Man who formed own force to stop freedom fighters
Syed Mohammad Qaisar not only stood against the Liberation War in 1971 but also formed a force of his own to collaborate with the Pakistani army in their futile attempt to thwart the birth of Bangladesh. He did not stop by just assisting the invaders and directly took part in heinous crimes including committing genocide.
Driven by the deep conviction for a "united Pakistan", Qaisar led his marauding force and assisted the Pakistani army to burn and loot people’s houses, kill unarmed civilians and rape women.
But, instead of getting punished for his crimes against humanity after independence, Qaisar made a bright career in politics and climbed to prominence and national attention in a country whose birth he vigorously opposed.
If someone doesn't have any idea about the politics of Bangladesh after 1975, they might be stunned by the information that a war criminal made such a turnaround. However, thanks to the violent political changeover in August 1975, Qaisar not only was rehabilitated but also became a prominent industrialist in the country.
He established good links with both BNP and Jatiya Party, the parties that ruled the country for around two decades, and became a minister of Bangladesh using the political clout.
While the victims of his crimes and most of the people were crying for justice, Qaisar enjoyed a luxurious life until he was arrested in connection with a case related to the war crimes in May last year.
Finally, he was brought to justice as a special war crimes tribunal sentenced him to death for his crimes yesterday.
According to the prosecution documents, Qaisar, son of late Syed Soeed Uddin Ahmed of Itakhola village of Madhabpur in Habiganj, was born in 1940.
The war criminal, in a registration form submitted to the Habiganj election office, claimed to have studied up to BA and studied at Armanitola New Govt High School and Jagannath College in Dhaka, but the investor did not find any evidence to that end.
Following the political ideology of his father, who was a Muslim League leader and lawmaker, Qaisar got involved in the politics of Convention Muslim League in 1962 and was elected a member of Sylhet District Board in 1966 and occupied the chair till 1971, the documents say.
As Muslim League denied him the party’s candidature, he contested the 1970′s election as an independent candidate but could not win. In mid-April, a unit of Peace Committee, an anti-liberation force, was formed at the house of his maternal uncle Manjur Ali, who was also a Muslim League leader, prosecution witnesses said.
Qaisar himself had also formed another anti-liberation force by the name of Qaisar Bahini comprising 400 to 500 people from Nasirnagar in Brahmanbaria and his hometown Madhabpur in Habiganj to assist the Pakistan army and started looting and torching houses of the Hindus there, witnesses said.
Using his force and association with the Pakistani army, he got involved in numerous crimes including looting, arsons, murders, rape and an act of genocide. However, sensing defeat, he left the country in the last part of the war and fled to London, the prosecution said.
According to the defence, a case was filed against Qaisar under the Collaborator Act, 1972 in connection with killings during the war and he was acquitted later.
The tribunal yesterday said Qaisar was tried in absentia in the 1972 case and the formal charges submitted by the prosecution against him did not include the event of the alleged murders.
After the bloody political changeover in 1975, Qaisar returned to Bangladesh in 1978 and was elected an MP in the 1979 parliamentary election as an independent candidate. He joined BNP and became the president of the party’s Habiganj unit. In 1982, he became the joint secretary general of BNP [Shah Azizur Rahman group], the prosecution said.
He joined Jatiya Party and was elected an MP from Habiganj-4 in 1986 and 1988 and became the state minister for agriculture of HM Ersahd's cabinet. He contested the parliamentary election in 1991, 1996 and 2001 as a JP candidate but was defeated. He later joined the PDP.
An investigation agency, designated to probe the war crimes committed in 1971, started an enquiry into his crimes on March 28, 2012 and law enforces arrested him on May 21 last year following a warrant of arrest.
Qaisar was granted bail on August 6 last year on health grounds in the face of opposition by the prosecution. The prosecution sought cancellation of the bail for intimidating a witness through family members, but the tribunal did not dispose of the petition.
The prosecution pressed formal charges against Qaisar on November 10 last year and the court indicted him on 16 charges on February 2 this year.
As many as 32 prosecution witnesses, including the investigation officer and a war child, testified in the case, but the defence declined to produce any witness to defend their client.
On completion of trial, the court on August 20 kept the case waiting for verdict and sent Qaisar to jail cancelling his bail.
After the verdict, Kazi Kabiruddin, a freedom fighter and the first prosecution witness in the case, said, “He [Qaisar] is filthy rich and we apprehended that he might get away. But the judgement has proved our apprehension wrong.”
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