Freedom fighter Baten was killed by a group of Razakars at the directive of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Motiur Rahman Nizami during the liberation war, prosecution witness Dr Rathindranath Kundu said on Sunday. Nizami also instigated Razakars to set fire to his relative’s house for his participation in the liberation war, he said at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1).
The three-member tribunal, headed by its chairman Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, recorded the deposition in the presence of Nizami.
Giving deposition as prosecution witness-12, Rathindranath said Nizami instigated a group of Razakars to destroy his brother-in-law Anil Kundu’s house at Sathia, Pabna as he took up arms as a freedom fighter against the Pakistani occupation force in May, 1971. “Nizami’s nephew led the Razakars to carry out onslaughts. Anil was a freedom fighter and he received military training in India,” the witness said.
Anil along with fellow freedom fighters Baten, Hamid, Fanindra and Habib launched a manhunt, especially on the Ichhamati river near Sonatala village of Sathia to track down Nizami’s nephew, he added. “Finally, they found Nizami’s nephew in August in a boat on the river Ichhamati. They caught and slaughtered him for his wrongdoing,” he said.
In a retaliatory action, Nizami guided a group of Razakars who captured and killed Anil’s mate Baten in September in 1971, Rathindranath said.
However, the 58-year-old witness said he heard of the incidents from Anil at his Nilphamari residence in 1985.
Rathindranath, a doctor at Dhaka Central Jail, said after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975, Anil being afraid of Nizami’s vengeance left his village home and started living at Nilphamari, where he died on May 8, 2010. Regarding Anil, Rathindranath further added he was a student of class X at Sathia High School in 1970.
“He went to Panighata of India in the early part of liberation war. After taking three/four months training, he joined Sector 7 to take part in the liberation war,” he said.
Rathindranath also said his schoolmate Swapan told him during the liberation war that he saw their school teacher Moulana Kasimuddin Ahmed along with some others were being taken away blindfolded by the Pakistani army on June 10, 1971. “Swapan also said he saw Nizami with the Pakistani soldiers at that time in a same jeep,” the witness said.
At the end of his deposition, senior defence lawyer Advocate Mizanul Islam cross-examined him.
-With The Independent input
