TUI RAZAKAR

Compiled By : Habib

The Sector Commanders’ Forum (SCF) and the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) yesterday said they would campaign against political parties forming electoral alliance with anti-liberation war forces.

They reiterated the demand for the trial of war criminals including detained Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Motiur Rahman Nizami and called on the people to boycott anti-liberation-war elements socially and economically.

The announcement came after a view-exchange meeting between the SCF and the CPB, held at the forum’s central office at Banani in the city.

The meeting was the third in a series of discussions on the part of the SCF to talk political parties out of any alliance with war criminals ahead of the next parliamentary elections.

The SCF leaders told the meeting that they, along with other freedom fighters, would oppose the parties siding with the anti-liberation forces and urge people not to vote for them.

Ruling out any alliance with war criminals, the CPB asked the SCF to set up a data bank on war criminals and anti-liberation war elements.

“We consider crimes against humanity as the most heinous of all crimes. The rule of law would not be established in the country until war criminals are brought to justice,” CPB President Manzurul Ahsan Khan, who led a ten-member delegation of his party, told journalists after the meeting.

“We also gave our word to the sector commanders that we’ll try our level best to bring the war criminals to justice,” he said.

The CPB president said though two well-known war criminals — Motiur Rahman Nizami and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury — are behind bars now on corruption charges, the government is yet to try them for war crimes.

Maj Gen (retd) KM Shafiullah, Maj Gen (retd) CR Dutta, Maj Gen (retd) Amin Ahmed Chowdhury, Lt Col (retd) Abu Osman Chowdhury, Maj (retd) Rafiqul Islam, among other SCF leaders, were present at the meeting.

Compiled By : Habib

Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, who enjoyed leniency of the past governments, is now at an isolated cell of Dhaka Central Jail thanks to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) implicating him in the Gatco graft case that eventually led to his arrest on Sunday night.

Although there is enough evidence of his involvement in atrocities during the Liberation War in 1971, he and other local collaborators of the Pakistani occupation forces managed to evade arrest.

Chief of Al-Badr, a force formed with local collaborators of the Pakistani invading army to eliminate intellectuals of Bangladesh, Nizami also got off scot-free even after dozens of former ministers and senior politicians were put behind bars after the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led government assumed power early last year.

He was finally arrested, not for war crimes, after a court issued a warrant of arrest against him following the Gatco charge sheet.

Various documents show he was one of the leading figures among the Jamaat-oriented local collaborators during the independence war.

He was the president of Jamaat’s youth front, Islami Chhatra Sangha (now known as Islami Chhatra Shibir) and carried out a wide range of activities against the Liberation War.

Under his supervision and leadership, the al-Badr (para-militia) force was organised with a scheme of making Bangladesh a nation without her intellectuals. Al-Badr is accused of murders, rapes and arson attacks.

Jamaat, for its involvement in anti-liberation activities, was constitutionally banned after the country’s independence and many Jamaat leaders had to face trial on charges of war crimes.

The trial was, however, blocked and the anti-liberation forces were politically rehabilitated in the wake of the bloody changeover of power in 1975.

With the demands for trial of war criminals and barring anti-liberation forces from contesting polls getting momentum again in recent months, Jamaat leaders started denying their roles in 1971.

Most political parties that have sat with the Election Commission (EC) for talks on electoral reforms opined that Jamaat couldn’t be registered as a parliamentary party in independent Bangladesh.

The Jamaat leaders now claim they didn’t work against independence and there is no war criminal in the country.

But the accounts of Lt Gen AAK Niazi, who led the Pakistani occupation forces as the chief of Eastern Command of the Pakistan Army in 1971, prove the claims false.

Niazi in his book “The Betrayal of East Pakistan” categorically says the Razakar force was formed by the Pakistan government to fight the freedom fighters.

In his book, he says Jamaat-e-Islami, Nizam-I-Islami Party and several factions of Muslim League were known as rightist political parties at the time and the Razakar force was formed with the men recruited from these parties.

Jamaat leaders Golam Azam, Abbas Ali Khan, Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed launched a countrywide campaign urging youths to join Razakar, Al-Badr and the Al-Shams forces to fight the freedom fighters. The then home ministry also used to send reports to West Pakistan about the activities of these forces.

Speeches and writings of Jamaat leaders published in their mouthpiece, the daily Sangram, in 1971 also demonstrate how Jamaat, Razakars, Al-Badr, Al-Shams and peace committees functioned and indulged in killings and atrocities.

