Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami finally admitted
before the International Crimes Tribunal that genocide was carried out
during the Liberation War in 1971, but denied his own involvement in the
war crimes.
Notwithstanding
what he says it is well established that Nizami had collaborated with
the occupying Pakistani forces in unleashing a reign of terror in
Bangladesh. He directly participated in killing freedom fighters,
torturing / maiming them, looting their properties and raping Bengali
women. JEI and its student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS) led by
Nizami, historically known as anti-liberation forces, actively
collaborated with the Pakistani occupation army that committed nine
month long atrocities and did everything possible to foil the birth of
Bangladesh in 1971.
Both JEI and ICS so long refrained from saying
anything about the mass killing and genocide committed during the
Liberation War. Nizami was the president of Pakistan ICS (now Islami
Chhatra Shibir), which formed Al Badr militia, a band of collaborators,
infamous for orchestrating the killing of intellectuals.
Nizami
took an opportunity to address the Tribunal as, after reading out of the
charges against him, it asked whether he pleaded guilty or not.
Otherwise, the man who for decades has been known as the mastermind of
the country’s worst and most hated war crimes sat quietly in the dock,
intently listening to the charges read before him. ‘I want to clearly
say that my role during the war did not extend beyond the sphere of
political activities,’ he told the tribunal.
It is well documented
that as Operations Commander of Al Badr militia (JEI death squad)
Nizami was directly involved in killing thousands of freedom fighters.
The people of his own village in Pabna even now call him ‘Moitya
Razakar’ (killer / traitor Razakar). Under his supervision and
leadership Al Badr militia was organized to eliminate the freedom
fighters and their supporters. Apart from killing freedom fighters and
supporters of liberation movement of 1971, the objective of ideological
warfare waged by Al Badr was to Islamize Bangladesh. With this object in
view they short listed the Bengali secular intellectuals, both Hindu
and Muslim, and eliminated them. Horrifying stories of killing of
intellectuals by Nizami and his Al Badr militia were published in
newspapers, both home and abroad, during and after the liberation war.
Nizami
was a top ranking Razakar, a force created by the Pakistani ISI.
Razakars were the predecessors of today’s Taliban. Although the term
Razakar means volunteer in Arabic, in Bangladesh context it means
traitors and collaborators of the occupation forces of Pakistan. During
the liberation war it was the Razakars who provided intelligence to the
occupying Pakistani forces about the whereabouts of the freedom fighters
and their supporters / sympathizers; abducted and killed them with the
help of Pakistani forces in various army camps and killing zones; burnt
their homes and looted their properties; kidnapped thousands of Bengali
women, trafficked them to various Pakistan Army camps across the
country; and molested / raped more than 400,000 women.
There is no
dearth of evidence of Nizami’s involvement in war crimes and crimes
against humanity in 1971. Nizami was one among the top ranking JEI
ideologues who was responsible for inciting and instigating his cohorts
and followers by means of public speeches or newspaper articles
supporting the Pakistani occupying forces for their onslaught against
the freedom fighters. The JEI mouthpiece Dainik Sangram in its issue of
November 14, 1971 quoted Nizami as saying ‘The day is not far off when
the young men of Al Badr, hand in hand with the patriotic Pakistani
armed forces, will defeat ‘the Hindu forces and their collaborators’ (a
term used by the pro-Pakistan forces to mean the freedom fighters) and
raise the victorious banner of Islam, all over the world after
destruction of India’.
Dainik Sangram reported in its September
15, 1971 edition that Nizami addressed a gathering of the Razakars in
Jessore, a bordering district. In his address at the district
headquarters of the force, Nizami had spoken thus: “In the hour of
national crisis it is the duty of each and every Razakar to carry out
his national duties by eliminating those who are engaged in war against
Pakistan and Islam.”
People from Nizami’s village in Pabna brought
numerous allegations against his direct involvement in killings, arson
and lootings. One Abdul Quddus, a freedom fighter from Pabna who spent
two weeks in Al Badr torture cell, said that while he was kept confined
he overheard many plans drawn up by Al Badr militia under supervision of
Nizami to eliminate freedom fighters. On November 26, 1971 a Razakar
commander named Sattar took Pakistani forces to Dhauliapara village in
Pabna where 30 freedom fighters were arrested and subsequently killed by
Sattar under Nizami’s orders, as per Quddus’s statement. Quddus also
said that Nizami himself bayoneted to death one Bateshwar Saha, a
freedom fighter of Pabna. All these incidents are mentioned in various
studies.
In Pabna Nizami led a group of Razakars for killing a 19
year old freedom fighter Latif and his group in September 1971. Latif
along with his group was captured by the occupation forces of Pakistan
from Dhuliuri village and handed over to Nizami. As per official records
Nizami and his associates celebrated after killing Latif and his group.
Latif’s brother Shahjahan Ali who was also a freedom fighter and a
victim of attack by Nizami and his group survived somehow to tell the
harrowing tale. In 1971, Nizami was personally involved in killing
thousands of Hindus and became a millionaire within nine months of the
liberation war by consficating their assets and properties and extorting
large amount of cash and jewellery from the freedom fighters and
wealthy Hindus.
Now the International Crimes Tribunal has charged
Nizami for involvement in murders and torture of unarmed people during
the country’s Liberation War in 1971.The other charges Nizami is facing
are hatching conspiracy, planning, incitement and complicity to commit
genocide and crimes against humanity during the liberation war against
Pakistan.
After framing 16 charges against Nizami, the
International Crimes Tribunal set July 1 for beginning his trial. The
International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973 only allows a convict to
appeal to the Appellate Division of Supreme Court against his conviction
and sentence.
The most notable charge Nizami is facing now is his
role in eliminating the best brains of the nation through planned
killing of intellectuals and professionals prior to Bangladesh’s victory
on December 16, 1971.The Pakistani occupation and local auxiliary
forces, especially Razakar and Al Badr formed with the members of ICS,
carried out selective elimination of respected professionals and
intellectuals in the country to give a mortal blow to independent
Bangladesh. The victims’ houses were burnt; they were drugged out, often
blindfolded, tortured, murdered, and their bodies were dumped in mass
graves and other places.
Through above acts and commissions,
Nizami committed the crime of genocide to eliminate the intellectuals
and professionals. Nizami had conspired with the Pakistani occupation
forces, planned and incited crimes, and was complicit in murders, rapes,
looting, destruction of property and was responsible for commissioning
of crimes in 1971. He had assisted former JEI chief Ghulam Azam, who is
also facing similar charges at the tribunal, in forming different
auxiliary forces including Peace Committee, Razakar, Al Badr and Al
Shams. The Tribunal earlier framed charges against Ghulam Azam saying he
played a key role in forming these auxiliary forces that helped the
Pakistani forces commit atrocities across the country
“Activities are going on to
purchase two submarines from a friendly country,” she told parliament
while replying to a lawmaker's scripted query on her government's
efforts to modernise the navy, army and air force. 
