18 war crimes charges pressed against Qaiser
10 November 2013, 06:22 AM
UPDATED
10 November 2013, 16:37 PM
The prosecution pressed 18 charges against Syed Mohammad Qaisar, an alleged member of Habiganj Peace Committee, for his involvement in crimes against humanity and mass killing in 1971.
Qaisar was the alleged founder and leader of the “Qaisar Force”, which was an associated organisation of the Pakistani army at Habiganj and Brahmanbaria during the war.
Prosecutor Zead Al Malum submitted the formal charges to the registrar of the International Crimes Tribunal at noon.
The tribunal would announce its next step tomorrow in this regard, the prosecutor said.
After probing the allegations against Qaisar for 16 months, the war crimes investigation agency on September 22 said that it had found “horrifying evidence” of Qaisar’s involvement in crimes against humanity and genocide.
Agency officials said he was involved in at least 16 counts of war crimes, including genocide, abduction, murder, confinement, torture and arson.
The agency submitted the probe report and other documents to the prosecution on the same day.
International Crimes Tribunal-2 asked the prosecution the next day to press formal charges if any against Qaisar on October 24.
As the prosecution failed to submit formal charges on that day, the court fixed today (Sunday) for the submission.
Qaisar, 73, a former state minister in military dictator HM Ershad’s cabinet, was arrested in the capital on May 21 following an arrest order of the tribunal. He received bail on August 5 on grounds of poor health.
According to the investigation agency, Qaisar, son of Syed Soeed Uddin Ahmed of Itakhola village of Madhabpur, Habiganj, was a Razakar commander and a member of the local Peace Committee. He guided the Pakistani army in their operations against the Hindus of different villages in Habiganj and Brahmanbaria districts during the war.
The agency said he was involved in two counts of rape, the killing of 526 persons, looting of over a thousand houses and torching of 1,500-1,600 houses during the nine-month-long war.
In a single incident on November 15, 1971, Qaisar along with his force and the Pakistani army killed hundreds of people, looted and torched their houses in about two dozen villages in Brahmanbaria, the probe body said.
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