Since early yesterday morning, there was an anticipation that war criminal Mohammad Kamaruzzaman could be hanged at night.
Right after sunset, people started gathering in front of television sets at home and also in front of the window blinds of the roadside shops, their eyes glued to the live coverage of the satellite channels.
Minutes after 10pm, hours of wait finally reached a climax when some of the television channels put up breaking news that the war criminal had been hanged.
People immediately reacted with loud claps.
Dhaka Tribune’s Nure Alam Durjoy caught up with Enam Mohammad in the capital’s Hatirpul area.
“I wish I could throw my old torn shoes at the face of Kamaruzzaman before his death. I cannot do it anymore. Nevertheless, I am happy,” he said.
Salam Uddin, who sells dry food at Farmgate in the capital, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have been watching news on television channels waiting to hear the news of his hanging. Now we wish to see the other war criminals hanged immediately.”
Rickshaw-puller Mohammad Rafiq is originally from Sherpur where Kamaruzzaman carried out the gravest of his atrocities in 1971. He told the Dhaka Tribune: “We distributed sweets after the news of his execution came. But he should have been hanged much earlier.”
In immediate reaction, write Shahriar Kabir, executive president of Gatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Al-Badr was the cruelest of all the forces that collaborated with the Pakistanis. The scale of their brutality was beyond imagination. We are happy. Someday all of them will be executed. Jamaat should be banned. No other country in the world has anything called an ‘anti-liberation force’.”
Theatre activist Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu, also a war crimes trial campaigner, said in reaction: “The trial of war criminals is a historical demand. We, the freedom fighters, have got relief. Gradually, the dream for which we fought in 1971 is getting fulfilled. We hope the next generation will keep vigil until the last war criminal is hanged.”
Gonojagoron Moncho
Just like what happened when war criminal and Jamaat leader Quader Molla was hanged, scores of activists of the Gonojagoron Moncho gathered at Shahbagh intersection – the home of their activities.
As usual, they were chanting their slogans condemning the war criminals. As soon as the news of Kamaruzzaman’s execution came, they embraced each other.
Then they brought out a procession from Shahabag and marched around the streets on the Dhaka University campus.
Welcoming the execution, Moncho spokesperson Imran H Sarkar said: “The execution of Kamaruzzaman is a milestone in creating a non-communal and pro-liberation Bangladesh. It is a great achievement for Bangladesh.”
Thanking the government, Imran urged the ruling Awami League-led alliance to finish the trial of all war criminals within its current tenure.
The Gonojagoron Moncho has been observing a sit-in programme at Shahabag since Monday demanding the quick execution of Kamaruzzaman’s death sentence.