War criminal Zahid Hossain Khokon alias Khokon Razakar was not the only collaborator from his family; his elder brother was also a part of the Razakar force in Nagarkanda of Faridpur district during the Liberation War.
According to the verdict delivered by the first International Crimes Tribunal yesterday, Zahid’s elder brother Zafor was a commander of the infamous Razakar force at Nagarkanda.
At that time, Zahid was a general member of the force, actively associated with many of the atrocities committed by the Pakistani occupation army during the nine-month Liberation War in 1971.
But Zafor got killed in a battle with freedom fighters in May 1971 in their locality. That could not hold Zahid back from committing atrocities in the area and collaborating with the Pakistani occupation army with an aim to break the spirit of the Bangalees.
Zahid not only continued committing crimes against humanity throughout the duration of the war, he also went on to become a commander of the same Razakar force after his brother’s death.
Stepping into his brother’s shoes, Razakar commander Zahid himself killed many freedom-monger Bangalees, raped women and looted and destroyed properties. He was such a communal Islamist fanatic that he forced many Hindus to convert to Islam and leave their own land and go to India as refugees.
The International Crimes Tribunal yesterday sentenced Zahid to death in a war crimes case, 43 years after he had committed the crimes.
The verdict said most of the witnesses had testified that Zahid had been a Razakar and his brother Zafor was the commander of the Razakars in Nagarkanda. After that, Zahid took over the responsibility of commanding the Razakars in Nagarkanda area, said the verdict.
Although throughout the nine months of the war Zahid kept on committing crimes against humanity, the prosecution brought only 11 charges against him which were committed between May and August 1971.
Zahid and his brother Zafor used to guide the Pakistani soldiers to different villages in the area, where together they carried out atrocities on freedom-monger Bangalees and Hindus.
The tribunal found from the depositions of those witnesses, who had come from Faridpur, that the Pakistani occupation army rolled into Faridpur town on April 21, 1971, in furtherance of the “operation search light” executed on March 25, 1971 in Dhaka.
All the atrocities narrated in the charges against Zahid took place since the entry of Pakistani occupation army into Faridpur district and the targets of their horrific atrocious acts were mostly the pro-liberation Bangalees and Hindus, the verdict said.