A prosecution witness against war crimes suspect Matiur Rahman Nizami Sunday said a valiant freedom fighter was killed by razakars, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation army, following an order by the Jamaat-e-Islami leader during the 1971 Liberation War.
After his deposition at the International Crimes Tribunal 1, defence counsel Mizanul Islam started quizzing the witness. The lawyer pleaded for another day to complete the cross-exa ination citing that he was not prepared enough. The tribunal then adjourned the session till Monday.
Rathindranath Kundu, a physician of Dhaka Central Jail, is the 12th prosecution witness in the case against Nizami.
A former minister during the BNP-Jamaat alliance government in 2001-06, Nizami was indicted on May 28 last year. The Jamaat leader is facing 16 counts of crimes against humanity. The charges include genocide, rape, torture, abduction, confinement and conspiracy, which he allegedly committed in Pabna and Dhaka during the war.
The witness told the tribunal: “To avenge of the murder of his nephew, who was an infamous razakar, Nizami ordered his accomplices to capture and kill a group commander of local unit of freedom fighter, named Baten. Following this, in
September 1971, razakars captured Baten and killed him.”
Rathindranath said he had heard the stories from his brother-in-law Anil Kundu, who fought the war with Baten.
Quoting Baten’s wife, he said: “Following Nizami’s orders, the razakar members looted Anil’s residence and set it on fire. Only for the cruelty of Nizami and aides, his family was forced to leave the country.”
Kundu also spoke about other incidents he had learnt from his friends. One of his school friends told him that Nizami was seen taking three people somewhere in an army jeep.
The three, who were blindfolded, include his teacher Maulana Kochhimuddin Ahmed. Kochhimuddin’s name also came up earlier during the depositions of other prosecution witnesses.
Replying to a question of the defence counsel, the witness said Maulana Kochhimuddin was in charge of the training camp set up for freedom fighters on Pabna Zilla School playground. Answering to another query, Kundu said he had not investigated whether any nephew of Nizami was really killed during the war.
