"I curse today those devils of hell

who compelled me to run up the stairs

with my feet deep in the blood

of my parents,

float on rivers,

and make my bed in wild forests.

I curse them :

let them forever wander

with rotting bodies

hung around their emaciated necks.

I curse them :

when at the close of each day

they beg on their knees

for a piece of dry bread,

it will always stay ten feet away

from their outstretched palms.

their cup for quenching thirst

will always fill to the brim

with blood,

the blood with which they flooded

the soil of Bangla.

I curse them !"

I Curse Them: Shamsur Rahman

General Yahya Khan

Bloody monster: Yahya '71

General Yahya was the president of Pakistan in 1970. He was supposed to hand the political power over to the winner of the national election of 1970: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as his Awami league won 162 seats out of 168 seats, more than double of his west Pakistani counterpart Bhutto. Sheikh Mujib's unprecedented victory in the general election was a crushing blow to the Panjabi military -feudal axis. So they involved in a pact known as Larkana Conspiracy to shut the Bangalees by violent massacre. In this very meeting the military macho man and the Pak feudal lord planned to implement  Shahibjada Yakub's monstrous Operation Blitz on the Bangalees. They modified the plan and made it more destructive ( to crush the Bangalee uprising forever) and renamed it Operation Searchlight. To implement Operation Searchlight they (Bhutto and Yahya) recruited  (as both Gen Yakub and Admiral Ahsan recommended political instead of military measures to deal with the victory of the Bangalees in general election) two of their two most extremely notorious generals: General Tikka and General Niazi.

According to the plan Yahya, since early February, 1971, secretly sent Pakistani troops to Dhaka and prepared for the final crack down. When the preparation was complete, Yahya dismissed the constituent assembly. On March 25, after giving full instruction for mass killing of the inhabitants of Dhaka, at about 11 pm that night Yahya secretly left Dhaka. He went to Dhaka airport in a private car, completely unescorted in fear of identification by the airport officials. He was scared that Indian air force may stop him in the air. But Group Captain AR Khandaker saw Yahya sneaking out of the country in the dead of the night. 

Soon after Yahya's departure, the Pakistani army crashed down Dhaka city. Their main target was to devastate the center of Bangalee political strength: student halls of Dhaka university and the top leaders and intellectuals involved in nationalist movement. They crashed the whole of Dhaka city by killing thousands of innocent civilians and poor people on the street (rickshaw pullers, homeless people, day laborers, street kids etc). The casualties were more than 50, 000. They arrested Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from his resident and took him to Pakistan. Yahya's officers also looked for other top leaders of Awami league specially Tajuddin Ahmed. But they could not find them as they, apprehensive of Pakistani military junta's next move, disappeared from their residences. Their failure to capture top Awami leaguers fueled their hatred against Bangalees and they appeased their avenging impulses by killing them in multitudes. 

After 25 March, the Dhaka crack down night, the devastation of Bangladesh topped the personal agenda of Yahya. He used all means at his disposal to crash down the Bangalees. The intensity of his personal hatred against Bangladesh rules out the " liability theory" adopted by Pakistani bureacrats and academics to ditch, resource less but politically less obliging, Bangladesh and Bangalees. Even when the victory of the Bangladesh liberation forces became obvious, in September, 1971, Yahya manipulated all his international connections to destroy Bangladesh:

1. Exhausted his connection with Kissinger/Nixon duo to get massive arms supply from the US and finally, on the eve of the victory, to demonstrate US nuclear threat to counter Bangladesh-India alliance, Yahya managed to bring US Seventh Fleet to crush the independence of Bangladesh.   

2. He used his Chinese connection against Bangladesh-India alliance.

3. When Yahya finally realized his absolute defeat in the war, he used his loyal military officers to kill the Bangalee intellectuals to spiritually cripple Bangladesh for centuries. Yahya's plan to eliminate the intellectuals further reinforces the fact that the Pakistani military junta did not want to ditch Bangladesh only, they intended the total destruction of Bangladesh and absolute extinction of the Bangalee race as reflected in Tikka's war cry: " I want land only, not people."               

