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Terminator of Hindus
For Abdul Alim, the Liberation War was something more than just a battle between the Bangalee freedom fighters and the Pakistani army and their local collaborators. It for him was a special mission, a mission to wipe out a particular community: the Hindu.
Throughout the nine-month war, Alim, then 41, incited his followers with fiery speeches to loot properties of the Hindus in Joypurhat. But he did not stop there. He also showed the Pakistani army the Hindu-inhabited villages so the army could destroy those. And it worked well.
Around 400 Hindus were killed in two attacks by the Pakistan army and Alims men while several hundred Hindus were forced to leave the country. The dead include 90-year-old Kanchira Mohanta, whose throat was slit, and Ashwini Kumar Devnath, who was buried alive.
During the trial, prosecution witnesses testified about Alims personal war against the Hindus, and the International Crimes Tribunal-2 in its judgment yesterday said it found his genocidal intention from those attacks and his inciting speeches aimed at destroying the community.
Dilip Kumar Chakraborty, the 11th prosecution witness in the case, testified that one day in May 1971, possibly the ninth of Bangla month Jaistha, the Pakistan army, local Peace Committee members and Razakars attacked their village, Uttarhat Sahar, and another Hindu village, Harunjahat.
Ten people of the two villages were killed on Alims orders, the eyewitness said, adding that seven or eight days before the incident, Alim and Pakistani Major Afzal addressed a meeting at Hatsahar Haat attended by members of Peace Committee and Razakar.
In the presence of around 500-600 collaborators, Alim asked his followers to loot the belongings of the Hindus, said Dilip adding: We heard him in the loudspeakers from our house.
After the killings, 100-150 Hindus, including Dilips family members, left for India, he told the court.
First prosecution witness Abdul Momen quoted Alim as saying at the meeting: We would offer our upcoming Eid prayers at the Garer Math in Kolkata [apparently wishing to occupy some parts of India during the war] . Loot all properties of the Hindus.
The tribunal yesterday said: The inciting speech made by accused Alim is a fair indicative that intent of targeting the Hindu community was to destroy it in part which is a constitutive element of the offence of genocide.
Naturally his speech, in other words, urging to destroy the Hindu community was inciting and provoking and it had substantial effect on launching the attack directing Hindu community.
The court cited a report published in Dainik Bangla on January 20, 1972, where Alim said people of the minority community would not be spared if they returned to the country and even if they got presidential clemency.
They will be handed over to the armed forces immediately after their return, the court quoted the report.
It was just one glaring example of his provocative speech.
But, Molla Shamsul Alam, the fourth prosecution witness, testified that Alim was also personally involved in mass killings in Hindu-inhabited villages in Joypurhat.
According to his testimony, around 12:30pm on April 26, 1971, he was talking to some people near Kural Pukur of Kadipur village when a Pakistani army vehicle arrived.
After some time, some Pakistani army personnel arrived on trucks and Abdul Alim came along with the Pakistani army, said the witnesses, adding: He showed the army Hindu localities like Sonarpara, Jugipara and Palpara.
Afterwards, some of his men along with the Pakistan army went to the Hindu villages. There they looted houses, set fire to them and dragged 370 people from the homes to Kural Pukur, said Shamsul. I saw 26 of them being gunned down there.
Bhagirath Chandra Barman, Ajit Mohanta and Jogen Chandra Paul, three eyewitnesses of the massacre carried out by the Pakistan army and their local collaborators, gave heart-wrenching description of the killing mission.
Bhagirath said Alim ordered the killing of 350-370 Hindus while Ajit, whose 90-year-old grandfather was slaughtered that day, told the court that Alim was the key person behind the daylong massacre at the Hindu villages Karai Kadipur, Chwakpara, Sonapara, Palpara and Munshipara in Joypurhat on April 26, 1971.
Bhagirath said 300-350 Hindu women and children, including himself, from Barmanpara and Palpara left for India after the mass killing.
In its verdict, the tribunal said, This [the testimonies] amply indicates that the attack was launched with genocidal intent of causing massive destruction and killing of civilians belonging to the Hindu community.
The tribunal found Alim guilty of abetting and facilitating the two acts of genocide committed in Hindu-inhabited villages in Joypurhat and jailed him for the rest of his life.
