Dhaka: A Bangladeshi court on Thursday extended
the quizzing of a top Jamaat leader, who has been accused of
killing 345 people during the country's 'Liberation War' in
1971.
Mohammad Ali Hossain, the Third Additional Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate, allowed a three-day remand of Ali
Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, the Secretary General of Bangladesh's
largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami in a case filed for
killing 345 people during the 1971 'Liberation War', the Star
online said today.
The same court yesterday granted a five-day remand of
detained Jamaat leaders Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader
Molla in the same case.
1971 War veteran Amir Hossain Molla had filed the
genocide case against the Jamaat general secretary with the
Pallabi police in February 2008.
Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami has also been named
an accused in the case, Pallabi police chief Iqbal Hossain was
quoted as saying by the bdnews24 online on Tuesday.
On March 25, the government set up the special
investigation agency and a three-member special tribunal for
the trial of "war criminals" accused of genocide and those who
sided with the Pakistani military during the 'Liberation War'.
Jamaat-e-Islami, a crucial ally of opposition
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and several other rightwing
groups have been accused of helping the Pakistani military
during the war.
Jamaat's chief Nizami and Secretary General Mojahid
led the so-called Al-Badr forces, which is widely believed to
have been involved in genocide, rape and murder of frontline
intellectuals in an effort to cripple the emerging nation in
1971.
According to official figures, Pakistani troops, aided
by local collaborators, killed an estimated 3 million people,
raped about 200,000 women and forced millions more to leave
their homes during the bloody nine-month guerrilla war.
On March 26, 1971, Bangladesh - then East Pakistan -
declared its independence from West Pakistan.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, July 15, 2010, 22:02