March 25, 1971: Massacre, the Yahya style

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

But Bhutto opposed Yahya's decision. Bhutto represented the influential Panjabi civil and military bureaucrats and the  feudal lords. Pakistani military-feudal axis vehemently opposed the transference of power. They were afraid that Sk Mujib's democratic policies may adversely affect the existing feudal system of West Pakistan and curb the power of the top civil and military bureaucrats. So their representative Bhutto invited Yahya in the notorious Larkana meeting and together two shrewd jackals conspired to repress the Bangalees with military means and retain the political power in the hands of the West Pakistanis. This theory is plausible because such a brilliant idea is more likely to emanate from the arch machiavellian: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Yahya is more given to kill his fellow countrymen to show off his military prowess than formulate a brilliant idea to sort all the problems together: destroy Bangladesh; keep the power in the hands of  Bhutto and him; make Niazi and the army the scapegoat of the war in order to divert the attention  of the Pakistani people. Tajuddin Ahmed was right to think that Bhutto was the deux ex machina behind the political conspiracy leading to the devastation of Bangladesh: ".....Bhutto is responsible for the unprecedented brutality unleashed nationwide. Seating with him is impossible. Pakistan can be saved only if two federations  are formed. Both the federations are to write up their separate constitutions. Then if situation permits they can write the constitution of Pakistan. In other words, confederation.......Tajuddin's view on Bhutto as described by Rao Farman Ali. 

Bhutto manipulated the military monsters (Yahya, Tikka) to secure his power and maintain his vested interest in politics. All through his political career he thrived on conspiracy and intrigues. As often the fate of such treacherous politicians  is to end up in the hands of the partners in crime, Bhutto was justified to be hanged by his own Frankenstein: General Ziaul Huq 

General Tikka Khan

Extermination of Bangalees: Tikka's blood rites

On 11 April 1971, Yahya appointed his loyal general Tikka Khan as the  Governor General and the Chief Martial Law administrator of Bangladesh and as such he was the highest authority on both civil and military administrations. The Pakistani military junta was confident about Tikka's ability to repress Bangalee nationalist movement. Tikka Khan proved his ability as a formidable machine for massacre by killing thousands of Bangalees on 25 March, 1971. Tikka unleashed such a terrible reign of terror that even the blockheaded General Niazi, a soldier himself, was critical of his Tikka's ruthless massacre of the unarmed civilians of Bangladesh:

"General Tikka let loose every thing at his disposal as if raiding an enemy and not dealing  with his own misguided and misled people. The military action was a display of stark cruelty, more merciless than the massacre at Bakhura and Baghdad by Changez Khan and Halaku Khan and at Jalianwala Bagh by British General Dyer" 

" ....On the night (25 March, 1971) Tikka Khan ordered for action, 50, 000 people were killed".

Niazi: Betrayal of East Pakistan.

Major Gen Rao Farman Ali

Bodies of Bangalee intellectuals 

Major General Rao Forman Ali was the chief adviser to the Governer of East Pakistan during the liberation war. Unlike Yahya, whose only known method for all transactions was  application of brutal military force, Rao was aware of the reality leading to the war and the possible impact of the war on Bangladesh and Bangalees. He served in Dhaka cantonment for more than a decade and was involved in  intelligence gathering,  making strategic decisions and formulating policies. He was also involved in buying Bangalee politicians to subvert nationalist movements.  He was the mastermind behind the massacre of 1971 as he, being in charge of the civil administration, knew about Bangladesh more than his peers. It was Farman who blueprinted the elimination of the secular minded Bangalee intellectuals. He was more of a cold blooded murderer than the haughty Yahya or bloodthirsty Tikka. His trained killers were more ruthless than the professional soldiers. Farman ran training programs in various cantonments for the forces of Al-Badr and Al-Shams to train them to torture, mutilate and slaughter the captive Bangalees' in Islamic manner. 

General Niazi in his book The Betrayal of East Pakistan described Farman as an opportunist, a conspirator and a swindler. Niazi also said, implicating Farman's involvement in the killing of the intellectuals, that Farman requested him (N) to send him (F) back to Pakistan, for, " Mukti Bahini would kill him of his alleged massacre of the Bengalis and intellectuals on the night of 15-16 December. It was a pathetic sight to see him pale and almost on the verge of break down".   

Presently Farman is writing books in order to convince the world about his ignorance of independence war of Bangladesh and to clear his name off the  massacre, loot, rape and arson during the war. In his book Farman, through his subtle language and ostensibly innocent representation, pleads his innocence during the war and his ignorance of the war situation (although he was in charge of the civil administration and the chief adviser to the chief martial law administrator of Pakistan !).  

