Another victim of forced conversion from Mothbaria of Pirojpur testified against war crimes accused engineer Abdul Jabbar at the International Crimes Tribunal 1 yesterday.
During his deposition as the 14th prosecution witness, Mohendra Adhikari, 84, said his name had later been changed to Mahbub Khan.
“About 30-40 razakars led by Jabbar and the Pakistani occupation forces attacked our village on May 17 of 1971. About 8-10 days later, razakars and Peace Committee members told us that Jabbar instructed them to convert the Hindus into Islam to save life,” he said.
Around 200 Hindus of Paik Para of Phuljhuri village were forced to take Islam as their religion. After two-three days, several Hindus were forced to eat beef.
After his short deposition, state-appointed defence counsel Mohammad Abul Hasan cross examined him.
Earlier in the day, Hasan cross examined Jonoprasad Paik, 62, a freedom fighter from the same village, who testified on Monday on the same charge.
So far, four victims of forced conversion testified before the tribunal against Jabbar, a former Jatiya Party lawmaker.
The proceeding of the case was adjourned until today.
Now fugitive Jabbar, the alleged chairman of Mathbaria unit Peace Committee during the Liberation War, was indicted on August 14.