Probe agency to visit 1,000 mass graves

The investigation agency of International Crimes Tribunal is collecting evidence from over 1,000 mass graves and genocide sites across the country for the long-awaited trial of war criminals.
Two detectives of the agency, Additional Superintendent of Police Matiur Rahman and Inspector Shyamol Chowdhury, said this after completing a three-day visit to Rajshahi on Sunday.
"The home ministry last week asked the police department to assign 10 inspectors and 10 sub-inspectors to the agency by the middle of this month to help complete the probe by next month," added Matiur.
He also mentioned three more probe teams have left for Faridpur, Joypurhat and Sirajganj after the latest visit to Rajshahi.
The detectives have so far visited over 500 mass grave sites since last December and gathered a list of around 2000 mass graves and genocide sites from the deputy commissioners of different districts.
The districts covered so far include Dhaka, Chittagong, Comilla, Brahmanbaria, Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Pabna, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi and Bagerhat.
Inspector Shyamol Chowdhury said they were yet to receive lists from about a dozen districts. With those, the total number of genocide sites would be around 3500. Of these, the investigators are probing over 1000 sites.
Photographs, video footages, and witnesses' description of the mass graves will be presented to the tribunal, noted the detective.
He pointed out that similar investigation tracks were followed during some widely discussed war crimes trials in the world like the Nuremberg.
Despite facing bureaucratic tangles and lack of logistic support, the investigators insisted to stick to their job.
“We are able to continue as we feel passionate and sincere about completing the task in time. The 1971 war crimes are so extensive and brutal that they should never be left untried,” observed Shyamol.
The detectives, however, expressed satisfaction over government's allocation of Tk 10 crore for the trial processes.
“We are using our personal digital and video cameras and laptops. We ourselves are operating those and not hiring professionals to avoid possible breaches in secrecy,” said Matiur Rahman.
According to him, the authorities are providing transport, food and accommodation during the investigation.
The probe team has been so far collecting evidence against 12 persons accused of war crimes under the tribunal.
The agency's investigators are also gathering evidence and documents against the local collaborators of war criminals to be tried at a later stage.
It is not very difficult to gather evidence even after 40 years of the Liberation War as the ICT does not require evidence like criminal laws, maintained Matiur.
The tribunal considers newspaper reports, photographs, mass graves, torture cells and witnesses' description as established evidence.
The detectives said several forces, formed by the East Pakistan Razakar Ordinance on June 1, 1971, served as auxiliary force of the occupying Pakistan army. So the same tribunal will also try the members of Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams.