The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Sectors Commanders' Forum has announced to form a legal committee to file cases against the war criminals.

The forum will organise a convention of the freedom fighters to unify them before December 16 this year, it also demanded ban on the politics of Jamaat and war criminals.

Deputy Commander-in-chief of the Liberation War and president of the forum Air Vice Marshal (Retd) AK Khandoker said this yesterday at a press conference at the Muktijuddha Jadughar.

Sector Commanders of the Liberation War urged the people of every walks of life to identify and boycott the war criminals and send the details of their crimes to the head office of the forum at House No 415, Road No 30, DOHS Mohakhali, Dhaka-1206.

At the press conference the sector commanders reiterated their demand for the trial of war criminals and condemned Jamaat Secretary General Mujahid's comment about war criminals on October 25 saying the statement was a conspiracy against the sovereignty of the country.

They also condemned the comment of Shah Abdul Hannan, known as Jamaat's consultant, that the great Liberation War was only a civil war.

Convener of SCF Lt Gen (Retd) Harun-ur-Rashid moderated the programme while, sector commanders Maj Gen (Retd) KM Shafiullah, Lt Gen (Retd) Mir Shawkat Ali, Maj Gen (Retd) CR Dutta, Col (Retd) Abu Osman Chowdhury and Sub Sector Commander Gen (Retd) Mustafizur Rahman, among others, were present at the press conference.

"Pakistani war criminals and their local collaborators had committed 53 types of crimes during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971," Air Vice Marshal (Retd) AK Khandoker said.

He said as per the UN resolution of 1948 the crimes of the local collaborators of the Pak Army, Jamaat-e-Islami, Muslim League and Nizam-e-Islami, were surely war crimes they could be punished as per the constitution or under the international law. Members of the forum urged the government to start the trials of the war criminals or they would announce further programmes otherwise.

Lt Gen (Retd) Mir Shwkat Ali referring to page 78, 122 and 238 of the book of General Niazi, the commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army during the Liberation War said Al-Badar and Al-Shams were formed by the Pakistani Army to assist them in the war.

The Niazi book also refers to two paramilitary forces of the Pakistani Army which conducted operations in the remote areas and helped the 'Hanader Bahini' (Pak Army) to identify the freedom fighters and kill them.

Talking about the political ideology of the freedom fighters, Mir Shawkat said as long as razakars were with the BNP there was no question of returning to the BNP, he quit the party after it allied with the Jamaat.

He said they already received threats for demanding trial of war criminals but sector commanders were not afraid of risking their lives. They were dead in '71 and were living a life on bonus.

Barrister Tania Ameer said the Election Commission should ban Jamaat from the country's politics as the constitution of it differs from the country's constitution, as per the criteria given by the EC.

It may be mentioned that in the Liberation War the Pakistani Army with the help of the local collaborators killed thousands of Bangladeshis in about 5,000 killing fields but only 920 of them were identified by the War Crimes Facts Finding Committee. The committee identified about 88 rivers and 65 culverts where thousands of innocent Bangalis were killed.