Witnesses to Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s war-time atrocities and war crimes trail campaigners expressed their satisfaction over the verdict while talking to The Daily Star correspondents Dwaipayan Barua in Chittagong and Tamanna Khan and Probir Barua in Dhaka.
PROF ANISUZZAMAN
“We have been able to hold the trail of the war criminals after 42 years and absolve ourselves from the guilt of not trying them before,” said 75-year-old academician Anisuzzaman.
Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman, the first prosecution witness in the case against Salauddin, said it was a fair verdict and justice has been served.
Anisuzzaman was a Reader (associate professor) of Bangla department at Chittagong University in 1971. Along with his family, he had taken refuge in Kundeshwari Girls’ Primary School, founded by Nutan.
PRAFULLA CHANDRA
“Like everyone else, this is the verdict I had expected. However, I will be fully satisfied when the judgment is implemented,” said Prafulla Chandra Singh, son of Nutan Chandra Singh, who was murdered by Salauddin on April 13, 1971.
Salauddin was sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal for the murder of Nutan, a philanthropist of the Hindu Community in Rouzan.
PROF SALEH UDDIN
“I am 64 years old and I am happy that I got the verdict in my lifetime,” said Prof Saleh Uddin, former vice-chancellor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) and a victim of torture at Goods Hill.
“The collaborators including Salauddin Quader Chowdhury had killed people indiscriminately in 1971. But we waited for a trial and did not resort to violence in retaliation for their atrocities,” he said, adding that justice has finally been served.
“This verdict proves that no one is above the law no matter how powerful he or she is,” he said.
Prof Saleh Uddin was a student of Chittagong University during the Liberation War. He was abducted in the third week of July, taken to Goods Hill and tortured.
NIZAMUDDIN AHMED
“We are looking forward to its [the verdict’s] implementation,” said senior journalist and former Reuters correspondent Nizamuddin Ahmed, also a victim of the torture at Goods Hill.
He said he feels that it was not the time to be overly excited about the verdict. He said, “Whichever political party comes to power next, I urge them to implement the verdict.”
Nizamuddin said, “I was advised by my well-wishers not to testify before the tribunal as it might put my family at risk. But as a Muslim, I believe that life and death is decided by the Almighty Allah and if I do not testify then my conscience would be questioned.”
MOFIDUL HAQ
“Most of the star witnesses of this case were women. Even widows had the courage to come before the tribunal and vividly describe the atrocities committed by the accused,” said Liberation War Museum trustee Mofidul Haq.
He said justice had prevailed through the verdict
He mentioned the murder of Sheikh Mozaffer Ahmed and his son Sheikh Alamgir and the mass killing at Unoshatturpara. The eyewitness accounts of Umme Habiba and Janoti Bala Paul proved Salauddin’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt, he said.
“The defence had called the prosecution witnesses vagabonds but it was these people who showed how society’s inner strength and the power of truth can prevail,” he added.
SHAHRIAR KABIR
“His [Salauddin’s] behaviour in court clearly shows that he has no respect for law,” said Shahriar Kabir, executive president of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee. “He is a criminal character and that has been proved.”
Shahriar Kabir said, “In the tribunal’s observation about his [Salauddin’s] behaviour in court, it became clear that it is very much possible that this person can commit such crimes.”
When asked about the small number of prosecution witnesses, he said in the very first days of the trial, Salauddin threatened to teach witnesses a lesson, if they had dared to testify against him.
He said those who testified should be thanked and that he was worried about their security.
SALIMULLAH
“When I was tortured in Goods Hill [Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s family home in Chittagong] in 1971, I cried in pain and thinking of my little daughter I left home … Today, these are tears of joy,” Mohammad Salimullah, the second prosecution witness of the case, told The Daily Star over the phone.
He urged the BNP not to oppose the verdict and to expel Salauddin from the party’s standing committee. “If they [BNP] do so, they too will be considered as pro-liberation force,” Salimullah said.
He also urged the president not to pardon him.
Salimullah, who owned Mulim Press in Chittagong during the Liberation War, was abducted by Salauddin’s men as he was heading towards Goods Hill to seek release of two of his Hindu employees who were kept there.
Chandra Singh, son of Nutan Chandra Singh, who was murdered by Salauddin on April 13, 1971.
Salauddin was sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal for the murder of Nutan, a philanthropist of the Hindu Community in Rouzan.
Source: The Daily Star