Evidences against Farman's involvement in the massacre of the Bangalees and the killings of the intellectuals: 

1. When asked about Farman's refusal to admit his involvement in the killing of the intellectuals Brigader Sidddiqui, another senior military officer during the war, said:......" He (Farman) was the major general in charge of civil administration. As such nothing would happen which he would not know. Farman is the man who should about the killing of the intellectuals. I never trusted him. He always wore a mask ruthless". 

2. In The Separation of East Pakistan, Mr Hasan Zahir, a Pakistani civil servant wrote: " Major General Farman Ali was the executioner of Dhaka part of " Searchlight". He succedded in 'shock action' by concentrated and indiscriminate firing on target areas......."

3. According to Mr Altaf Gaohar, a leading Pakistani journalist, Farman was the mastermind behind the killing of the intellectuals. In this connection Mr Gaohar recounted an incident from his memory. One of Gaohar's  friends told him that a hit list had been drawn up for elimination of certain Bangalees. A friend of his was also in the list and he requested Gaohar if he could do something to save his friend. Gaohar then took the matter to one of his friends who was also common friend of Farman. Gaohar's friend then saw Farman and requested him to drop the name from his hit list. " Farman brought, said Gaohar's friend, a diary out of his drawer and crossed the name out. The name was of Mr Sanaul Huq and he was spared." After independence Farman's diary was recovered from the ruins of the Governor's house. The copy of a page from the diary shows the list of intellectuals from Dhaka University. 14 of them were killed on 14 December, 1971: 

4. A close reading of Farman's book in self defense, How Pakistan Got Divided, shows that Farman had deeply ingrained prejudice against the Bangalees. Like Hitler, Farman the ignorant fool, suffers from the purity complex. He believes that due to the Hindu influence Bangalees are not pure Muslims. But the rascal forgot that it was due to the Bangalee majority that made for Pakistan. It was people, not bloody military, who made Pakistan. Farman firmly believed that the impurities of the Bangalees can be  mended if they are absolved of the Hindu influence. This was the conviction that motivated Farman to ruthlessly eliminate the Bangalee intellectuals. Behind all elements of Bangalee nationalism Farman discovered Hindu phantasm. He was less critical of Sheikh Mujib but an arch enemy of Tajuddin Ahmed. If arrested Farman, as his comment on Tajuddin testifies, would not have spared Tajuddin: ....." Tajuddin, the die hard pro Indian Awami leaguer, came in and sat down. He hated West Pakistan and perhaps Pakistan itself. He was reputed to have been a Hindu up to the age of 8. I do not think this story was correct but it revealed his mental make up".         

5. The group photo with Golam Azam and puppet governor Malek below shows that Farman is discussing the plan for elimination of the Bangalee intellectuals. Golam Azamm is said to hand over a list of names to be eliminated to absolve Bangalees  of Hindu influences.

6. Excerpt from the report on the excavation of Jalladkhan mass grave carried out by Bangladesh Liberation War Museum (LWM). The excerpt underscores the extreme brutalities showed by Farman's special forces in torturing and killing the Bangalees:    

.."The Jalladkhan (slaughter house) located also in Mirpur (Section 10 Block D)........ selected for immediate excavation and exhuming of remains of the martyrs of 1971. ..........The excavation began on  November 15 1999 and the exhuming ended on  23 November with the recovery of 70 skulls and 5392 various human bones. Most of the skulls revealed sign of being severed from the shoulder with a sharp weapon and some bore marks of being struck by heavy weapon and one had a bullet hole shot from a close range. Other bones also showed signs of being hit by a heavy weapon....."

Rao Farman Ali: 2001

General Niazi

General AAK Niazi was the chief of Eastern Command in 1971. The Yahya- Bhutto gang picked Niazi for this special mission as he was notoriously corrupted and immoral and was dumb enough to be their  scapegoat in the war. In Pakistan Niazi was involved in business with the patrons of brothels and influential business women. He was also involved in smuggling pans from East Pakistan. He found his posting as the chief of Eastern Command as a lucrative one and was certainly puffed up as, due to this promotion, he stepped ahead 12 of his senior officers. 

