S. BINODKUMAR SINGH
After forty-three years,
justice finally caught up with Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) ameer (chief) Motiur
Rahman Nizami (71) as the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1), one of the
two War Crimes Tribunals constituted by the Sheikh Hasina Wajed Government, sentenced
him to death on October 29, 2014, for atrocities during the Liberation War of
1971. Nizami was found guilty on eight of the 16 charges brought against him.
The four charges which brought him death included involvement in the killing of
intellectuals; the murder of 450 civilians; rape in Bausgari and Demra villages
in Pabna District; the killing of 52 people in Dhulaura village in Pabna
District; and killings of 10 people and rape of three women in Karamja village
in Pabna District. He was also sentenced to imprisonment for life on the
charges of involvement in the killing of Kasim Uddin and two others in Pabna
District; torture and murder of Sohrab Ali of Brishalikha village in Pabna
District; torture and killing at Mohammadpur Physical Training Centre in Dhaka
city; and killing of freedom fighters Rumi, Bodi, Jewel and Azad at Old MP
Hostel in Dhaka city.
Nizami, at that time,
was the President of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, the students’ wing of JeI, the
precursor of the present-day Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), and was also
ex-officio chief of Al-Badr, a paramilitary wing of the Pakistan Army in 1971.
As a leader, he not only took part in crimes against humanity, the judgment
reads, but also delivered provocative speeches to incite thousands of his followers
to commit similar crimes during the Liberation War. However, instead of being
punished for the heinous crimes, President Ziaur Rahman permitted Nizami and
other leaders of the JeI to revive the party in 1978. The JeI subsequently
emerged as the largest Islamist party in the country and Nizami established
himself as a key leader, organizing the ICS. He became JeI ameer in November
2000, and also served as the Minister of Agriculture (from October 10, 2001, to
May 22, 2003) and Minister of Industries (from May 22, 2003 to October 28,
2006) in the Begum Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led
Government between 2001 and 2006.
Nizami was first
arrested on June 29, 2010, in a lawsuit for hurting religious sentiments. After
three days, he was shown arrested for committing crimes against humanity during
the Liberation War. Subsequently, on May 28, 2012, he was indicted on 16 specific
charges for his involvement in War Crimes. It took around 29 months to go from
the indictment to the sentencing, as the verdict was deferred three times in
the past.
Earlier, on January 30,
2014, the Chittagong Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1 had awarded the death
penalty to Nizami in the sensational 10-truck arms haul case of 2004, the
country’s biggest ever weapons haul case. On February 7, 2014, the verdict on
the arms haul case was transferred to the Chittagong High Court for
confirmation of its sentences. Nizami filed an appeal with the Chittagong High
Court seeking acquittal from the charges and, on April 16, 2014, the Chittagong
High Court accepted the appeal. The case is still pending in the High Court.
Meanwhile, as in earlier
cases, soon after the verdict, cadres of JeI and its student wing ICS went on
rampage across the country. 30 persons, including 28 JeI-ICS cadres and two
Security Force (SF) personnel have been injured in violence across the country,
thus far. 71 JeI-ICS cadres were also arrested from various parts of the
country for bringing out processions. The JeI called for a countrywide hartal
(general strike) on October 30, November 2 and November 3
The verdict has
attracted some negative international attention. Calling for a commutation of
Nizami’s death sentence, the European Union (EU), in a statement on October 29,
2014, declared, “The case of Motiur Rahman Nizami has now reached a stage where
an execution of the death sentence constitutes a serious threat.” On October
29, the United States (US) reiterated its support to bringing to justice those
who committed atrocities during the Liberation War, but demanded that the
trials should be fair and transparent maintaining the international standards.
On the other hand,
minutes after the news of Nizami’s death penalty reached the Shahbagh
intersection in Dhaka city on October 29, Gonojagoron Mancha (People’s
Resurgence Platform) activists erupted into exhilarated cheers. Showing victory
signs, they demanded the immediate execution of the verdict, chanting slogans
like “we demand hanging”.
Meanwhile, on November
2, 2014, ICT-2 sentenced JeI central executive committee member Mir Quasem Ali
(62) to death after finding him guilty on two charges, one for abduction,
torture and killing of 15-year-old freedom fighter Jasim of Sandwip
Sub-District in Chittagong District; another for abducting, torturing and
killing Ranjit Das alias Lathu and Tuntu Sen alias Raju of Chittagong town in
Chittagong District. Quasem, considered one of the top financiers of JeI, faces
14 charges, including murder, abduction and torture committed in Chittagong
city between November and December 16, 1971. He was allegedly the chief of the
Chittagong Al-Badr and was indicted on September 5, 2013, after being arrested
on June 17, 2013.
