Antarjatik Juddhaparadh Ganabichar Andolan, a pro-liberation body led by Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, on Thursday demanded bringing 261 members of then Pakistan occupation army to justice for their war crimes in 1971.
Shipping minister, who is the convener of the Antarjatik Juddhaparadh Ganabichar Andolan, made the demand while releasing a report on primary information about 261 Pakistani army men, including General Yahya Khan, General Abdul Hamid Khan and Lt General Peerjada, at a function at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU).
“Of these 261 men, 43 were senior Pakistani generals, major generals, brigadiers and lieutenant colonels. A three-member fact finding committee of our organization gathered information about these Pakistani army men and submitted the information to the investigation agency of the International Crimes tribunal (ICT), Bangladesh,” said Mahabub Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram, convener of the fact finding committee.
The valiant Freedom Fighter said their organization was formed on December 18, 2015, demanding trial of 195 Pakistani army men, identified for their crimes against humanity and war crimes during Bangladesh’s War of Liberation in 1971.
“We have found a lot of information against these 261 army men in the report filed by Hamudur Rahman Commission. Besides, much information came from the books and autobiographies written by former Pakistani army generals,” Mahbub Uddin Ahmed added.
Shajahan Khan said, “The present government led by Sheikh Hasina has already completed trials of prominent war criminals in order to eliminate militancy and to uphold spirit of the War of Liberation. Six of them have already been executed after the completion of the legal procedures and the trials of a number of cases are going on at the tribunal.”
The Shipping Minister urged all to get united to accelerate the trial of Pakistani army men and realize Bangladesh’s outstanding dues amounting to Taka 35 thousand crore from Pakistan.
Shirin Akter, MP, Ismat Kadir Gama, Captain (Retd) Sahabuddin Bir Uttam, Habibul Alam Bir Pratik, Osman Ali, Kamrul Alam Sabuj, Md Sahabuddin, ABM Sultan Ahmed, Mohsin Bhuiyan and Kamal Uddin were present, on the occasion, among others.