Niazi was a soldier and as such he fought a conventional war against  Bangladeshi freedom fighters and Indian alliance forces. He was too dull to conceive the ignoble scheme to kill the intellectuals. But as he was a corrupted officer he concentrated more on looting and rapes. He made fortunes for himself and encouraged his under commands in the occupation army to loot and rape as pointed out by Mr Alamder Raja, the last commissioner of Pakistan: "......It is said that the people of West Pakistan were unaware of the terrible devastation inflicted on the Bangalees by the Pakistani occupation army. It was a sheer government propaganda. Did not we have radios those days? Before the war, Panjabi soldiers used to send  Tk 200-300 per month to their families. But in 1971, they sent about Tk 500-600 per month. Where did they get the additional money ?....."     

About rapes, Mr. Raja gave an example of the brutality of the Pakistani soldiers: ".......A band of Pakistani occupation army attacked a house and killed one but all the members of the family. The only young girl of the family was kept alive for rape. The girl begged for mercy; frightened to death she cried out and said is a Muslim woman and the soldiers are also Muslim. How come Muslim men can rape a Muslim woman? .....At last, as a last resort, she put the holy Koran on the bed, next to her and said, they have to step on the Koran to rape her. The bastards kicked the Koran out of the bed and group raped her...."  

Loots and rapes were so rampant that Niazi, in one of his confidential memo,  mentioned that the departing West Pakistani families were carrying looted properties with them to Pakistan. About rape Niazi had to officially warn his officers: ...." I gather that even officers have been suspected of indulging in this shameful activity and what is worse, that in spite of repeated instructions, comdos. have so far failed to curb this alarming state of indiscipline. I suspect that cos and osc units/sub-units are protecting and shielding such criminals...".

The notorious killer, loafer, looter and rapist of 1971, rascal Niazi now, in order to skip trial, pretends to be a pious Muslim.  Who would believe that the old buffoon in showy Islamic attire in the photo below was the main culprit behind the loots, rapes, arsons and massacres of the Bangalees in 1971? 

Niazi now, an old hypocrite

Razakars

Razakars (volunteers), Al-Badrs (death squad) and Al-Shams were paramilitary forces, formed by the Jamaat-e-Islam and other like minded parties in cooperation with the Pakistan army. 
The principal aim behind formation of those three forces was to provide battle-field support to the Pakistani occupation army, gather intelligence about local resistance groups, identify and eliminate Bangalee nationalist elements, and carry out raids on villages involving mass killings, rape, arson and lootings. The Pakistan army enjoyed direct assistance from these paramilitary forces in its campaign of genocide which resulted in the death of three million unarmed people of Bangladesh.

The definition of Razakars in Western medias:

" The Razakars.....should be specially helpful as members of rural communities, who can identify guerrillas (freedom fighters)", an army officer (Pakistan) said...The government says it has already recruited more than 22,000 Razakars of a planned force of 35,000.'-New York Times, July 30, 1971 

' To help control of Bengali population, the army has been setting up a network of peace committees superimposed upon the normal civil administration, which the army cannot fully rely upon. Peace committee members are drawn from .....Beharis and from the Muslim Leagues and Jamat-e-Islami. The peace committees serve as the agent of army, informing on civil administration as well as on general populace. They are also in charge of confiscating and redistribution of shops and lands from Hindu and pro-independence Bengalis. The peace committee also recruits Razakars......many of them are common criminals who have thrown their lots with the (Pakistan) army.-The Wall Street Jornal, July 27,1971.

I think, perhaps you remember, Fazlul Kader Chowdhiury ...an honorable person, Sabur Khan, Monayem Khan, Maulabhi Farid Khan of Technaf.... all of them were pro-'Pakistan. They used to see me. All of them". - Niazi "The Betrayal of East Pakistan"

The atrocities of the razakars in  killing the Bangalees  equaled those of their Pakistani peers. An excerpt from an article  written in the Azad, dated January 15, 1972, underscores the inhuman atrocities of the Pakistani troops and their associates,  the razakar and al-badr forces:

