‘Nizami ordered my father’s killing’

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami had ordered the killing of freedom fighter Sohrab Uddin Pramanik, the martyr’s son told Bangladesh’s second war crimes tribunal on Wednesday.

Aminul Islam Dablu, testifying as a prosecution witness, said his elder brother was also tortured at Nizami’s behest.

“I came to know that my father and elder brother had taken part in the War of Independence,” he said.

A 3-year-old during the 1971 war, Dablu is currently the Organising Secretary of Awami League’s Bera Upazila unit.

He said a group of Razakars, Pakistan Army’s local collaborators, had caught his brother Md Abdus Selim Latif and cousin Alauddin from the LSD launch terminal on Aug 15, 1971 on their way to Bera.

They were subjected to inhuman tortures, Dablu said, who learned of the incidents from his family members and relatives.

The 14th prosecution witness said Nizami escorted the Pakistan Army, aided by their collaborators, the Razakar and Al-Badr, to attack his village Bishalikha on Dec 3, 1971.

“On that fateful day, Nizami had ordered the torching of nearly 75 houses and the killing of my father Sohrab Uddin Pramanik,” he said.

The Jamaat chief was indicted on May 28 last year on 16 counts.

The charges include crimes against humanity and genocide covering murder, rape, arson, loot, and masterminding the execution of members of the Bengali intelligentsia days before Bangladesh achieved independence.

Source: Bd news24