Siraj, cohorts killed 42 Hindus in gunfire burst

A freedom fighter yesterday narrated how war crimes accused Sheikh Sirajul Haque alias Siraj Master ordered his accomplices, including Khan Akram Hossain and Abdul Latif Talukder, to shoot dead 42 Hindus, including his maternal uncle, at Bagerhat's Shakhari Kathi Bazar on November 5, 1971 during the Liberation War.

The trio, however, refutes the eight charges of crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Bagerhat being heard at International Crimes Tribunal-1.

Nimai Chandra Das, 62, also the seventh prosecution witness, testified that a Peace Committee, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation army, was formed in Number 7 Badhal Union of Kochua and one Modasser Mollah was made its chief.

AKM Yusuf, founder of Razakar Bahini, another auxiliary force; Siraj, one Rajab Ali of Bagerhat and leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and Muslim League had gone there to form the committee, he said.

The committee recruited some 25 to 30 Razakars and sent them to Khulna for training. They returned to set up camp at one residence, Biswas Bari, in Doiboggohati, he added.

“Khan Akram was the camp's commander. Razakars then began looting and torturing villagers,” said Nimai, adding that he then went to India on June 4 for warfare training and returned on July 7 or 8.

At July's end, the camp's Razakar told Hindus that they must convert to Islam if they wanted to stay in Bangladesh, he said.

“We saw from a distance cows being slaughtered at the house of Sonaton Das and around 200-250 Hindus being forced to wear tupis (prayer caps) and eat beef (prohibited in Hinduism),” he added, saying Akram was present there.

When they were forced to offer prayers, someone set two haystacks on fire, prompting the people to begin running to and fro, he said.

Freedom fighters attacked the camp on November 4, 1971 but had to retreat for torrential rain. He and three others went to Shakhari Kathi Bazar to know whereabouts of the camp's Razakars, said Nimai.

Sometime later, around 50 to 60 Razakars arrived, blocking off the three roads leading out of the bazar, he said.

“Do not run away and be afraid. We come here to catch the freedom fighters who had attacked Doiboggohati camp,” he quoted Siraj as saying.

Nimai and another freedom fighter Altaf took shelter at a nearby mosque from where they saw the Razakars tie 90 Hindus, including his uncle Nokul Das, with gamchas (cotton towels). “One person's left hand was tied with another's right,” he said.

On Sirajul's instruction, Razakars, including Akram and Latif, took the detainees at the bank of a canal west of Doiboggohati Bazar, he added.

“Siraj Master blew a whistle three times and all the Razakars opened fire at the detainees,” the witness said adding that the shots sounded like “popping corn” and he dived into the canal and took shelter in a paddy field.

Around 42 people were killed and many injured. The next day, the Razakars forced villagers to carry the bodies and bury it in a large hole in Ramchandrapur village, said Nimai.

He said a complaint he filed with the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court of Bagerhat on May 10, 2009 accusing 19 persons was later transferred to the tribunal. Nimai identified the trio in the dock.

Defence counsels are expected to cross examine the witness.