'....The people of Narail can bear witness to the reign of terror, the inhuman atrocities, inflicted on them after (General) Yahya let loose his troops to do what they would. After March 25, many people fled Jessore in fear of their lives, and took refuge in Narail and its neighboring localities. Many of them were severely bashed by the soldiers of Yahya and lost their lives. Very few people ever returned. 
Bhayna is a flourishing village near Narail. Ali Akbar is a well-known figure there. On April 8, the Pakistani troops surrounded the village on the pretext that it was a sanctuary for freedom fighters. Just as fish are caught in a net so too were the people of this village all assembled, in an open field. Then everyone- men, women, and children--were all forced to line up. Young men between the ages of 25 and 30 were lined up separately. 45 people were shot to death on the spot. Three of Ali Akbar's brothers were killed there. Ali Akbar was able to save himself by lying on the ground. But no one else of that group was as fortunate. Nadanor was the Killing field. Every day 20 to 30 people were taken there with their hands tied behind their backs, and killed. The dead bodies would be flung into the river. Apart from this, a slaughter house was also readied for Bengalis. Manik, Omar, and Ashraf were sent to Jessore Cantonment for training and then brought to this slaughter house. Every day they would slaughter 9 to 12 persons here. The rate per person was Taka ten. On one particular day, 45 persons were slaughtered here. From April 15 to December 10, the butchery continued. It is gathered that 2,723 people lost their lives here. People were brought here and bashed, then their ears were cut off, and their eyes gouged out. Finally they were slaughtered... : The Chairman of the Peace Committee was Moulana Solaiman. With Dr. Abul Hussain and Abdul Rashid Mukhtar, he assisted in the genocide. Omar would proudly say, "During the day I am Omar, at night I am Shimar( legendary executioner famous for extreme cruelty). Don't you see my dagger? There are countless Kafirs (heretics) on it."  

From left: Golam, Saidi, Abbas, Mannan, Sabur Khan

Golam Azam

  The leader of the collaborators (Rajakar) of Pakistani (Islamic) colonists and a heinous war criminal. The vile monster behind  the massacre of 1971, rapes of 2,000,000 Bangalee women and murder of hundreds of secular minded Bangalee intellectuals. Golam Azam and his associate Nizami were seen  in a confidential Pakistani Military photo handing the list of the names of progressive Bangalee intellectuals over to the Pakistani generals for elimination. Key culprit for reversal of our mainstream political orientation from secularism to Islamic fundamentalism. Leader of 70,000 Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Sams forces. (New York  Times, 30 July,1971)   

Golam, Farman & Malek, discussing plans to kill intellectuals

Abbas Ali Khan

Abbas Ali Khan was the second in command in Jamat. Until Golam Azan was officially declared to be the Ameer (or Leader) of the party, Khan acted as the chief. Khan's role in 1971 was against the independence of Bangladesh, and against the spirit of Bangalee nationalism. In 1971, he was the deputy chief of Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami. Khan gave leadership to para-military forces such as the Razakars, Al-Badrs and Al-Shams, all formed by the Jamaat and like- minded parties in cooperation with the Pakistan army. The principal aim behind formation of these three forces was to provide battle-field support to the military, gather intelligence about local resistance groups, identify and eliminate Bangalee nationalist elements, and carry out raids on villages involving mass killngs, rape, arson and lootings. The Pakistan army enjoyed direct assistance from these paramilitary forces in its campaign of genocide which resulted in the death of three million unarmed people of Bangladesh. Abbas Ali Khan abetted and encouraged Pakistan army's genocide through speeches at countless rallies, statements to and, articles in newspapers etc. Khan also played a leading role in the central "Peace Committee", which was set up to directly and indirectly assist the Pakistan army's campaign in Bangladesh. The "Peace Committee" formed branches all over the country, manned by local leaders of Jamaat and camp-followers. These committees acted as the political wing of the three paramilitary forces and played an active role in assisting Pakistan army's attempt to brutally suppress the Bangalee's struggle for freedom in 1971.

According to reports in the press during 197 1, Khan became a minister in the cabinet of governor M A Malek, after taking part in a series of stage-managed parliamentary by- elections. The seats put up for by-elections were all held by members of the Awami League. The seats were declared vacant by the Pakistan military junta after the Awami League was banned on Mar 26, 197 1. Khan assumed the office of the minister for education in Malek's puppet government on Sept 17, 1971. 

On Nov 25, Abbas Ali Khan said in a statement, "I have no doubt that the Indian army has began a shameless aggression in several fronts under the guise of the Mukti Bahini with the despicable aim of swallowing East Pakistan. Our armed forces alone cannot carry on this war. It is the duty of every citizen to strengthen the hands of our soldiers and help save the dignity of our dear Pakistan". In the same statement, with an oblique reference to Bangalee intellectuals and freedom fighters, he called on people to "stay alert against people engaged in anti-state and destructive activities. Help the armed forces and the Peace Committees to eliminate these elements". 

