A new prosecution witness in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami Executive Council member Mir Kashem Ali yesterday described about his abduction and inhuman torture by al-Badr members led by the accused at Daleem Hotel in Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War.
Lutfar Rahman Faruk in his deposition at the International Crimes Tribunal 2 said he had been left in a dumping ground after torture at the Chittagong Circuit House where hundreds of dead bodies were dumped.
The 20th prosecution witness from Bakalia said he had been abducted along with one Siraj from Bakalia area by the al-Badr members on November 19, 1971. They were taken to Daleem Hotel and kept without food and drink for a week.
Lutfar said: “When we reached the Daleem Hotel, we saw a Maulana and Mir Kashem Ali. They kept many people confined at the camp, blindfolded. That night they beat me up with an electric cable that left me unconscious.’”
One evening, when he wanted to eat something, Lutfar said: “Kashem told me ‘why do you need fasting? [Al-Badr members] Give him some urine to drink.’”
“From there they handed me over to the Pakistani troops as failed to glean any information about freedom fighters. The army men took me to the Circuit House,” he said.
Jamaat’s student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha (now Islami Chhatra Shibir) president Mir Kashem was the leader at Daleem Hotel, the witness said.
Junior defence counsel Abu Bakar Siddique started cross examining him and the tribunal adjourned the proceedings the questioning incomplete.
At the Circuit House, the witness said he had seen around 400-500 dead bodies. The army personnel gave him electric shock that left him unconscious.
“When I got my sense back, Fateh Ali Shah, a physician of the Pakistani Army, told me that he rescued me from a dump and gave some medication that saved my life. After two days he sent me to Chittagong Jail saying that it will be better for me as I had many enemies,” Lutfar said adding that he had been sexually crippled since the torture.
After his deposition, the tribunal recorded cross-examination of Md Tajul Islam, the third prosecution witness in the case against war crimes accused Syed Mohammad Qaisar.
Tajul had been a member of notorious “Qaisar Bahini,” a local auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation force led by the accused, from Nasirnagar of Brahmanbaria. He testified at the tribunal on Sunday when he repented for the atrocities in Habiganj and Brahmanbaria areas in 1971.