& 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

Injured War Crimes Witness Dies

'Who will protect us?' asks his wife

Staff Correspondent
A key witness in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader Sayedee died from his injuries yesterday, two days after being hacked in his sleep at his Pirojpur home.
The killing of Mostafa Hawlader, 55, exposes the state's failure in ensuring security for war crimes witnesses.
Though justice seekers and campaigners of war crimes trials have kept demanding a law for the protection of witnesses and victims, no such step has yet been taken by the government, leaving over 200 prosecution witnesses under a security threat.
For witness protection, the government only formed national and district committees which reportedly have been failing to assess the threats to the witnesses.
A number of prosecution witnesses received death threats in the last two years and, recently, bombs were exploded near the residences of several prosecutors.
Around 2:30am on Sunday, a man entered Mostafa's house in Hoglabunia village after digging a hole from outside and started hacking away, targeting his head.
Mostafa underwent a two-and-a-half-hour surgery at Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 12:30pm on Monday.
"He |Mostafa] had deep injuries from a sharp weapon that fractured his skull and led to huge bleeding in his brain," said Prof Zillur Rahman, the DMCH surgeon who along with four others conducted the operation.
In his testimony on January 1 last year, Mostafa said he had seen Sayedee and other collaborators looting and burning a number of shops in Parerhat Bazar during the Liberation War in 1971.
Sayedee, nayeb-e-ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, was sentenced to death on February 28.
At the DMCH morgue yesterday, Mostafa's wife Hasina Begum told The Daily Star, "They killed my husband. Now they will kill me and my children. Who will protect us?"
"We demand the immediate execution of Sayedee and security to our family as well as justice for the killing of my husband," she said, tears streaming down her face.
Earlier, she said her husband had often been intimidated by Jamaat-Shibir men in the area.
Despite such threats and incidents, State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam claims existing laws are enough to protect witnesses. He also said that witnesses could not be protested by any law if people did not resist the attackers.
"It is not possible to provide a witness with police protection at his bedroom," he told reporters at his Minto Road residence yesterday.
Hearing the state minister's statement, a relative of Mo stafa flew into a rage. "Mr Minister! You only beefed up the security measures in the capital. You do not know how insecure we are in Pirojpur," he said. International Grimes Tribunal-1, which delivered the verdict against Sayedee, yesterday wondered how wimesses would come to the tribunal if they were not provided with security.
"It is not acceptable in an independent country that a person will die for giving testimony." Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, chairman of the tribunal, said hours after Mostafa breathed his last early yesterday.
Additional Home Secretary Kamal Liddin Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday that the ministry would hold a meeting today or tomorrow to review security measures taken for witnesses and complainants in war crime cases.
The ministry today would receive intelligence report on the security provided for Mostafa, he said. The report would be assessed to know whether there was any negligence.
State Minister for Home Shamsul Hoque
Tuku said, "District committees headed by deputy commissioners are active but the witnesses rarely inform local police stations on threats.
He, however, said all the district committees had been directed to intensify security measures for the wimesses.
District committees also include the superintendent of police and representatives from NSI and Rab.
Asked, both the DG and SP of Pirojpur said they had no information regarding security of Mostafa.
SP SM Akhteruzzaman said, "We deployed police at Mostafa's residence to provide constant security to him, but around two years back we withdrew it at his request"
Mostafa sought patrol police only at nights and police accordingly made an arrangement.
Police made rounds even on the night when he came under attack, he claimed.
Mostafa's enemies in nexus with local Jamaat-e-Islami might have committed the murder, he said. Six persons, including three Jamaat activists, have been arrested.
Deputy Commissioner AKM Shamimul Huq Siddique noted a total of 68 wimesses, including the complainant of the case against Sayedee, are residentsof Pirojpur district.
Sanaul Huq, a senior member of the war crimes investigation agency, said there was a central committee led by the additional home secretary for ensuring security of the war crimes wimesses.
"Amid the ongoing political turmoil, I think there has been a slide in security, as the law enforcers are loaded with tasks," he added.
"However, we asked the government and law