Collaborators’ list suspended

In the face of nationwide protests, liberation war affairs ministry on Wednesday suspended its list of collaborators of Pakistani military during war of independence for further verification at the instruction of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

‘Following the verification, we will try to publish it on the next Independence Day on March 26,’ liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Huq told New Age.

Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader at the party’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue on Wednesday noon said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina had instructed the authorities concerned to publish a fresh list of Razakars after making necessary corrections.

‘We noticed some mistakes in the list,’ said Quader, also road transport and bridge minister.

Protests against the list continued in Barishal, Bagura and places across the country on Wednesday.

Barishal Reporters Unity at a demonstration in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall in the city demanded immediate cancellation of the list that included names of a former president, former lawmaker, former army officials, 26 former police personnel, 12 union parishad chairmen,12 union parishad members, 26 members of minority community from the division, New Age Correspondent in Barishal said.

Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, Left Democratic Alliance and Bangladesh Chhatra Union also demanded its cancellation and punishment of officials behind making the list.

The chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal Ghulam Arieff Tipoo applied to the liberation war affairs ministry to remove his name from the list.

On Sunday, the ministry published a partial list of 10,789 collaborators on its website 48 years after the independence.

The names were classified as collaborators of Pakistani forces, peace committee members, accused of war crimes who faced trials after the war, members of auxiliary forces like al-Badr and al-Shams, government officials and professionals who aided Pakistani forces.

It drew criticism from the ministers, attorney general, political leaders, freedom fighters and their relatives as it included names of about 50 government recognised freedom fighters and organisers of the war as Pakistani collaborators.

The names included the chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal Ghulam Arieff Tipoo, Barishal-based freedom fighter Tapan Kumar Chakraborty and his martyred father Sudhir Kumar Chakraborty from Barishal, Jhalakathi-based late freedom fighter Shamsul Alam, Patharghata Muktijoddha Sangram Parishad founder Mujibul Haq, former member of legislative assembly Mojibur Rahman of Akkelpur, Awami League nominated member of the parliament Kasim Uddin  and five other freedom fighters from Bagura, Rajshahi-based organisers Abdus Salam and Muhsin Ali, Sirajgang-based freedom fighters like Mirza Abdul Latif and Khurshid Alam.

Ninety-seven Hindus including five females and 38 Muslim women had been listed as collaborators when the Pakistani forces indiscriminately killed Hindus and raped women during the liberation war.

‘We published the list provided by the home ministry in good faith as they prepared it compiling records preserved in the ministry,’ Mozammel said.

‘We trusted the letter sent by the ministry to us along with softcopy and hardcopy of the list and did not read it before publishing it,’ he added.

The home ministry’s letter sent attached with the list reads that ministry formed sub-committee following several meetings made the list of 10,785 people after scrutinising 1,254 documents preserved at the public security department of the ministry. 

Of them, the letter read, 996 got either general amnesty or acquittal following trials between 1972 and 1974. 

Home ministry additional secretary Abu Baqar Siddiqui said that the ministry would investigate the matter as it hurt many people.

Abu Baqar said that a five-member committee led by joint secretary M Jahangir Alam complied it at the request of the liberation war affairs ministry.

‘It was not prepared in suitable format for publishing online for which many notes were missing while uploading it on website, which created confusion,’ he explained.

He said that people were charged under the repealed Collaborator Act of 1972 under four categories– politicians who participated at the by-polls during 1971, peace committee members, government officials who served the Pakistani regime and accused for committing crimes against humanity.

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan at his office on Wednesday said ministry did not give the list of Razakars, Al-Badrs and Al-Shams but a list of those who were accused under the Collaborators Act of 1972. ‘It was wrongly published,’ he said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net