A witness testified at a deposition that Mowlana Abdus Subhan accused of war crimes had killed a number of innocent villagers in Sara Gopalpur of Pabna during the Liberation War.
Korban Ali, 77, testified against the Jamaat leader before the second International Crimes Tribunal yesterday.
“Subhan and one Khoda Boksh, along with a hundred Pakistani soldiers, surrounded our village on April 13, 1971. They fired indiscriminate gunshots and set houses on fire... I hid behind a bush during that time,” Korban said during the deposition.
“I saw Subhan and his men force my cousin Mohammad Israil, aunt Tulu Khatun, uncle Taijuddinand some others to stand in a line... scared, two villagers, namely Ismail and Harejuddin, broke away from the line and ran for their lives. Subhan shot at them and killed Ismail on the spot. Then he ordered his men to chase the other runaways and kill them,” the witness deposed.
“After that, Subhan and the Pak troops opened fire at the other detainees standing in line, killing four, instantly. Luckily, my aunt, cousin and another villager named Rustam survived; but they were injured.” he described.
The witness said after Subhan and the others left the place, he, along with other villagers, went to the spot and saw four bodies. They took the survivors to Dr Tarikul of Rooppur who treated the wounded.
Korban also said after returning to his village, he saw Subhan and his men killed many unarmed villagers. He said he attended the funeral of villagers Haran Fakir, Razzak and Keru.
After he finished giving his deposition, the defence counsel then began their questioning. The tribunal soon adjourned hearing till today.
Meanwhile, counsel of another accused war crimimal Syed Mohammad Qaisar ended their questioning the 14th with the prosecution witness date set on Wednesday for further hearing of witness account.
Defence Counsel SM Shahjahan claimed that the witness came to give a deposition because his leader Khabir Uddin persuaded him to do so. The witness denied the suggestion.
Witness Nayeb Ali, 60, yesterday testified against the former state-minister for agriculture of HM Ershad’s government.
Nayeb said he used to work as an informer for the freedom fighters in Noapara of Madhavpur in 1971; it became his responsibility after KM Shafiullah became the commander of sector three.