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| Bangladesh |
| Razakars were for peace! Claims Nizami's counsel in war trial |
| 2013-11-19 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] The Razakar force was only formed to ensure law and order during the war, claimed the defence for war crimes accused Motiur Rahman Nizami ...During the liberation war of 1971, Nizami formed the Al-Badr Force and acted as its supreme commander. The Al-Badr militia took active part in rape, extortion, looting and killing of Bangladeshis who supported the liberation, including a pre-planned massacre on December 14, 1971, when the Al-Badr militia along with Pakistan Army rounded up hundreds of doctors, professors, writers, and other Bengali intellectuals, and executed them... yesterday before the International Crimes Tribunal-1. The defence compared Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's March 7 speech with a speech Nizami delivered in Chittagong during the war where he said, "Pakistain is the house of Allah." To the surprise of most in the courtroom, defence counsel Tajul Islam made the comment about the Razakar force, historically known as one of the vicious auxiliary forces of the Mighty Pak Army. His statement was in response to the prosecution argument that Nizami's speech on September 10, 1971, incited Razakars to commit war crimes. Tajul also said Jamaat chief Nizami was a "patriot" who had called upon his follower to restore peace in the country. One of the charges against Nizami was that he incited people to commit war crimes through a speech he delivered at the Mohammedan Institute of Chittagong on August 3, 1971 during a meeting of the Chittagong City unit of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami ... The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... Nizami in the speech had said, "Pakistain is the house of Allah." Tajul yesterday argued that "Pakistain is the house of Allah" was a rhetoric and it revealed Nizami's love for the country. "He did not incite people to commit crimes with his speech." He then went on to compare Bangabandhu's March 7 speech with Nizami's. He said Bangabandhu's speech caused a national upsurge and he had made the speech against his own country but we do not call it incitement. Tajul yesterday claimed that the charge against Nizami that he used religion to incite Razakars and young men to commit war crimes was vague. Tajul said the prosecution had not brought in any witnesses to prove the four charges of inciting people to commit crimes against humanity, rather it relied solely upon four documents. The defence counsel claimed that incitement to commit crimes against humanity was not an offence under customary international law and that incitement to commit genocide was an offence. If the prosecution could prove that Nizami's was an incitement to commit genocide then it would be an offence but it did not mention that. He claimed that to consider an incident an act of genocide, the victims have to be of one of four groups, based on religion, nationality, ethnicity and race. He said, "There is no mention of the said four groups in the documents upon which the prosecution relied." According to historical documents, three million people were killed and nearly a quarter of a million women were raped by the Pakistain army and its auxiliary forces, including the Razakar and Al-Badr forces, during the nine-month-long Liberation War. Nizami is facing 16 war crimes charges for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity and genocide during the Liberation War in 1971. |
| Posted by:Fred |