Man links 9 of Jessore to killing of father, brother

A prosecution witness yesterday linked nine men of Jessore, including former BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Shakhawat Hossain, to the killing of his father and younger brother during the Liberation War in 1971.

Gaziur Rahman, the son of martyr Chadtulla Gazi of Chingra village in Jessore's Keshabpur upazila, narrated the killings before the International Crimes Tribunal-1.

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He is the first witness in the case against the nine, all from Keshabpur.

Shakhawat is now involved with Jatiya Party, and in jail along with two other accused Billal Hossain Biswas of Nehelpur and Lutfar Morol of Porchakra.

The rest are Ibrahim Hossain of Nehalpur, Sheikh Md Mujibur Rahman and Kazi Ohidul Islam of Shekhpur, Aziz Sardar of Mominpur, Aziz Sardar of Boga, and Abdul Khaleq Morol of Altapol.

The nine face five charges, but the detained three pleaded not guilty before the tribunal.

Gaziur said he was 17 years old, and his father was president of Sagardari Union Awami League in 1971.

In mid-Sraban, a Bangla month, accused Shakhawat, along with 30 to 40 Razakars, met at the house of Muslim League leader Munshi Salimullah in Chingra Bazar, where Shakhawat asked his men to keep eyes on the ferry ghats which freedom fighters often used, he said.

"I was sitting inside a shop in Chingra Bazar and overheard the meeting."

Gaziur said Shakhawat and his associates knew from him the way to the ferry ghats. At one stage, Shakhawat wanted to know who the president of the local Awami League was, Gaziur said, adding that as he said he did not know, they left.

In mid-Bhadra, Shakhawat, along with 20 to 22 Razakars including the eight accused, went to Chingra Bazar searching for his father, and failing to find him, they came to their house and detained his cousin Momin Gazi, the witness said.

Accused Ibrahim tortured him as he could not tell anything about his father's whereabouts, Gaziur said. Shakhawat and his men then looted their house, he added. "I witnessed the incident from behind a bush."

Gaziur said when his mother requested Shakhawat not to torch their house, he kicked her and his 18-month-old brother Atiar fell off his mother's arms. Three ribs of his brother were broken and he died after 17 days due to lack of treatment, he added.

On the 28th of Ashwin, the nine accused, along with 15 to 20 Razakars, besieged their house and detained his father before taking him to Chingra Razakar camp, he said. "I saw it from a bamboo bush."

Gaziur said his father had been tortured in the camp for three to four days before Shakhawat shot him dead on the bank of the Kopotakkho River on the first day of Bangla month Kartik.

He later learned about his father's killing from another detainee, Nur Uddin.

The tribunal adjourned the proceeding until today after defence counsels completed his cross-examination.

KISHOREGANJ

Meanwhile, the tribunal ordered its registrar's office to publish ads in a Bangla and English national daily, asking fugitive war crimes accused Syed Mohammad Hussain alias Hossain of Kishoreganj to appear before it within two weeks from the day of the ads' publication.

Hussain is one of the two accused in a case filed for allegedly committing crimes during the Liberation War in Kishoreganj. The other accused, Muhammad Moslem Pradhan, is now in jail.

The tribunal fixed March 27 for passing the next order.

The prosecution on December 3 last year pressed six specific war crimes charges against the duo.