Martyrs' families crave quick war crimes trial
The families of martyred intellectuals and freedom fighters want quick trial of war criminals for which they have been waiting for the last 39 years in agony seeing the criminals left unpunished and enjoying state support to prosper.
''As the investigation team of International Crimes Tribunal is working, we feel that the nation remembers the atrocities and brutalities perpetrated on martyred intellectuals and freedom fighters,'' said Shaheen Reza Noor, second son of martyred intellectual journalist Serajuddin Hossain.
He said, ''I remember a group of masked Al Badar men who had taken away my father on the night of December 10, 1971. Eight to ten masked men arrived at our rented Shantinagar residence at 3:00am knocked the door harshly. I heard a known voice as saying, 'Shaheen, open the door.' And I opened it,” Shaheen told the agency yesterday at his Mohammadpur residence.
''The masked men stormed into the house along with our landlord Shamsul Huda and his brother-in-law journalist Syed Mahmud.... they went into my father's room and took away him and then boarded a jeep within a minute. My father was wearing a blue colored lungi and a white T-shirt,'' recalled Shaheen.
''We have talked about it much but now we want quick trial of the criminals,'' he said quoting his mother.
Shaheen was confirmed that the masked men were Al Badars. ''I identified one of them as his mask was worn out. He was Khalil. He was jailed for life during the trial under the collaborator act. But I don't know what happened to him when the act was annulled by Ziaur Rahman.''
Shaheen said, ''We waited till December 16 for my father's return. But, on December 18, Aminul Huq, a former attorney general, and a close friend of my father, came to our residence with tearful eyes and told us to go to Rayer Bazar. I along with my relatives rushed there and was horrified to see the bodies of intellectuals, mostly partially decomposed, in a ditch.''
''We didn't take any body from there as we could not trace out my father. The colors of clothes with the body were not same as my father was wearing while taken away.''
A feeling of relief was also visible among the family members of martyred freedom fighter Muhammad Salimullah as the war crimes trial has started.
''Now the trial has started ... every member of our family is eagerly waiting to see the collaborators are punished. You know, now my mother never misses any TV bulletin to know about war tribunal news,'' said Sadi Mohammad, famous singer of Rabindra sangeet.
Sadi's father Mohammad Salimullah who was an Awami League leader was hacked to death on March 26, 1971 by collaborators. ''The incident is still a nightmare to me.... It is still vivid in my mind that a Pakistani soldier was stabbing on my father's back with a dagger before my eyes.''
''He stabbed so violently that it took some time to take the dagger out. I tried hard to stop the bleeding with my hand on the wounds, but it did not stop because it (stabbing) was so deep.''
''I dragged my father into the street, but a mob surrounded us. Seeing the mob, which had already killed 25 Bangalees in the areas, my father said, 'My son, runsave your life.' Those were the last words from my father. I started running for life, but looked back and saw the mob falling on him. My father's body was left on the street for a long time until the local mosque's Imam, risking his life buried him at Mohammadpur Graveyard.''
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