Azhar actively took part in Jharuarbil massacre: PW

A new witness in the trial of Jamaat leader ATM Azharul Islam on Sunday said the accused had accompanied Pakistani occupation army and also actively took part in the Jharuarbil massacre of around 1200.
“I saw Azhar in white shirt and pant accompanying the troops as they were shooting indiscriminately and pushing the villagers towards north,” said Meser Uddin, 66, a Freedom Fighter (FF) from Ramkrishnapur under Badarganj police station, Rangpur. He testified against Azhar as the fourth prosecution witness (PW) at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1. Meser, a retired college teacher, said on April 16, 1971, Azhar and his accomplices, accompanied by Pakistani troops landed in Ramnathpur Union by train and started moving towards Muksedpur area, burning everything that came in their path.
“Azhar and his people killed 15 people in Muksedpur and Dhappara area, including some women. Of them, one Kalti Mai was 9-month pregnant at that time and as her abdomen was torn apart by bullets, her unborn children came out through the wound,” the witness said this in his shocking description of the crimes of the accused.
“After the Jharuarbil massacre, Azhar and his cohorts made the remaining villagers to gather in a place and made two hundred youths from there to board on their Parbatipur-bound train. They slaughtered five of them and dump their bodies by the rail track,” he added.