A new prosecution witness in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami Thursday told the tribunal that some Pakistani army personnel along with local razakars and al-Badr members had committed massacre in Ruposhi Bausgari village of Pabna’s Santhia during the Liberation War.
Freedom fighter Zahurul Huq said upon Nizami’s order, at least 400 people, mostly from the Hindu communities, had been killed in an operation at that village.
He described more incidents which he claimed to have heard from the villagers.
The 18th prosecution witness told the International Crimes Tribunal 1 that he had been the headmaster of Rajnarayanpur Girls’ School in 1971.
After his deposition, the defence began cross examining him. The tribunal then adjourned the proceedings till Sunday.
Tribunal Chairman Justice ATM Fazle Kabir was not present at the court Thursday.
On May 28 last year, Nizami was indicted on 16 counts of crimes against humanity, allegedly committed by him in Pabna and Dhaka during the 1971 Liberation War.
Charges include genocide, rape, torture, abduction, confinement and conspiracy.
During the proceedings, the defence raised objection in recording the statement claiming that the prosecution was training the witness in the court room.
When Zahurul said he heard that Nizamuddin was closely related with the Pakistani army in Pabna area, the prosecutor told him it would be Nizami not Nizamuddin. Then the defence demanded that both the names be recorded.
At that time, prosecutor Mohammad Ali denied the allegation and said: “The witness pronounced the name Nizamuddin but it is his slip of tongue.”
Defence counsel Tajul Islam prayed again to the tribunal to record as it was and indicating Ali, he said: “Do not be clever.” The prosecutor protested and said it was not the court language.
Then Tajul said: “What you did is a fraud practice.”
Seeking intervention of the tribunal, Ali then apologised for his conduct. But he said he would not conduct the trial if the defence did not say sorry.
As the courtroom turned silent, the tribunal said: “Everything became calm and quiet; I thought it will continue.” The tribunal asked both the parties to behave in a decent way.
The witness said on May 14, 1971, firing had begun at the time of morning prayers. “I took position on the road side and saw Nizami with some collaborators going to the south part of the village.
“Then I went to the east part and hid myself with other villagers. After six to seven hours when we came back to the village, I saw at least 400 men and women mostly from the Hindu community were killed. I heard from the villagers present there that in presence of Nizami some Pakistani army killed those people. I identified at least 50 dead bodies including Abdul Zabbar, Azhar Ali, Boloram Das and Jitendranath.”
The previous day, the witness said Ainul Huq, a teacher of Ruposhi Primary School, “told me that Motiur Rahman Nizami along with 10-12 collaborators came to the school to meet the teachers. Nizami told them ‘Pakistani army will come within a few days, you have to help them.”
Quoting Tofajjal Hossain, a teacher of Pilot High School, the witness said at the time of inauguration of a razakar camp at the school, Nizami had asked the collaborators to kill the freedom fighters and also the pro-liberation people.
After his deposition, defence counsel Mizanul Islam asked him one question. He wanted to know the distance between Rajnarayanpur Girls’ School and Rajnarayanpur Primary School.
The witness replied that there had been no other schools in Rajnarayanpur except for one giving free education during the Liberation War.