A new prosecution witness in the trial against former Jatiya Party lawmaker Syed Mohammad Qaisar yesterday said the accused had led all the atrocities that took place in Habiganj and Brahmanbaria areas during the 1971 Liberation War.
He claimed that the Pakistan Army personnel beat him up brutally when Qaisar’s had identified him as a supporter of Liberation War hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Nayeb Ali, 73, from Islampur of Brahmanbaria, placed his deposition before the International Crimes Tribunal 2 as the 19th witness. A cattle trader during the war, Nayeb said he had known Qaisar from the very beginning.
The witness said he had heard gunshots from home on a day in Baishakh (first month of Bangla Calendar). The villagers were scared and were leaving the area. The men who launched the attack were chanting the slogan “Pakistan Zindabad.” Nayeb said he had also heard that Shajahan Chairman had also been killed.
Hearing this, he came outside the house and faced the accused and his accomplices in “Qaisar Bahini.” “Even though I showed him respect by giving him Salam, he without answering me asked the troops to beat me up identifying me as a man of Mujib.”
Nayeb said he had been kicked and beaten up brutally which left him almost unconscious. The army and the collaborators also set his house and another Kazi Kabiruddin’s on fire.
Quoting neighbour Laal Mia Khan, owner of a shop at nearby Madhabpur Bazar under Brahmanbaria district, the witness said Qaisar and his force had burnt at least 200 shops in the western side of the marketplace.
The next day, on April 28 of 1971, the accused and his accomplices with the help of the Pakistani Army torched shops on the eastern part of the bazaar. Lal Mia Khan told him that the anti-liberation forces had killed at least 10 people there.
After his deposition, defence counsel SM Shajahan questioned him. The tribunal adjourned the trial until today leaving the cross-examination incomplete.
