A prosecution witness yesterday told the International Crimes Tribunal that Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee had ordered the killing of Bisha Bali in Parerhaat of Pirojpur in 1971. After consulting with Pakistani soldiers, Sayedee told collaborators, “Shala ke guli kor! [shala means brother-in-law, which is also used as a term of abuse in Bangla, and ‘guli kor’ means shoot him]”, said Altaf Hossain Hawlader in his testimony. A collaborator then shot Bisha Bali, who had been tied to a coconut tree, Altaf said. Mahbubul Alam Hawlader and Mahtabuddin Hawlader, the first and fifth prosecution witnesses, had also narrated how they saw Sayedee order a collaborator to shoot Bisha Bali. Altaf Hossain Hawlader, 58, the ninth prosecution witness, yesterday completed his deposition in a case filed against Sayedee in connection with crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971. Sayedee, Nayeb-e-Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, is among five Jamaat and two BNP leaders who are facing war crimes charges at the tribunal. After the deposition, the three-member tribunal headed by its chairman Justice Md Nizamul Huq, began recording the cross-examination of Altaf. His cross-examination will continue today. The court started its proceedings yesterday at 10:37am in the absence of Delawar Hossain Sayedee, who was earlier taken to the hospital for his scheduled physiotherapy. He arrived at the court at around 10:45am. Altaf began his 25-minute deposition at 10:55am. On June 2, 1971, Altaf was on his way to his maternal uncle’s house at Umedpur village of Pirojpur, he told the court. Sometime between 10:00am and 10:30am, he saw a group of Pakistani soldiers and collaborators, including Delawar Hossain Sayedee, enter Hindu Para in Umedpur village. “I hid behind a bush beside the road to see what was going on,” he told the court. According to the witness, the soldiers and collaborators, including Sayedee, looted the houses in Hindu Para and afterwards torched around 18 to 20 houses. “Meanwhile, they captured a person named Bisha Bali and tied him to a coconut tree. The collaborators then beat him up,” he said. Sayedee spoke to some Pakistani soldiers and it was then that he gave the order to shoot Bisha Bali. “After he [Sayedee] gave the order, a collaborator shot him [Bisha] with a long gun. I’m not sure whether it was a rifle or a pistol. Bisha Bali screamed, “Maa [mother].” Having witnessed the murder, a terrified Altaf made his way deep into the woods and later reached his uncle’s house in the village. Later that afternoon, many villagers gathered at Hindu Para to take a look at the burnt-down houses. Altaf also went there and heard the villagers talking about the body of Bisha Bali. “They were saying if Bisha Bali had been killed, what happened to his body? “There was blood where he was killed. I saw the blood as well,” he said. “Then the village women were saying that his body had been thrown into the canal,” Altaf said. Altaf said he went to Parerhaat Bazar to buy groceries on a day in mid-June1971. He saw Sayedee along with other collaborators and people dismantling the store of Madan Saha in the northern end of the market. They took the goods of the store to Sayedee’s father-in-law’s house in a boat. Earlier, the witness told the court that Pakistani soldiers came to Parerhaat on May 7, 1971. Some six or seven days before they came, a Shanti Committee (Peace Committee) was formed in Parerhaat with Delawar Hossain Sayedee, Moslem Mawlana, Danesh Ali Mollah and other collaborators of the area under the leadership of Sekandar Sikder, he said. The same people then went on to form the Razakar (collaborators) Bahini under the leadership of Sayedee, he added. They looted around 30 to 35 shops and houses in Parerhaat. The Pakistani soldiers set up camp at Rajlakshmi High School, while a collaborators’ camp was set up at the home of Fakir Das, Altaf said. “All the atrocities, including arson, plunder and rape committed in Parerhaat and nearby villages was conducted under the leadership of Delawar Hossain Sayedee,” he said. After the witness finished his deposition, defence counsel Mizanul Islam began cross-examination at 11:28am. Mizanul Islam asked Altaf whether he knew about the People’s Court formed in 1992. Altaf replied in the negative. Mizanul then went on to list the names of 59 eminent personalities, including Jahanara Imam, who is known as Shaheed Janani (mother of a martyr), and asked Altaf whether he knew them. Altaf said that he did not know them but had heard of them. The counsel asked whether any of the people or anybody else on behalf of them had interviewed him about the incidents in 1971. The witness said he could not recall any. During the cross-examination, the witness said he was the Awami League secretary of a ward in Parerhaat Union and he knew Sayedee since around six to seven years before the Liberation War. He also admitted to the counsel that he did not try to find out the name of the collaborator who shot Bisha Bali forty years ago. Witness Altaf was asked whether he had been convicted and fined for stealing the fish of one Chitto Shadhu, and chickens of Zainab, wife of Zainuddin. The witness strongly denied the claim. The court rejected the question after the defence pleaded that it reflected the credibility of the witness while the prosecution argued that they were merely personal scandals. The day’s proceedings ended with the defence submitting a petition to the tribunal to retain the rejected question in the records.
