that he was not in Bangladesh from April 1971 to April 1974.
According to the prosecution, after his departure in September in 1971, Salauddin returned to Bangladesh in 1974 and kept hiding himself. He had come out of hiding after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August
15,1975.
He was an elected member of parliament as a Muslim League leader in Rangunia in 1979-1984. He joined Jatiya Party and became a minister of military dictator Ershad-Ied government. He defected again and formed National Democratic Party (NDP) in 1988. He was elected in the 1991 national elections.
Salauddin dissolved NDP and contested the 1996 national polls as a candidate of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He won in Rangunia and Fatikchhari in the parliamentary elections of 2001 and 2008 respectively.
He was sacked from BNP after making derogatory comment about Khaleda Zia in 1998. But he was later reinstated in the party.
During the tenure of the BNP-led four-party government in 2001-2006, Salauddin was the parliamentary affairs adviser of the then prime minister Khaleda Zia and enjoyed the status of a minister.
He is still a member of BNP's standing committee, the highest policymaking authority of the main opposition party.
Detained on December 16, 2010 in another case, Salauddin was shown arrested in connection with his war crimes following a warrant of arrest issued by a tribunal on December 19, 2010.