& 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

War Crimes Trial

Sister defends Mir Quasem

Staff Correspondent
Morntaj Nuruddin, younger sister of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali, yesterday defended her brother from the charges brought against him as she gave testimony before a war crimes tribunal.
Speaking as the first defence witness, the 59-year-old housewife told the International Crimes Tribunal-2 that her brother had stayed at her house in Dhaka from the first week of November 1971 till March 1972.
Fourteen charges are framed against Quasem, the alleged chief of Al-Badr force in Chittagong, and those crimes were committed in between November and December 16, 1971 at the port district.
During her 11-minute testimony, Morntaj, now living in Dhaka, said she was 15-16 and had been living with her husband and a child at Old Dhaka during the Liberation War.
"Mir Quasem is my elder brother and he had come to my house [in Dhaka) in the first week of November in 1971," said Morntaj, adding, they had left Dhaka for Comilla in March 1972 as her husband joined a college there.
"My brother Mir Quasem Ali had stayed at my rented house till March 1972 when we left Dhaka for Comilla," she said.
After her brief testimony, prosecutor Zead Al Malum completed cross-examining Morntaj suggesting that she was giving 'false testimony to "defend" her brother. She, however, denied it.
Replying to court queries, Momtaj said her father and brother Quasem had been living in Comilla during the war. Quasem had come to her house from Comilla, she added.
"My brother had come to Dhaka to give me company and when we left Dhaka for Comilla, he also returned to my father," she said. She, however, could not say since when her father had been living in Comilla.
Her testimony and answers sharply contradicted with the testimony of prosecution witnesses and prosecution documents.
According to the testimony of Nurul Islam, investigation officer and last prosecution witness in the case, Quasem was a first-year honours student at Chittagong Government College in 1971 and was the president of the college and Chittagong city unit Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat.
Quasem became the general secretary of Chhatra Sangha of East Pakistan on November 6, 1971 and in collusion with the Pakistan army, Jamaat and other anti-liberation organisations, he "formed Al-Badr force" in Chittagong, the investigator added.
According to a newspaper report, which is also one of the prosecution documents, of daily Azadi published on August 1, 1971, Quasem, as the president of Chittagong city
unit of Chhatra Sangha, presided over a citizen rally at Muslim Institute in Chittagong.
Motiur Rahman Nizami, the then president of Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha, addressed the rally, the report said.
Besides, most of the prosecution witnesses testified that they had seen Quasem at Dalim I lotel, which was an Al-Badr torture centre in Chittagong, when they were taken there by Al-Badr men allegedly controlled by the war crimes accused.
The defence, however, claimed their client came to Dhaka after he had become the general secretary of Chhatra Sangha of East Pakistan on November 6,1971.
The tribunal adjourned the proceedings until today.