& 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

Subhan linked to mass killing

Pabna freedom fighter testifies at war tribunal

Staff Correspondent
A freedom fighter yesterday linked Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdus Subhan to a mass killing of more than 100 people committed at Sujanagar upazila in Pabna during the Liberation War in 1971.
SM Shamsul Alam, 22nd prosecution witness in the case against Subhan, told the International Crimes Tribunal-2 that he had seen Pakistani army shoot four people to death immediately after Subhan's conversation with them at Fakitpur village in Sujanagaron May 12.
"He [Subhan] was the ameer of Pabna Jamaat-e-Islami during the Liberation War. He, in conjunction with the Pakistani army, tried to eliminate the pro-liberation people in our area |in 1971]," Shamsul told the tribunal.
The Jamaat's nayeb-e-ameer faces nine charges, including genocide, committed in Pabna during the nine-month-long war. The accused, however, pleads not guilty before the tribunal.
During his 65-minute testimony, Shamsul ofTarabaria in Sujanagar said he had heard gunshots from a nearby village around 6:00am on May 12, 1971 and found people fleeing citing attacks by the Pakistani army.
The 66-year-old witness said he also had hidden inside a sugarcane field beside their Union Parishad office in
neighbouring Fakitpur and seen army vehicles approaching from Sujanagar.
“I saw a white vehicle carrying Subhan and Pakistani army intercepting some frantic people before the office. At one stage, Moulana Subhan talked with the army members, who shot four people dead," said Shamsul.
The victims were Madan, Chetan, Ratan and Ghugri, he added.
The Pakistani army had marched towards Sindurpur and Kandurpur villages, the witness said, adding, another group of army had taken some people towards those villages and soon he heard gunshots and saw fire there.
Shamsul said the Pakistani army had left the area around 2:00pm and he had gone to Sindurpur village around 4:30pm where he heard the military had tortured women there.
“I also learned that Mostafa, Khabir and other Razakars, who were accompanying Moulana Subhan and the army, had looted the houses of the Hindus there," he said, adding that he had seen bodies on the bank of and boats on the Padma river.
Around 100 people were killed there and most of the victims were on their way to India to take refugee, he said. Later, he visited Kandur village, where he helped locals bury 17/18 bodies, added Shamsul.
The witness further said he had gone to his own village around 8:30pm and
found most of the houses, including his own, were burned down, adding that he had also heard that some people were killed at Kuripara village.
He said when he had visited Shyamnagar, he heard the Pakistani army had killed several people in Mollabari when they were reciting the holy Quran. The army also killed 10/13 people including their leader Mahiruddin in Gupinpur village and torched his house.
"I along with Fazlul Haque, the then principal of Satbaria College, and the victims' families tried to figure out the death toll. As far as I recall the number was 170/172. However, several sources put the number at 143, ” said Shamsul.
The witness said he had left for India in June and returned to Bangladesh in August after training for war.
He alleged Subhan's cohorts upon his instruction had cut tendons of his hands and legs in 2001. His brother had filed a case to that end, but the then BNP-Jamaat alliance government closed the case, he added.
"Moulana Subhan was acquainted to me before the incident as he was a resident of our union once," said Shamsul before identifying Subhan at the dock yesterday.
Subhan's lawyer Shahjahan Kabir had asked one question before the tribunal adjourned the proceedings until August 13.