The prosecution’s eighth witness in the case against Syed Mohammad Qaisar gave a terrible description of torture at an army camp during the 1971 Liberation War while the accused and members of his force had confined him at a power station of Shahzibazar in Habiganj.
In his almost three and half an hour deposition, the witness said Qaisar and his men along with the Pakistani Army had tortured at least 20 people including him at the Shahzibazar camp. He had been tortured brutally for more than 20 days. For this reason, he lost his left leg and cannot hear properly.
At the end of deposition, Shah Hussain Ali alias Sabu Miah at the International Crimes Tribunal 2 said he was grateful to Almighty Allah as he could tell the tribunal his experiences after long 43 years.
He is the brother of Shah Hasan Ali alias Fulu Miah, the seventh prosecution witness. He said Qaisar had engaged his men to kidnap him and killed his father.
After his deposition, defence counsel SM Shahjahan asked him a question about the age of his younger brother Fulu Mia. Later the tribunal adjourned the hearing until today keeping cross-examination incomplete.
The accused, a former Jatiya Party state minister, was indicted on February 2 on 16 charges of crimes against humanity he had committed in 1971 in Habiganj and nearby areas.
The witness said he had heard about his father’s abduction and death from the family members as he was then in India for training as a freedom fighting. After his return, his uncle told him that his father had been picked up from their house following the order of Qaisar.
“When my uncle went to the police station, where they took my father, he saw Qaisar and Barek Mokter there. As he requested to free my father, Qaisar asked him to hand over me and my fellow fighters to him.
“Later they took my father to the neared rest house, another army camp. My uncle saw my father blindfolded with a pillar. Then he was taken to Srimangal and never returned. After the liberation, we tried to get his body, but failed,” the witness said.
He also told the tribunal about the mass killings in Srimangal. He had seen many dead bodies at the WAPDA rest house on December 17, 1971. “We saw many dead bodies of women and men. At Bat Tala, we found hundreds of skeletons and bodies dumped.”
Sabu also described the killings of Dr Saleh and Hirendranath who had been tortured in front of the house of Justice Syed ABM Mahmud Hossain. “I saw them taken to Laskarpur but heard from others about their death.”
He also reacted sharply whenever the prosecution had asked him to focus on the charges and shorten his deposition. “The whole scenario is now in front of my eyes and it is so live that I cannot overlook anything.”