4 war crimes accused held

Police today arrested four war crimes accused from different districts for their alleged involvement in crimes committed in Mymensingh and Jamalpur during the 1971 Liberation War.

The arrests came hours after International Crimes Tribunal-1 issued arrest warrant against eight people following a prosecution petition.

The arrestees are: Rezaul Haque alias Akkas Moulvi of Mymensingh’s Muktagachha upazila, Yunus Ali, his brother AKM Yusuf Alam and Omar Faruk of Jamalpur’s Harinakundu upazila, police said.

Mymensingh police arrested Rezaul from his Muktagachha residence, Abu Mohammad Fazlul Karim, officer-in-charge of Muktagachha Police Station, told our district correspondent. Rezaul is the superintended of Chechua Dakhil Madrasa and former Jatiya Party president of Muktagachha unit.

On the other hand, Jamalpur police arrested Yunus Ali and Omar Faruk from their village residences, while Yusuf Alam was arrested from Dublar Char in Bagerhat district, Abdul Hannan Khan, coordinator of tribunal’s investigation agency, told The Daily Star.

Law enforcers are trying to arrest the rest four, Hannan added.

Earlier in the day, a two-member tribunal led by Justice Md Shahinur Islam issued the arrest warrants.

Prosecutor Mohammad Ali, who moved the petition, told The Daily Star that the eight accused were “involved” with Razakar and al-Badr Bahini, two auxiliary forces of Pakistani army, in 1971 and the investigation officer of the case has found their “involvement” in war crimes including genocide and murders.

The accused were intimidating the possible prosecution witnesses in the case, the prosecutor said, adding that the accused may go into hiding anytime.

“That’s why we prayed for their arrest for proper and effective investigation of the case,” he added.

The tribunal also asked the prosecution to submit their probe or investigation report on February 4, 2016.