Qaisar verdict any day
A special tribunal in Dhaka will deliver its verdict any day in war crimes case against former state minister Syed Mohammad Qaisar as the trial proceedings concluded today
Qaisar, a former state minister of the Ershad regime, is facing 16 charges of crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Habiganj and Brahmanbaria during the Liberation War in 1971.
After hearing prosecution’s rebuttal against defence’s argument, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 kept the case waiting for verdict.
The tribunal also cancelled the bail of Qaisar and sent him to jail.
An alleged local leader of Razakar and Peace Committee, two anti-liberation forces, Qaisar was charged for “participating and abetting” an act of genocide in 22 villages under Nasirnagar upazila in Brahmanbaria that left 108 Hindus dead.
Qaisar, the also “founder” of Qaisar Bahini, which worked with the Pakistani army, was also charged with at least 11 incidents of killing that left 47 people dead, two incidents of rape and two incidents of inhuman acts between April 27 and November 15, 1971.
He was arrested in the capital on May 21 last year following a warrant of arrest issued by the tribunal but was granted bail in August the same year on health grounds.
Qaisar of Itakhola village at Madhabpur in Habiganj joined Convention Muslim League in 1962 and was elected a member of Sylhet District Board in 1966, according to the indictment order.
He contested the 1970′s election as an independent but was defeated. During the Liberation War, he was allegedly associated with the occupation army and carried out atrocities in Habiganj and Brahmanbaria. After going into hiding he returned in 1978.
Qaisar was elected an MP in the 1979 parliamentary election as an independent. He joined BNP and became the president of BNP Habiganj unit. In 1982, he became the joint secretary general of BNP [Shah Azizur Rahman group], it said.
He joined Jatiya Party and was elected from Habiganj-4 in 1986 and 1988 and became the state minister for agriculture of HM Ersahd's government. He contested parliamentary election in 1991, 1996 and 2001 as a JP candidate.
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