A defence witness on Sunday said war crimes accused Abdul Alim, also a former BNP state minister, had been in hiding during the Liberation War in 1971.
Second defence witness M Mozaffar Hossain, who hailed from Hanailbambu in Joypurhat told the International Crimes Tribunal 2 that there was no market near his village. As a result, they used to go Shahpara, a neighbouring village to buy oil.
When Mozaffar, 57, had gone over to his neighbour Musa’s house to hand over some oil to him, he had seen Alim at his house, either in late July or early August of 1971.
“He [Alim] was an unknown person to me. I asked Musa about him. Musa told me that Alim had run away from his village and was staying at his house as his life was at stake,” the witness said.
He quoted Musa as saying: “Alim was a regular at Machua bazaar mosque in Joypurhat when I was the imam at the mosque.”
Mozaffar, who was 16 years’ old and a student of class IX in 1971, also submitted that the atrocities in Karaikadipur had taken place in late April.
“I was going back to my home after working at a field. I saw 20-25 Pakistani army members and 10-12 Bihari people coming from the west side of my village. I was horrified and I hid myself inside our village mosque. Mohammad Mofazzal Hossain, Altaf Hossain and I hid at the mosque for around one hour. Through the mosque window we saw the people heading in the northeast direction,” the witness said.
“After that, we returned home. Around 40 minutes later, I heard gunshots and left my home again. It seemed that the sound was coming from Karaikadipur village. The gunshots stopped around 3pm on that day,” he added.
Later, prosecutor Rana Das Gupta cross examined the witness.
The tribunal of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Shahinur Islam set today for next defence witness Sazzad Bin Alim, son of the war crimes accused.
The tribunal allowed Sazzad as the third and last defence witness following a defence prayer. His name was not on the original list of 3,328 witnesses provided by the defence side.
Alim was indicted on 17 charges of crimes against humanity he allegedly committed during the 1971 Liberation War in Joypurhat. The prosecution says he was the chairman of district Peace Committee.
Arrested on March 27, 2011, Alim has been enjoying conditional bail since March 31 last year.
