Just a day after the murder of a prosecution witness at the trial of Sayedee, some unidentified Jamaat-Shibir activists set alight the ancestral home of Supreme Court Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha at Tilakpur in Maulvibazar’s Kamalganj in the early hours of yesterday.
Better known as Justice SK Sinha, he is a judge of the five-member appellate division bench of the Supreme Court (SC) that awarded death sentence to Jamaat-e-Islami leader and a convicted war criminal Abdul Quader Molla.
Our correspondent in Sylhet quoting witnesses said nine Jamaat activists on three motorbikes were seen riding through Monipuri inhabited Kamalganj locality at the time of Fazr prayer chanting slogans “Naraye Takbir, Allahu Akbar.”
Local police officials suspected that the attackers belonged to Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir that had unleashed a reign of terror since Tuesday night throughout the country immediately after the news of Quader Moall’s execution early Wednesday.
A dramatic stay order of the Chamber Judge of the SC Justice Mahmud Hossain came Tuesday late night halting the execution. A five-member SC bench began to hear Molla’s petition seeking stay on his execution and allowing review of the SC judgment yesterday.
Sinha was one of the judges of the bench.
Sinha’s brother Nilmoni Sinha told the Dhaka Tribune: “I noticed the fire around 5:30am and immediately went outside of my house. I saw three people fleeing the scene.”
According to him, some wooden furniture and window frames were damaged in the fire.
Witnesses, politicians and police contacted by the Dhaka Tribune unanimously said such incidents point to the lax security system through which Jamaat can slip and hunt down its targets.
According to witnesses and online media reports, the neighbours came out as soon as the attackers tried to set the house on fire by lighting dried fallen leaves with kerosene. They doused the fire.
Police arrested Abu Taleb, President of Kamalganj Shramik Kalyan Federation, Jamaat’s labour wing, in this connection.
SK Sinha often visits his Tilakpur village home. He, for the last time, visited his village home on the occasion Eid-ul Azha. He stayed for about a fortnight in the house during that time.
“That’s why Sir’s (SK Sinha) residence was under our close watch,” said Maulvibazar Police Superintendent Tofayel Ahmed.
Police were on alert last night on a tip off that residences of high-profile people from this area might be targeted in Jamaat attacks.
“The time the attackers made their move was around Fazr prayer (around 5:15am) coincided with the time of police duty shift taking place after a whole night of patrol,” said Tofayel.
As the attack on Sinha’s residence grabbed media attention, Mostofa Howlader, 58, the Sayedee witness who sustained injuries from a Jamaat attack on Tuesday, was buried in Pirojpur’s Parerhat yesterday.
Sayedee witness Mostofa was hacked only 10 minutes after police patrolled Huglabunia area where his house was located. The attackers entered his house, only a five-minute walk from a police camp, by digging a tunnel through earthen floor and took no time to hack Mostofa in the head.
Another Sayedee witness in Pirojpur’s Umedpur, Mahbubul Alam Howlader, was attacked in broad daylight on Oct 28 at 9 in the morning.
Police deployed in front of Mostofa and Mahbub were withdrawn about a week before apparently to meet the demand for additional police on the streets during opposition blockades.
Former Zianagar Upazila AL General Secretary Ruhul Amin Nobin sees his government’s negligence in endangering lives of those involved in the war crimes trial. He questioned entertaining the appeal provision in the war crimes law given that it was unprecedented in other such trials around the world.
“The confrontation between the government and the Jamaat with general people and witnesses hanging in the balance has been created by the government intentionally for its own political gain.”
Defence Chief Counsel for Jamaat-e-Islami leaders standing war crimes trial Abdur Razzaq in a statement condemned the “cowardice arson attack” and called it “unprecedented”.
The Jamaat attacks brought under spotlight the much-talked-about witness protection act could not be passed throughout the Awami League government’s tenure.
“Not only witnesses require protection but also those involved in the process of war crimes trial need protection,” immediate-past Law Minister Shafiq Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday, after Sayedee witness was killed.
Shafiq claims works on his part to formulate the law was completed long ago but it is still pending with the home ministry.
Asked about the law for protecting witnesses, State Minister for Home Samsul Hoque Tuku on Tuesday said they had earlier considered that police protection was good enough.
“But now I consider having a law in this regard. I need to find out a way as the current parliament is not supposed to sit anymore.”