The second prosecution witness against former BNP minister Abdul Alim, who was also a lawmaker, told in International Crimes Tribunal 2 on Tuesday that Alim had ordered the killing of many young people in Jaipurhat during the war of independence in 1971.
The witness, Md Saidur Rahman, now 67, also told the tribunal that Alim, who was a leader of the Convention Muslim League in Jaipurhat, had formed set up a peace committee in the district in mid-April 1971.
Alim, the only accused in war crime cases enjoying bail, was on the dock.
Retired government official Saidur said that a team of Pakistan army led by Alim and the Panchbibi peace committee leader Joybar had attacked Panchbibi and committed looting, arson and mass killing there on April 20, 1971.
In the afternoon on the day, they looted and burnt Meher Uddin Chowdhury’s house at Panchbibi, he said.
Alim ordered the formation of peace committees in different thanas of Jaipurhat and later he set up a Razakar Bahini unit in the district, the witness said. ‘Alim used to use the ground floor of his house for Razakar recruitment.’
He said that Alim had set up the army camp on the ground floor of Shaonlal Bajla’s house in the place and arranged accommodation of the army commander Major Afzal Begh on the first floor when the occupation army entered Jaipurhat permanently in April 1971.
Alim turned the ground Shaonlal used to dry boiled rice into the training area for Razakars and set up the office of peace committee at Shaonlal’s merchant office, he said.
He said that Alim had also set up a peace committee office at Mohonlal Agarwala’s merchant office at Akkelpur and set up a temporary Razakar camp and a police station at Durga Dutta Agarwala’s shop at Akkelpur.
He said that Alim bad set an army camp at Akkelpur Senior Madrassah and arranged their accommodation there.
A team of 13 to 14 people of Akkelpur while trying to go to India via Bhadsa union was allured by Alim’s cohort Syed Ali, also chairman of the Bhadsa union, offered shelter for a night in his house to a group of 13 to 14 people who were going to India on May 7, 1971, Saidur said.
He said Syed Ali had kept the team in a room locked up and informed Alim, who, along with the Pakistani army, reached the place on May 8, 1971 and handed over three of the team to the army and kept others confined to the waiting room at Akkelpur railway station.
‘Abdus Salam, one of the 10 people confined, was a friend of mien and I secretly reached there, talked with him through a window on the back wall of the room and came to know of their confinement,’ Saidur said.
He said that he had come to know that the three, who were handed over to the army, were shot dead at Khanjanpur by Alim’s order the next day.
On May 9, 1971, Alim reached Akkelpur by train and handed the 10 people over to the army and the army shot them on the bank of a pond at Koktara, Saidur said adding that nine of them died on the spot and the one became grievously injured but escaped death.
On June 14, 1971, peace committee men captured 15 young people at Akkelpur and took them to the local Razakar camp. Alim reached there and handed them over to the the army.
By Alim’s order, the army tortured them hanging them from a tree at Akkelpur Senior Madrassah and they were kept lying in a critical condition, Saidur said.
He said that the critically injured people were then taken to Amatta where the army forced them and a few villagers to dig holes and nine of them were shot dead and buried in the holes.
The remaining one, Khokon Paikar, was also shot dead and was buried in another hole in another place in the village, the witness said.
Syedur said that he had also seen 26 civilians cordoned by army men, Abdul Alim and Major Afzal Begh in an open space near Jaipurhat railway station ticket counter when he went to the town towards end of June 1971.
He said that he had seen Abdul Alim and Afzal taking a picture with the prisoners and he later came to know that the photo was taken by the owner of Alokhola Studio, Motasin Billah.
The witness said that by Alim’s order, three young men were painted in the face black and white for trying to join the war and were taken on rounds around the town on the deck of a truck on October 8, 1971.
They had said that anyone trying to join the war would suffer the same fate.
The next day, the three were taken to Jaipurhat Degree College and were shown to college students, he said adding that the three were shot dead at the Kuthibari landing station of Khanjanpur ‘One of them was Fazlul Karim from Akkelpur.’
In reply to the tribunal, Syedur Rahman said that he had seen some of them and heard some of them.
As Syedur’s deposition ended, Alim’s defence counsel Munshi Ahsan Kabir began cross-examination
The cross-examination remained incomplete as the tribunal adjourned the proceedings until September 10.
Courtesy of New Age
