Subhan involved in kidnap, looting

A prosecution witness yesterday testified that Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdus Subhan along with other Razakars had picked up his brother from their house in Pabna before he was killed with three other people during the Liberation War in 1971.
Azizul Sarder, a resident of Ramnathpur village under Ishwardi in Pabna, told the International Crimes Tribunal-2 that Subhan and his accomplices had also looted their house before burning it down on October 30, 1971.

The 14th prosecution witness in the case against Subhan also narrated his family members' relentless efforts to get his brother Osman back in vain.
Subhan, nayeb-e-ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, faces nine charges including genocide committed in Pabna during the nine-month-long war. The war crimes accused however denies the charges brought against him.
Azizul, now a 54-year-old farmer, said Subhan had besieged their house around 8:30am on October 30 with 50/60 Razakars and started torturing their family members while his brother was tied to a mango tree.
“They looted our house and took away valuables before burning it down. Afterwards, they took my brother away on a Razakars' vehicle,” said Azizul.
“When I went near the vehicle to have my brother released, I saw detained Shafi, Bayna and Bhadu of Betbaria village on that vehicle. The detainees were taken to Muladuli Razakar camp,” he added.
The witness said his father and another brother had gone to Muladuli camp that evening and earnestly requested Ishak Ali, local chairman of the Peace Committee, an anti-liberation platform, to release Osman.
After three days' torture at that camp, his brother was sent to Ishwardi army camp, he said, adding, when his father Sabed Ali and a few other villagers had met Khudu Kha for Osman's release, the latter said his brother was killed.
Several prosecution witnesses have mentioned Khudu Kha as an associate of Subhan in Pabna.
The witness also said guards at the army camp had told his father that three other detainees, who were from Betbaria, where Razakars carried out atrocities on October 30, were also killed.
Azizul, at the last part of his 23-minute testimony, identified Subhan at the dock and said he had seen Subhan again around seven/eight years after the Liberation War.
As Subhan's lawyer Shahjahan Kabir sought an adjournment after asking the witness only one question, the three-member tribunal expressed discontent.
The court, led by Justice Obaidul Hassan with members Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Shahinur Islam, however, adjourned the proceeding until today when Azizul is set to face further cross-examination.
ICT-1
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday allowed the investigation agency to interrogate war crimes suspect Abdul Latif Talukder at a safe home to glean more information about his alleged involvement in wartime crimes committed in Bagerhat.
Latif, who was arrested at his house in Sholarkola village in Kachua of Bagerhat on June 11, was produced before the tribunal-1 the following day and the prosecution on Monday sought the court's permission to interrogate him.