Gen Moeen to give testimony via teleconference

Former army chief Moeen U Ahmed will give his testimony via teleconference on September 13 before a parliamentary sub-committee probing the Dhaka University (DU) campus violence during the last caretaker government's tenure.
“The sub-committee finalised the date after the former army chief had requested it to take his testimony through teleconference,” Rashed Khan Menon, chief of the four-member probe body, told reporters after a meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban yesterday.
This will be the first ever testimony through teleconference before any parliamentary sub-committee, sources at the parliament secretariat said.
Menon, also president of Workers Party of Bangladesh, said they will finalise the probe report after the testimony of Moeen.
The sub-committee had earlier asked the former chief adviser to the past caretaker government Fakhruddin Ahmed and Moeen U Ahmed to appear before it and give their testimonies on the much-talked about DU violence in August, 2007.
The duo, staying in the USA for the last one and a half years, sent their reply through letter and e-mail to the sub-committee, saying they were not involved with the army personnel's torture on teachers and students of DU during and after the campus violence.
The committee, however, rejected their versions saying those were incomplete and baseless.
The former army chief then requested the sub-committee to take his testimony via teleconference saying that he was ill. As Fakhruddin did not show up, the sub-committee had decided not to contact him further.
On February 27 this year, some DGFI officers, including former chief of general staff Sina Ibne Jamali, appeared before the sub-committee and said that the intelligence agencies had no role in this regard as everything was done in line with the directives of the then chief adviser and army chief.