The defence counsel of war crimes suspect and BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury sunday placed their arguments for the second day, saying that the investigating officer (IO) had given a false statement in the case.
Defence counsel Ahsanul Haque, while arguing on the deposition and cross-examination of IO Nurul Islam, claimed that the IO did not investigate the case properly and dramatized the events. He claimed that the local people never saw Salahuddin Quader during or before the Liberation War, as he never worked with his father, the Muslim League leader Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, in any of his political activities.
After allowing half a day for arguments by the defence, the International Crimes Tribunal 1, headed by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, adjourned the court till today.
Earlier, both the defence lawyer and the accused claimed that the BNP leader was not involved in committing crimes against humanity. Salahuddin Quader also claimed he had been in Pakistan from March 29, 1971 to April 20, 1974. The six-time Chittagong MP is facing 23 charges of crimes against humanity.
In his argument, defence counsel Ahsanul Haque said in May 1971, all assets including bank accounts of Fazlul Quader Chowdhury were confiscated since he was a leader of Convention Muslim League, which was one of the three factions of the Muslim League.
Ahsanul also said when the Peace Committee was formed in 1971, sponsored by the government of that time and headed by Khwaja Khairuddin, it had no members from the Convention Muslim League.
He said even the IO had told the tribunal that he had not come across any information that would prove that the accused was an influential leader in 1971 or a leader of Convention Muslim League. The IO had also agreed that Salahuddin Quader was not a member of the Peace Committee.
On the issue of culpability for "joint command responsibility," Ahsanul said: "What all the soldiers did, cannot not be treated as the responsibility of one person. Also Fazlul Quader Chowdhury was not even a member of Peace Committee, razakar, al-Badr or al-Shams. Then why did the prosecution accuse him and his son, who was not in the country at the time the crimes are said to have been committed, of the charge of joint command responsibility?"