Policemen escorting war crimes convict Syed Mohammad Qaisar out of the court yesterday. Photo: Star He had earned great notoriety in his locality of Madhabpur and nearby areas in Habiganj and Brahmanbaria in 1971. He had formed and led a killing force that teamed up with the Pakistan army to massacre 108 people, mostly Hindus, in 22 villages in a single day. That was only one of the many heinous c
rimes Syed Mohammad Qaisar had committed during the 1971 Liberation War. He and his force "Qaisar Bahini" looted and torched houses, tortured pro-liberation people and killed many of them. One of his crimes would indeed “outrage the civility.” He had handed over a newly married woman to Pak army for rape. Qaisar, now 74, also accompanied the Pak army to the house of another woman and stood guard at the courtyard to make sure that “the criminal act of physical invasion” went uninterrupted. Finally, justice has caught up with him after 43 years. A special tribunal yesterday sentenced him to death for committing crimes against humanity including mass killing, murder and rape in 1971. Advertisement Qaisar, state minister for agriculture in HM Ershad-led regime, is the first war crimes convict to get death penalty on seven charges. This is the first time in country's history that a war criminal has been handed down death penalty on charge of rape. "It has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that accused Qaisar participated, abetted and substantially contributed to the atrocious criminal activities in collaboration with the Pakistani occupation army," Justice Obaidul Hassan, chairman of the International Crimes Tribunal-2, said in a packed courtroom. "The offences as listed in these charges indubitably fall within the kind of such gravest crimes which trembles the collective conscience of mankind," he said while reading out the summary of the 484-page verdict. Qaisar, who was a Muslim League leader in 1971, was found guilty on 14 of the 16 charges brought against him. The seven charges that brought him death are participation in killing of 108 civilians in 22 villages of Nasirnagar upazila in Brahmanbaria; involvement in rape of a woman at Jagadishpur village of Habiganj; in rape of a santal woman at Chunarughat of Habiganj; in killing of two Awami League leaders in Habiganj; in killing of seven government staff of a food warehouse in Habiganj; in killing of four civilians of Madhabpur; and in killing of Shah Firoz Ali in Shayestaganj. He was sentenced to imprisonment for various terms on seven charges that include involvement in the murder of Shahjahan Chairman in Brahmanbaria, in killing of eight civilians at Lohaid village in Habiganj, in murder of three at Nalua tea garden in Habiganj, and in killing of four people on Sonai river bridge. Qaisar was handed down imprisonment for five, seven and 10 years on three other charges that include involvement in murder and looting. On charge number 11 relating to abduction of a man and murder of another, the three-member tribunal gave a split verdict. While Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Md Shahinur Islam convicted and sentenced Qaisar to five years' imprisonment, Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah acquitted him. The tribunal found him not guilty on two other charges as the prosecution failed to prove his involvement in two murders. All the sentences will merge into a single sentence of death, said the court. Towards the end of the Liberation War, Qaisar fled the country. Following the 1975 political changeover, he returned to Bangladesh in 1978. He contested the 1979 parliamentary polls as an independent candidate and became a lawmaker. Qaisar later joined the BNP and became president of its Habiganj unit. In 1982, he was made joint secretary general of BNP [Shah Azizur Rahman group]. He then joined Jatiya Party and was elected a lawmaker from Habiganj-4 in 1986 and 1988. Qaisar was brought to the court at 8:10am in a prison van. On previous occasions, he was taken to the courtroom in a wheelchair. But yesterday he walked into the courtroom with the help of two policemen at 10:55am. Wearing a white Panjabi, pyjamas, a sweater and a grey coat, he sat on a chair during the 70-minute proceedings. As the judges left the courtroom, he talked to his son who was also present there. Qaisar was the "boss" of Qaisar Bahini, formed after his name with 400 to 500 collaborators. It was a “locally formed private outfit and was guided and controlled by him,” said the tribunal. "Qaisar Bahini -- a pack of wolves -- had collaborated with the Pakistani occupation army with extreme ferocity in carrying out appalling activities directing pro-liberation civilians, under the infamous 'headship' of the accused," the judgment said. Qaisar's active and visible association with the occupation army was “fair indicative of his high level of culpability”, it said. The accused, who was a Muslim League leader in 1971, was a potential and trusted aide to the Pakistan army in Habiganj, said the court. "It may thus legitimately be presumed that in this way Qaisar, in exercise of his local prominence, stepped forward to assist orchestrating the attacks by the occupation army against pro-liberation Bengali civilians." It stated that Qaisar was not a low-level offender. "It stands proved from the evidence that by founding a private outfit (Qaisar Bahini) and getting actively involved with the local peace committee, accused Qaisar visibly intended to collaborate with the Pakistani occupation army since its rolling into Habiganj, in carrying out horrific killing, confinement, torture, other inhuman acts, mass killing, mass rape, with extreme notoriety." He had collaborated not only with the Pakistan army but also with anti-liberation political parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami, Muslim League, Nezam-e-Islami, and pro-Pakistan groups with an objective to annihilate the Bengali nation. On the rape charges, the court said, "We fail to understand how the accused Qaisar being a Bengali Muslim actively aided, abetted and facilitated the commission of such beastly physical invasion upon the women which was worse than murder. “Law does not use its pen as firing arm. But the victims of war rape had been beastly wronged, and now objectively this wrong needs to be righted so that we can uphold the letters of law," it said. A sense of closure to the darkest chapter in the history of Bengali nation needs to be brought to end impunity for the barbaric atrocities committed in 1971, to strengthen the rule of law and also to set an example, said the tribunal. Conducting Prosecutor Rana Dasgupta said the verdict is a milestone in recognising and honouring the Biranganas (war heroines) and war babies. Different pro-liberation organisations also expressed satisfaction. However, the defence said they would challenge the verdict at the Supreme Court. In his reaction, Qaisar's son Syed Galib Ahmed said he was shocked at the verdict. According to the law, a war crimes convict can file an appeal with the apex court within 30 days from the date of pronouncement of the verdict.
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