BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury has deposed as the first defence witness in the case that accuses him of war crimes in 1971.
The three-judge International Crimes Tribunal-1, set up to deal with crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, indicted the BNP policymaker for 23 war crimes charges on Apr 4 last year.
He held a copy of ‘Bangabandhu’s Incomplete Biography’ in his hand as he testified on Monday.
His first hour of testimony, delivered in English, covered his family lineage from his great great grandfather to his grandchildren.
The BNP leader began testifying before the first war crimes tribunal at 11:30am before the bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Anwarul Haque.
Before the testimony, a hearing was held on a plea to allow him to meet four lawyers.
The tribunal granted permission for two lawyers to meet him for an hour in the courtroom on Tuesday.
The BNP leader’s wife, two sons, wife of his eldest son, daughter and daughter’s husband were present on Monday. He was allowed to talk to them in the courtroom after adjournment.
His younger son Humam Quader Chowdhury, speaking to his father for nearly 45 minutes, said the opposition MP was doing well.
He said he had told his father that they were ‘also staying strong’ and that they discussed some family matters.
Salauddin Quader’s lawyer Fakhrul Islam appealed for an increase in the number of defence witnesses in the morning.
Standing in the dock, the BNP lawmaker said, “Many of my defence witnesses are currently staying abroad. Some are in the country too. They include justices.”
He sought time from the court to discuss with them as “it takes time to bring them to court through warrants”.
Prosecutor Zead Al Malum promptly opposed the appeal.
Justice Hossain ordered Chowdhury to stand in the witness dock.
He then took oath. But Prosecutor Sultan Mahmud objected saying an accused cannot take oath if he himself testified in the court and Salauddin Quade withdrew his oath.
The BNP leader said he had several documents with him which would help him as a defence witness and he intended to submit them during the deposition as support document.
Prosecutor Malum was quick to oppose saying Salauddin Quader was being given the privilege which no other witnesses got.
Salauddin Quader promptly asked, “Can’t I submit any documents as reference in support of my deposition?”
Showing the ‘The Unfinished Memoirs’ of Bangabandhu, he said he would like to submit the autobiography. “Will it be a crime too? Won’t I be allowed to submit it too?”
In the deposition, he said the first paragraph of the charge-sheet filed against him mentions that the ‘two-nation theory’ was the primary reason of the communal conflict in Bangladesh.
“But page 288 of ‘The Unfinished Memoirs’ of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman narrates the history of long-time sacrifice, obstacles and ups and downs in establishing this two-nation theory, which has been criticised in the formal charge-sheet.
“Through this (statement in the charge-sheet) a proposal has been [indirectly] put forward to establish ‘one nation’ omitting the two-nation theory which is contradictory to the sovereignty of this country.
“I don’t believe that this sort of proposal bears the sign of politics and ideology of Bangabandhu. Rather it’s the politics of Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina and her political administration,” he said.
Salauddin Quader observed that sending back the Indian army, which took part in Bangladesh’s Liberation War, within three months of Bangabandhu’s homecoming in 1972 was a ‘great achievement’.
At this stage, the judges postponed the hearing until Tuesday morning.
The tribunal completed hearing deposition of the prosecution on June 13.
Awami League documents recording the conversation of Bangabandhu with Indra Gandhi shows Bangabandhu asked her to withdraw the army because he was losing popularity by every passing day resulting from Indian army presence in Bangladesh.