A prosecution witness on Tuesday told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 that a makeshift army camp was set up at the Mohammadpur Physical Training College immediately after the Pakistan army cracked down on the midnight of March 25 in 1971.
In the small hours on March 26, the Pakistan occupation army transports carrying over 150 captured EPR men from Peelkhna headquarters reached the newly set up army camp and the captured men were thrown into the college gymnasium, recalled Rustam Ali Mollah, while testifying against war crimes accused Matiur Rahman Nizami, ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, as prosecution witness No 3.
At that time, Rustam used to live at the Physical Training College staff quarters with his father, a peon cum security guard of the college.
Eyewitness Rustam said that later on the same day he had seen the army also brought some intellectuals and artistes to the makeshift camp keeping them as captives and later tortured them to death in phases.
After two or three months have passed, the PW-3 said, the occupation army had started bringing women in a bid to kill them after fulfilling their carnal desire.
In the month of July or August, the army makeshift camp was transformed into the training camp of Al Badr and Razakar, he said.
“One day when I was on way to go for shopping, I had seen Ghulam Azam, Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid getting down from an army pick up van at the camp site,” Rustam said.
“I had also marked the on duty members of Al Badr and Razakar talking to each other about the presence of the three men,” he said, adding: “I came to know after query that the three men were their leaders.”
The PW went on saying that after getting down from the army pick up van, the three leaders met the Army Colonel at his makeshift office and stayed there for about one and half hours.
“Subsequently, I came to know that the three leaders used to visit the camp and talked to the members of Al Badr and Razakar, but I didn’t see them personally,” he added.
Rustam said that 10 days before the independence, the occupation army had tortured to death some 250 people, including intellectuals, artistes, women and captured Banglaee army men, inside the Physical Training College camp and later the bodies were dumped at the Rayerbazar killing ground.
Before concluding his deposition, Rustam, now a security guard at the Mohammadpur Physical Training College like his father Raham Ali Mollah, identified detained accused Nizami in the dock.
PW-3 Rustam will be cross-examined by the defence counsel on March 31.
Source: UNBConnect