Thus far, the two ICTs
conducting the War Crimes Trials, which began on March 25, 2010, have indicted
18 leaders, including 13 JeI leaders, three BNP leaders and two Jatiya Party
(JP) leaders. Verdicts against 12 of them (including Nizami and Quasem) have
already been delivered, in which nine persons have been awarded the death
sentence (including Nizami and Quasem), while three have been sentenced to life
imprisonment. Remarkably, in the first-ever execution in a War Crimes case, JeI
Assistant Secretary Abdul Quader Mollah (65), who earned the nickname Mirpurer
Koshai (Butcher of Mirpur), was hanged on December 12, 2013, at Dhaka Central
Jail, against his conviction on charges of atrocities committed during the
Liberation Wars of 1971. Of the six other convicts who were awarded death
sentences, three – Al-Badr leaders Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Khan and Chowdhury
Mueenuddin, and JeI leader Maulana Abul Kalam Azad – were awarded sentences in
absentia. The verdicts against JeI leaders Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and
Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, are currently
pending with the Appellate Division.
Significantly, former
JeI Chief Ghulam Azam (92), who led the JeI during the country’s Liberation War
in 1971, died at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in
Dhaka city after suffering a stroke on October 23, 2014. Azam had served a year
and three months of his 90-year jail term for crimes against humanity. Protest
rallies by opponents of JeI were held during his funeral at Baitul Mokarram
National Mosque in Dhaka city, demanding that his body be sent to Pakistan for
burial there. Ziaul Hasan, chairman of Bangladesh Sommilito Islami Jote, an
alliance of progressive Islamic parties, observed, “The janaza (mourning
procession) of a war criminal can never be held at the national mosque.”
The verdict against the
JeI chief is a body blow to the organization. The Government is already
considering banning JeI, which was debarred on August 1, 2013, from contesting
elections. Awami League (AL) Joint Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif on October
29, 2014, noted, “The verdict has once again proved that JeI was involved in
war crimes with a political decision.” With its very existence now under
threat, JeI attempts to retaliate violently are imminent, and likely to vitiate
the security environment of the country.
Compounding the problem
are the recent activities of other Islamist extremist and terrorist groups,
particularly the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). On September 22, 2014,
the Detectives Branch (DB) of the Police claimed that 25 top leaders of JMB and
seven other Islamist outfits, including Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), Jamaatul
Muslemin, Majlish-e-Tamuddin, Hizbul Zihad, Hizbut Tahrik, Jamaatil Muslemin
and Dawatul Jihad, discussed a regrouping plan at a meeting in a remote char
(riverine island) area at Sariakandi sub-District in Bogra District on May 5,
2014. More recently, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested JMB’s chief
coordinator Abdun Noor and four of his close aides from the Sadar sub-District
Railway Station in Sirajganj District on October 31, 2014. 49 primary
detonators, 26 electronic detonators, four time bombs, 10 kilograms of power
gel, 155 different kinds of circuits, 55 jihadi books and a power regulator
were recovered from the JMB cadres. During preliminary interrogation, the JMB
operatives confessed that they were planning to carry out large-scale bomb attacks
across the country, particularly in Dhaka city.
Remarkably, India’s
National Investigation Agency (NIA), currently investigating the October 2,
2014, Burdwan (West Bengal, India) blast case, on October 28, 2014, uncovered a
suspected plot by JMB to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and
carry out a coup. The JMB had also planned to assassinate BNP Chairperson Begum
Khaleda Zia. Earlier, on October 27, 2014, Indian investigators had revealed
that the JMB module in Burdwan had managed to transport six consignments of
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to Bangladesh, to be used for terrorist
activities in the country.
The War Crimes Trials,
and the cumulative verdicts against leaders of extremist parties and groups
that have been at the core of destabilization in Bangladesh over the past
decades, have been crucial in turning the country around after years of
mounting chaos that had brought it to the very brink of failure. This process
needs to be sustained, indeed, accelerated, despite the backlash of extremist
entities, if the gains of the recent past are to be consolidated.
First published in South AsiaIntelligence Review, Weekly Assessments & Briefings, Volume 13, No. 18, November 5, 2014
S. Binodkumar Singh is a Research Associate, Institute for Conflict
Management
No comments:
Post a Comment