The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

Freedom fighter Mohammad Fazlur Rahman has said the recent remarks of chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed on war criminals inspired him to file the sedition case against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders.

"The chief adviser in a recent meeting with editors of national dailies and electronic media called on ordinary citizens of the country to come forward to try war criminals.

"After I heard of his comments, I felt guilty. I thought I might get justice this time and decided to file the case," Fazlur said in an exclusive interview with bdnews24.com Thursday.

He filed a sedition case against Jamaat-e-Islami general secretary Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Mollah and former chairman of the National Board of Revenue Shah Md Abdul Hannan with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court Wednesday.

The court then ordered Tejgaon Police Station to register it as a regular case.

Police, however, did not register the case on excuse of having no permission of the government and sent it back to the court.

Asked about his reaction to the police's refusal to take the case, Fazlur said: "I heard about it. Some of my friends informed me. I heard (law and information adviser) Mainul Hosein said no individual can file a sedition case.

"But I am not clear about the matter. As the chief adviser called upon the citizens to come forward, other advisers should have followed him."

He said he would go to higher court if necessary. "If it dies not produce any result, I will meet the chief adviser."

Recalling his days in battlefield, 50-year-old Fazlur said: "I had taken seven-day BLF training in March, 1971. There were 30 of us in the group under the leadership of present Gono Forum leader Mostafa Mohsin Montu.

"I fought in Syedpur area. In June, the Pakistani hyaenas brutally killed my grandfather Kiamuddin. They set ablaze the house of my grandfather keeping him locked inside."

Father of two sons and two daughters, Fazlur was only 16, a grade 10 student during the 1971 war.

In 1973, he passed Secondary School Certificate exams from Adamjee Sramik Kalyan School and later took admission in Government Tularam College.

Financial adversity, however, forced him to stop his studies and he started working at the Adamjee Jute Mills where he was later promoted to accountant.

He launched own business after retiring from the job in 1981.

Fazlur said he served four months in jail in 2001 after he was allegedly linked to firing on the motorcade of the then opposition leader Khaleda Zia in Keraniganj.

Tejgaon police chief Lutfor Rahman told bdnews24.com that the sedition case was returned to court as there was no government permission.

Sedition case requires government permission, he said.

On Thursday, adviser Mainul Hosein said no individual could file a sedition case.

"Ask them why they could not do it [try war criminals] in 36 years. We have not come to do politics. Let us do our work. Our goals have been set. We will do whatever is needed for democracy. It is not possible to solve all the problems of the country," Mainul said.