War crimes verdict of Kaiser any day

The war crimes verdict for former state minister Syed Mohammad Kaiser is expected to be delivered any day as arguments in the case have ended. Justice Obaidul Hassan-led International Crimes Tribunal -2 finished hearing the arguments on Wednesday. Kaiser was indicted on Feb 2 on 16 charges including murder, abduction and torture. The former Muslim League leader was arrested on May 16 last year, a day after the tribunal had issued an arrest warrant for him. He was granted conditional bail on Aug 4 last year on medical grounds. He is the second person accused of war crimes, after Abdul Alim to have been granted bail. The tribunal ordered him to jail on Wednesday. Justice Hassan observed the case would now be in CAV mode, instead of announcing a date for the judgement, similar to the previous occasions. ‘Curia Advisari Vult’ (CAV) means the court requires further time to consider the matter. Kaiser’s father Syed Sayeduddin was elected an MLA in the 1962 election from Sylhet-7 constituency on a Muslim League ticket. Kaiser himself was defeated when he contested the 1970 election as an independent candidate in the East Pakistan provincial council polls. The investigation report says Kaiser founded a militia in his name – ‘Kaiser Bahini’ – with 500 to 700 anti-liberation activists to aid the Pakistani occupation army in 1971. He allegedly guided the Pakistan Army into various villages to attack and abuse Hindus and supporters of the liberation. Kaiser went into hiding just before Bangladesh won independence and resurfaced in the country’s politics in 1978, after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975. He contested as an independent candidate and won in the 1979 parliamentary polls from the Sylhet-17 constituency. Later, he joined the BNP founded by the country’s first military dictator Ziaur Rahman. He was made President of the BNP’s Habiganj unit. He later joined the Jatiya Party under HM Ershad’s dictatorship and won from the Habiganj-4 constituency in 1988 polls. The charges 1. On Apr 27, 1971, Kaiser and his force had killed the one Shahjahan Chairman, injured another Nayeb Ali and looted the Brahmanbaria Sadar police outpost and Islampur village. 2. On the same day, he and his men ransacked and torched as many as 150 houses and shops at Habiganj district’s Madhabpur. 3. Kaiser and his men killed Wahid Hossain Pathan, Cherag Ali, Jonab Ali, and Madhu Sweeper of Krishnanagar village under Madhabpur thana on the same day. They ransacked and torched several houses. 4. The fourth charge accuses him of leading his followers in killing East Madhabpur’s Abdus Sattar, Lalu Mia and Barkat Ali and injuring Kadar Ali on Apr 28. They later looted and set fire to several houses the north-eastern part of Madhabpur. 5. On Apr 29, Kaiser and his followers detained, tortured and killed seven men at Habiganj Sadar’s Shayestaganj warehouse and old market areas. 6. In the evening, he had picked up Salehuddin Ahmed and Hiren Chandra Roy and killed them. 7. On Apr 30, Kaiser and his men ransacked and torched around 50 houses at the Habiganj Sadar. 8. On May 11, Kaiser’s men raped Santal woman Heeramoni. The former minister had allegedly abetted the crime. 9. On May 15, he led his men to raid an area within Madhabpur and killed eight people. 10. Kaiser and his men picked up one Shah Firoz Ali and tortured him before finally killing him. 11. Kiaser took his militia to Nasirnagar on Jun 23 to loot, torch and abduct people from the locality. They killed a person even after taking ransom for his release. 12. Kaiser took his own men and Pakistani soldiers to Madhabpur in August where they committed a series of abduction, torture and rape. 13. Kaiser and his militia raided the tea gardens at Chunarughat on Aug 18 and detained four freedom fighters. They were tortured and killed. 14. Kaiser and his cohorts raided an area under the Madhabpur thana on Aug 29 and captured four men, tortured and killed them. 15. Kaiser and his militia raided a house in Madhabpur in the middle of October from where they captured a man, who was then tortured and killed. 16. Kaiser, his militia and Pakistani soldiers killed more than a hundred people in 20 to 22 villages and looted and torched households in Nasirganj thana on Nov 15. — bdnews24.com