A new prosecution witness in the trial against alleged al-Badr commander of Rangpur ATM Azharul Islam yesterday said the accused had been involved directly in the abduction and killing of Carmichael College teachers during the 1971 Liberation War.
Shobha Kar, sister of martyred Chityaranjan Roy, told the war crimes tribunal about the abductions of her brother and three other teachers. She could identify at the time of incident Azhar since they had been classmates, the witness said.
Now living in Kolkata of India, she submitted his deposition as the 19th prosecution witness in the case. Demanding justice for the killings, the witness said the man who had planned and killed the intellectuals of the country should be punished.
After her deposition, the defence counsel started questioning her and the tribunal 1 adjourned the trial until tomorrow.
Shobha said she used to stay on the college premises with her brother who was a teacher of mathematics department.
“At midnight on April 30 of 1971, some Pakistani Army personnel came to our house and picked my brother up with two other colleagues – Sunil Baran Chakrabarty and Ram Krishna Adhikari. For some reason, Ram Krishna was at our house.
“When the abductors took them on a truck, we saw through the window that some Bangalees were helping them. I identified Azhar then because he was my classmate.”
The witness said the next day Ratan Das, the cook of Kala Chand who was a teacher of chemistry, told her that Azhar had also abducted his master. He also saw the abduction of Manjusree, wife of Kala Chand, and Sunil Baran.
Shobha said: “Later my brother’s student Salauddin informed us that all of them had been killed near Damdam Bridge of Rangpur town when the lower halves of their bodies were kept under the ground and all of them were blind folded.”
Azhar, a senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader, was indicted on November 12 last year on six charges of crimes against humanity including genocide in 1971.
Meanwhile, the same tribunal yesterday deferred the proceedings of the case against war crimes accused Mobarak Hossain upon a defence plea until April 17.
The defence counsels earlier sought time several times. The tribunal yesterday said it was accepting the plea for the last time. If the defence failed to produce their last witness, the prosecution would begin their closing arguments in the case.
At the tribunal 2, the prosecution yesterday paced the 23rd witness, Anisur Rahman, in the case against war crimes accused Mir Kashem Ali, an alleged al-Badr commander in Chittagong during the Liberation War who operated torture camps in the port city.
The witness works at the investigation agency as an inspector. He is in charge of the agency’s library from where the investigation officer seized some documents.
After his deposition and cross-examination, the tribunal set today for placing the investigation officer, also the prosecution’s last witness.
The same tribunal yesterday recorded cross-examination of the first prosecution witness in the case against war crimes accused Maulana Abdus Subhan. Witness ATM Shahiduzzaman Nasim on Monday described the killing of three members of his family in 1971 when the accused had been present at the scene with a sword in his hand.
The tribunal 2 set today for placing the second witness against the accused, a Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer.