Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed contested in the parliamentary elections four times – in 1986, 1991, 1996 and 2008. But he never succeeded.
He, however, became a technocrat minister of social welfare during the 2001-06 BNP-Jamaat alliance government. Mojaheed, whose verdict in war crimes case is due Wednesday, was a key leader of infamous al-Badr and one of the masterminds behind killing of the intellectuals on the eve of independence of Bangladesh, according to the prosecution.
Born in 1948 in erstwhile Faridpur, Mojaheed is facing seven charges for committing murder, genocide and conspiracy to kill the intellectuals.
According to a Jamaat source, in 1968, Mojaheed became the president of Islami Chhatra Sangha, now Islami Chhatra Shibir, of Faridpur unit. After taking admission to Dhaka University in 1970, he moved to Dhaka and subsequently was selected as the president of the Dhaka Islami Chhatra Sangha.
Later that year, he became the secretary of the East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha, the provincial wing of the Nikhil Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha. In October 1971, he was elected president of the East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha.
On June 21, the day of Mojaheed’s indictment order, the accused told the tribunal that he was determined to serve the country since December 16, 1971 and added that he never went into hiding and no complaint or case was filed against him.
In addition, the defence counsels during placing their closing arguments admitted that their client was a member of the al-Badr force but he was merely performing a “job” as a leader of the Islami Chhatra Sangha.
A number of 17 witnesses testified against Mojaheed while the newsroom editor in the English news section of Diganta Television, Ali Ahmad Mabrur, also the youngest son of the accused, was the lone witness to testify in favour of the accused.
According to the prosecution, as the top leader of Chhatra Sangha, he had played a vital role in forming the armed forces of al-Badr and al-Shams which helped the Pakistani occupational army during the 1971’s Liberation War in committing atrocities.
The indictment order of the war crimes tribunal mentioned that Mojaheed later became the chief of al-Badr.
According to the verdict in Mohammad Kamaruzzaman’s case, al-Badr was an “action and armed section” of Jamaat, which had acted against the birth of Bangladesh.
The prosecution says Mojaheed killed 50-60 Hindus in Baidyadangi, Baladangi and Majhidangi areas in Faridpur in the middle of May 1971, and frequently visited Mohammadpur Physical Training Camp where a Pakistani army set up a camp.
He also faces the charge of allegedly killing daily Ittefaq’s former executive editor Sirajuddin Hossain. He ordered to kill noted composer Altaf Mahmud, Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam’s son Rumi, Jewel, Azad, Badi and Jahir Uddin Jalal on August 30, 1971 at the army camp of the old MP Hostel at Nakhalpara in Dhaka. Bodies of the abovementioned were never found.
Along with torture charges, the senior Jamaat leader is also facing charges for allegedly attending a meeting of the Peace Committee at Kahlilpur Bazaar community centre in Faridpur and later attacking a nearby village Bakchar where nine Hindus were killed. The razakars also raped a girl and compelled the villagers to go to India.