Nizami and his party are also accused of patronising Islamist militants that quickly emerged in the country in 2005 through bomb blasts and grenade attacks.

When notorious Bangla Bhai of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was carrying out a reign of terror in the country’s northern region in 2005, Nizami pinned the blame on the media of creating a “fictitious criminal”.

“Police have nothing to do when there is no existence of this so-called Bangla Bhai. Who should they arrest?” Nizami told reporters at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban the same year.

But former BNP lawmaker Abu Hena before his expulsion from the party named former minister Aminul Islam, former industries minister Nizami and Jamaat secretary general and former minister Mojaheed as patrons of Islamist militants.

Majority of those who were arrested on charges of bomb blasts and murders and are now facing trial belong to Jamaat or its student wing Shibir.

Two more murder cases against Nizami, filed with Keraniganj and Pallabi police stations for killing freedom fighters and general public during the Liberation War, are now under investigation.

Compiled By : habib

Representatives of the Islamic community of the country yesterday demanded punishment of Jamaat Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes he committed during the Liberation War.

The demand came at a meeting between a delegation of Islamic leaders and the Sector Commanders Forum (SCF) at the SCF office in Banani.

The delegation, led by former director of Bangladesh Islamic Foundation Maulana Farid Uddin Masud, said war crimes are more heinous than corruption and for that the government should try the war criminals by a special tribunal.

At the meeting they said the rule of law that the government is telling about could be ensured if they try the war criminals.

The religious leaders said that there can be no peace in the country if war criminals are not tried.

SCF chairman and deputy chief of Liberation War Air Vice-Marshall (retd) AK Khandaker, sector commanders Maj Gen (retd) KM Shafiullah, Maj Gen (retd) CR Dutta, Maj Gen (retd) Rafiqul Islam, Lt Col (retd) Abu Osman Chowdhury, former Army Chief and chief coordinator of SCF Lt Gen (retd) Harun-ar-Rashid, among others, were present on behalf of SCF.

Maulana Abdur Rahim, Maulana Mizanur Rahman, Principal of Baridhara Madrasa Maulana Abdul Alim Faridi, Khatib of Rajbari Mosque Mufti Ainul Islam, among others, represented Islamic leaders.

compiled By : Habib

Staff Correspondent

Awami League (AL) yesterday announced it would not enter into any electoral alliance with the anti-Liberation War forces.

The announcement came after a view-exchange meeting with the Sector Commanders’ Forum (SCF), a platform of those who led the war in 11 sectors.

Held at the Forum’s central office at Banani, the meeting was the first in a series of discussions planned to convince political parties not to ally themselves with war criminals.

The war heroes said they along with other freedom fighters would oppose the parties siding with anti-liberation forces and urge people not to vote for them.

In response, AL leaders pledged they would try the war criminals if they come to power through the next general election.

Led by presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, a six-member delegation of the party took part in the talks that lasted about one hour.

“We are committed not to form any electoral alliance with anti-Liberation War forces and not to nominate anyone who had worked against independence,” AL acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam told journalists after the meeting chaired by Sector Commanders’ Forum President air vice-marshal (retd) AK Khandker.

“We also gave word to the sector commanders that we will try the war criminals,” AL acting general secretary.

Syed Ashraf said they would include the pledges in the party’s election manifesto.

Khandker told reporters, “We wanted them to pledge that they will try the war criminals if they win the next election. We also requested them to include the pledges in their election manifesto.”

He continued, “If any political party forges an alliance with the anti-Liberation War forces, we will work against them in the election.”

Major Gen (retd) KM Safiullah, Major (retd) Rafiqul Islam, Lt Gen (retd) M Harun-Ar-Rashid, Major Gen (retd) Jamil D Ahsan, among other SCF leaders, were present at the meeting.

compiled by : Habib

Published: Tuesday, 13 May, 2008, 05:25 AM Doha Time

Our Correspondent
DHAKA: The election commission (EC) has rejected a plea of 1971 liberation war commanders to bar ‘war criminals’ from contesting the ensuing parliamentary polls.
Chief election commissioner A T M Shamsul Huda said that data against ‘war criminals’ and anti-liberation forces needed to be gathered if they were to be banned from contesting polls.
He made the remark at a meeting with the Sector Commanders’ Forum.
The 1971 independence war veterans, campaigning for war crimes trial, demanded that the EC declare war criminals ineligible for elections.
Huda said the commission would recommend to the government to take the initiative.
“We have been working under limitations as a statutory body. But we cannot do anything since the issue this is political. For this, the government has to come forward. We will place our recommendation with the government,” he said.
Referring to the draft Public Representation Ordinance 2008 which makes convicts unfit for contesting elections, he said, “Anyone convicted by the court will be ineligible to contest elections. Besides, a candidate will lose the seat if he or she furnishes wrong information under the eight-point affidavit

Comiled By Habib

Staff Correspondent

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said the commission will collect records of war criminals’ trials under the now defunct collaborators act, in a bid to permanently disqualify war criminals from contesting in any election.

