16 Cox's Bazar men indicted

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday framed 10 charges against 16 Cox's Bazar men in a case filed for allegedly committing crimes during the Liberation War in 1971.

The 3-member tribunal led by Justice Md Shahinur Islam also fixed May 13 for starting trial with recording testimony of prosecution witnesses, Prosecutor Tapash Kanti Baul said.

The prosecution on March 15, 2016 pressed 12 charges against 19 men including the 16 people.

But, names of two accused were dropped as they already died while name another accused was removed as prosecution could not give his required particulars.

Among the 16 accused, Salamat Ullah Khan, Nurul Islam, Badshah Mia and Osman Gani are now in jail.

Twelve others -- Moulavi Zakaria Sikder, Oli Ahmed, Md Jalal Uddin, Md Saiful alias Sabul, Momtaj Ahmed, Habibur Rahman, Amzad Ali, Moulavi Ramiz Hasan, Abdul Shukkur, Md Zakaria, Moulavi Jalal and Abdul Aziz -- are on the run.

All the accused are from Maheshkhali upazila in Cox's Bazar. The accused were mainly involved in politics of Muslim League and Nezam-e-Islami, two anti-liberation political parties. They joined Peace Committee, Razakar and Al-Badr after the beginning of the Liberation War, according to the investigators.

A Peace Committee was formed on April 30, 1971 in Maheshkhali area where Pakistan army and their local collaborators, the accused, committed atrocities mainly between May 1 and 6, they said.