With threats being made that their burials would be resisted, executed war criminals Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid were interred in their respective home districts, amid a strict security blanket.
SQ Chowdhury, better known as Saka Chowdhury, was buried yesterday morning at his family graveyard in Gohira village, Raozan upazila, Chittagong district.
Although local Awami League leaders and activists and the Chittagong University unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League vowed to resist the burial of the executed war criminal, there were no reports of disturbances.
Twenty platoons of police, two platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh and members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Armed Police Battalion (APBn) were deployed to Raozan to provide security.
The BNP leader was hanged at 12:55am yesterday for crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of 1971.
The ambulance carrying the war criminal’s remains reached his ancestral home around 9am. Salauddin’s son Hummam Quader Chowdhury formally received the body from Deputy Jailer of Dhaka Central Jail Mazharul Islam.
The BNP leader was buried beside the grave of younger brother Saifuddin Quader Chowdhury in the family graveyard around 9:30am following a namaz-e-janaza held on the premises of Salauddin’s ancestral home.
According to his last wishes, the janaza was conducted by Hefazat-e-Islam Senior Nayeb-e-Ameer Mohibullah Babunagari.
Several hundred people took part in the funeral.
Salauddin’s younger brothers – BNP International Affairs Secretary Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaluddin Quader Chowdhury – were absent during the burial and namaz-e-janaza. They, however, attended the gayebana namaz-e-janaza held at the city’s Parade Ground in the afternoon.
Local Awami League lawmaker ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, also a cousin of Salauddin, did not take part in the funeral. His son ABM Foyez Quader Chowdhury was present.
Earlier, around 1:15am yesterday, local people led by the Raozan upazila unit of the Awami League brought out a parade and distributed sweets to celebrate Salauddin’s execution.
The six-time lawmaker was awarded the death penalty on October 1, 2013 for committing crimes against humanity including genocide and the torture of freedom fighters and Hindus in Raozan. The Appellate Division upheld the sentence on July 29 this year.
Mujahid buried in Faridpur
Executed war criminal Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid was buried early yesterday in front of Ideal Cadet Madrasa, an educational institution established by his family near his ancestral home in West Khabaspur of Faridpur town.
His body reached Faridpur around 6:30am amid strict security. The area was cordoned off at 11pm on Saturday and opened up again after 7:45am yesterday.
Mujahid’s brother Ali Afzal Mohammad Khales, a nayeb-e-amir of Faridpur district unit Jamaat-e-Islami, led the namaz-e-janaza on the madrasa premises.
Hundreds of people including local Jamaat leaders, family members and Fajr prayer attendees at the madrasa mosque, attended the funeral prayers.
Mujahid was buried at 7:10am in front of the madrasa gate.