Between 1972 and 1975, 752 persons were convicted of war crimes and the government has the records. Soon after the country’s independence, 37,000 persons were detained on charges of war crimes, 26,000 of whom were released on a general amnesty in 1973, keeping 11,000 still in jails on specific charges of murder, rape, arson, etc.

But after 1975, the collaborators act was scrapped stopping the trials and leading to release of all convicted and detained war criminals.

In its electoral reform proposals, the Election Commission (EC) said an individual will be permanently barred from contesting in parliamentary elections if that person was convicted of war crimes by any national or international tribunal. The same provision is likely to be proposed for local government elections too.

Besides, according to a Supreme Court order, a contesting candidate will have to submit an affidavit of personal information of eight categories including one for criminal cases filed against that person, and the verdicts in those.

“Returning officers will need the war crimes trial records to scrutinise the nomination papers, for finding out whether any of the prospective candidates has suppressed information about war crimes cases filed against him or her,” the CEC told the Sector Commanders’ Forum (SCF) yesterday at a meeting in the commission secretariat.

The CEC said if any candidate is proven guilty of suppressing information in the affidavit submitted to the commission, even after the person is elected to an office, that election will be cancelled.

“But we need the trial records and other documents since the Election Commission does not have any pertinent information,” the CEC said.

Leaders of SCF, a platform of commanders who led the country’s liberation war in eleven sectors, told the CEC that all records and evidence of war crimes have been lying on government shelves.

The forum placed a five-point proposal to the EC including one for barring war criminals from contesting in polls, and another for disqualifying anti-liberation organisations including Jamaat-e-Islami, Muslim League, and Nezam-e-Islam from being registered as parliamentary political parties.

SCF also proposed for a provision in the electoral law, asking candidates to submit affidavits of personal positions during the liberation war, and their whereabouts after the liberation war.

The veteran freedom fighters said war criminals and anti-liberation political forces should not be allowed to be in politics of the independent country under any circumstances.

“We fully agree with the proposals. We will do our best within our abilities, and make recommendations to proper authorities on matters beyond our jurisdiction,” the CEC told the SCF delegation.

In response to the proposals, Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain said the EC agrees with the SCF proposals ‘100 percent’. “But a legal framework is required to implement the proposals,” the election commissioner said adding, “The EC will ask the government to respond to the popular demand.”

At that point, the CEC said it is the jurisdiction of the government to try the war criminals.

“We don’t know whether the caretaker government will try them. We will implement the legal framework if the government provides us with one,” CEC Huda said.

Lauding the EC’s move to disqualify war criminals from contesting in polls, SCF chief Air Vice-marshal (retd) AK Khandker enquired whether the commission will also disqualify anti-liberation organised forces from being registered as parliamentary parties.

In reply, the CEC said some political parties had been banned in the immediate aftermath of the country’s independence, but later, the ban was withdrawn allowing the parties to resume their activities.

Referring to the EC proposed conditions for political parties’ registration, the poll chief assured the veteran freedom fighters saying, a political party will not get registration if the party’s constitution contains any provision that goes against the spirit of the country’s constitution.

The SCF delegation which included Maj Gen (retd) KM Shafiullah, Lt Gen (retd) Mir Shawkat Ali, Maj Gen (retd) CR Dutta, Maj (retd) Rafiqul Islam, and Lt Gen (retd) M Harun Ar Rashid, was led by AK Khandker.

Meanwhile, War Crimes Facts Finding Committee (WCFFC), a research organisation, also put forward similar demands to the EC on Saturday.

WCFFC also demanded that the EC makes it mandatory for prospective candidates to disclose their whereabouts during the country’s war of independence, if their names were included in the Bangladesh Gazette (Extra Ordinary) under Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunals) Order 1972, if they were in hiding to avoid arrest following their indictment in any case under the order, and detailed information regarding the cases against them.

The research organisation also urged the EC to form a tribunal for disqualifying war criminals from contesting in polls.