Nizami, Mujahid sued for 1971 murder, arson

Nizami, Mujahid sued for 1971 murder, arson

Dhaka, Dec 17 (bdnews24.com) – A freedom fighter Monday filed a case against 13 people including four senior leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh on charges of murder and arson in 1971.

Mozaffar Ahmed Khan, a sector-2 freedom fighter, filed the case with the court of additional chief judicial magistrate Ashiqul Khobir.

Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, assistant secretary general Abdul Kader Molla and Mohammad Qamaruzzaman are among the accused.

Some other leaders of the party, which openly gave statements, are also accused in the case.

Many of such statements were published in the Dainik Sangram throughout the nine-month war as a proof of their anti-liberation activities, said independent historians and several fact-finding groups.

According to case details, some 60 to 70 members of Razakar, Al Badr and Al Shams with assignment from the accused Jamaat leaders had allegedly killed a number of freedom fighters in Keraniganj in 1971.

The complainant also charged them with arson in Ghatarchar village in the area during the bloody war against Pakistani military and their local collaborators.

After the war ended, Ghatarchar had been renamed Shaheed Nagar, or 'Neighbourhood of Martyrs', since many freedom fighters were killed in the village by the collaborators of the Pakistani forces in 1971.

The complainant mentioned in his appeal that the accused killed his two nephews when they returned home from the camps of freedom fighters to see their mother on Nov 25, 1971.

They allegedly killed Osman Gani Khan and Golam Mostafa, after raiding their home and later set the home on fire.

On information, the complainant with his team of freedom fighters tried to approach the house from nearby Kolatia camp but Nizami, Mujahid, Kader Molla and Qamaruzzaman informed the Pakistani forces for action in the meantime, the case alleged.

The collaborators later set fire to the complainant's home and two villages, he said in his appeal to the court.

The charges came amid renewed calls by various socio-political groups that the government put the "war criminals" on trial.

On Sunday, some major political parties boycotted a Victory Day ceremony at the Bangabhaban protesting the invitation of Jamaat leaders to the presidential programme.