Probe finds evidence of 5 war crimes
Investigators have found evidence of former Jatiya Party lawmaker Abdul Jabbar's involvement in at least five crimes against humanity at Mothbaria upazila of Pirojpur during the 1971 Liberation War.
Sanaul Huq, senior investigator of the International Crimes Tribunal, briefed on the charges at a press conference at his Dhanmondi office in the capital yesterday.
In the last week of May 1971, Jabbar along with his accomplices forcefully converted 200 Hindus to Islam at Phuljhuri village, said Helal Uddin, who conducted the probe. The probe report also cites Jabbar's involvement in killing two freedom fighters in the village.
Apart from that, Jabbar participated in the killing of one person in Phuljhuri and setting fire to 360 houses.
He and his cohorts on October 6 1971 detained 37 people of Angulkata and Mothbaria villages of the upazila. Of them, 22 were later killed and the others injured, said Helal, who had also investigated the case against war crimes convict Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
Jabbar's involvement was also found in the killing of 11 people, and looting of and setting fire to 60 houses at Noli village of Pirojpur.
More than a hundred houses were torched at Nathpara and Kolupara by Jobbar and his men, as per the report.
Helal said he had begun the investigation on May 19 last year and named 40 witnesses in the report.
The investigation agency is supposed to submit the probe report to the prosecution today. As per the norms, the prosecution will submit a formal charge sheet to the tribunal after scrutinising the report.
Senior investigator Abdul Hannan Khan gave the introduction of Jabbar and his role in the nine-month-long war.
Jabbar, the then chairman of Mothbaria Peace Committee, “played a key role” in the formation of Razakar Bahini and led the force in crimes committed in the upazila during the war. He also formed peace committees in every union and led them.
Peace Committee and Razakar Bahini were two anti-liberation forces that collaborated with the Pakistan army in 1971.
Hannan said some 150 Razakars had occupied Mothbaria thana complex and set up a camp.
Jabbar was elected lawmaker from Mothbaria in 1986 and 1988 with Jatiya Party ticket but later he retired from politics. There has been no trace of him since 2009, Hannan added.
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