A prosecution witness on Sunday corroborated the evidence of a freedom fighter witness over renaming ‘Anandamoyee Kalibari’ as ‘Razakar Manjil’ in Brahmanbaria after it was occupied by accused Mobarak Hossain and his Razakar sidekicks during the 1971 Liberation War.
“In the 3rd or 4th week of October 1971, as a Class V student, I along with 22-23 classmates at Annada Government High School, led by our class teacher, had visited the Kalimandir at the behest of our headmaster to see a captured ‘miscreant’,” recalled Chaman Sikander Julkarnain while testifying against detained Mobarak before the International Crimes Tribunal-1 as PW 11.
“We had seen the captured young man with bullet injuries groaning on the west corridor (of Kalimandir),” he said, adding that “after 3-4 days of visiting the Kalibari, we came to know that Razakar Mobarak and his associates had killed the captured man and dumped his body on the bank of Kurulia canal, outside Brahmanbaria town.”
PW Zulkarnain said Razakars led by Mobarak had also looted the houses belonging to the Hindu community around the mandirs — Kalibari and Ramkrishna.
Before concluding his deposition, the PW identified Mobarak in the dock.
After his deposition, defence counsel cross-examined PW Julkarnain, now superintendent of Brahmanbaira Industrial School.
During the cross-examination, referring to local newspapers, Julkarnain said Mobarak’s name had appeared in the newspapers time and again as to how Razakar Mubarak had become organising secretary of Mogra union Awami League in Akhaura upazila and remained so for long.
Mobarak used to hobnob with the local Muktijhoddha Sangsad, which raised controversy over his identity in the locality, he added.
The PW, however, said he had no documentary proof that Mobarak was made a Razakar and he had been posted at Kalibari Mandir in October 1971.
Asked whether he rented out the first floor of his school building for operating the branch office of newly-floated political party BNF, Julkarnain replied in the negative, saying “Even I had no authority to rent out any part of the school.”
He further told the tribunal that he had become the victim of humiliation for being a PW in the case. “I was beaten up by the members of a particular political party,” Julkarnain said without divulging the name of the party.
On conclusion of the cross-examination of PW-11, the designated prosecutor informed the tribunal that they don’t have any more PW except the investigation officer (IO) of the case.
Meanwhile, accused Mobarak submitted a list of defence witnesses numbering a dozen before the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, for his defence.
After hearing both sides, the tribunal set October 6 for deposition of the IO as the last PW.
The prosecution for the first time brought an Awami Leaguer (expelled) Mobarak Hossain of Akhaura in Brahmanbaria, also a pre-independence Rokan (qualified member) of Jamaat-e-Islami, to justice in a war crimes case.
On April 23, the tribunal indicted Mobarak, a commander of Razaker, a vigilante group of Pakistan occupation army in 1971, for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
Mobarak faces five specific charges like murder, torture, looting, killing and abduction under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973.
Khodeja Begum, whose father was allegedly killed by Mobarak, filed a case with Brahmanbaria court in 2009 which was transferred to the International Crimes Tribunal in 2011.
The tribunal then asked its investigation agency to investigate the matter, and the investigator found the prima facie war crimes case against Mobarak.
Source: UNBConnect