On Dec 10, just four days before the killings of intellectuals reached its peak, he said in another speech, "In the Battle of Badr, only 313 Muslim troops faced over 1,000 Kuraish, and were victorious. Today, 130 million people (the then population of West Pakistan and Bangladesh combined) are fully prepared to defend this sacred land. Our enemies are the rumor mongers, the agent provocateurs and those who propagate in favor of India or that imaginary country Bangladesh. You have to be ware of these enemies. Smash their poisonous fangs at the first opportunity. Join hands with our Razakar, Al-Badr and Al- Shams forces and dedicate yourself to the task of saving the country." 

Governor Malek formed several sub-committees in December to strengthen the attack of Pak army. Khan was put in charge of the information sub-committee, along with A S M Solaiman. Khan continued to propagate against Bangladesh even after 197 1. In 1980, while addressing his first post- 1971 press conference, Khan showed no remorse for what he or his party had done. Instead, he said, "We did the right thing in 1971 . " Even today, Khan continues to conspire against the independence of Bangladesh and against the Bangalee national identity of the people. He continues his efforts to turn Bangladesh into a second Pakistan. 

Matiur Rahman Nizami  

The chief of operations of the

1. During the liberation war in Jessore, Nizami addressed paramilitary troops at the district headquarters of the Razakar force, and said, "In this hour of national crisis, it is the duty of every Razakar to carry out his national duty to eliminate those who are engaged in war against Pakistan and Islam' (Daily Sangram, Sept 15, 1971). 

2. People in Nizami's home district of Pabna have, brought allegations of direct and indirect involvement in killings, rape, arson, looting etc. One such person is Aminul Islam Dablu of Brishlika village. According to Dablu his father M Sohrab Ali was killed on the orders of Nizami. Dablu further said other people of the area, including Profulla Pramanik, Bhadu Pramanik, Manu Pramanik and Shwashati Pramanik were killed on Nizami's orders. He said there were several eyewitnesses to those killings. 

3. Abdul Quddus, a freedom fighter from Madhabpur village in Pabna, once spent two weeks in an Al-Badr camp as their captive. He witnessed plans being discussed and drawn-up by the Al-Badr men under supervision of Nizami, to carry out killings, arson, rape etc. 

4. On Nov 26, a Razakar commander named Sattar guided Pakistani troops to the Dhulaupara village where 30 freedom fighters were subsequently killed. According to Quddus, Sattar carried out his activities under Nizami's orders. Quddus also said he was able to attend a secret gathering of Al-Badr which Nizami presided and gave instructions about elimination of freedom fighters. In that meeting, houses of Awami League supporters and possible bases and safe houses being used by freedom fighters were identified. Quddus said Nizami gave orders to finish off Awami League supporters and destroy bases of the freedom fighters. The day after the meeting, Al-Badr forces in cooperation with Razakars, surrounded the village of Brishlika and burnt it to the ground. 

5. Quddus said Nizami himself bayoneted to death one Bateswar Saha in Madhabpur village, situated under Sathia PS, which is now part of the parliamentary constituency where Nizami won a seat in 1991 with a slender majority. 
 
6. In Pabna Nizami led the killing of a young freedom fighter Latif and his group. Latif was only 19 years old and a first year student of Pabna Edward college. Latif's small group was captured by the Pakistani occupation army in a front combat at Dhuliuri. They were then handed over to Nizami's gang for execution. Nizami's lieutenants publicly slew Latif's  co-fighters  with daggers specially used for slaughtering bulls for sacrifice (during Islamic festival called korbani) as a part of Islamic ritual. The bastards in Nizami's group celebrated the killing of the captured freedom fighters with cannibalistic zeal. They gouged Latif's eyes, chopped off his genitalia and tied his dead body on a stick at Shanthia. Latif's father Sufian Paramanik is an witness to his son's brutal murder  and the razakars' ecstatic outburst of pleasure in killing the brave sons of the soil. Latif's brother Shahjahan, a freedom fighter himself, nearly met the same fate. After slaughtering Shahjahan, along with his co-fighters, in Islamic manner, Nizam's people left him taking him for dead. But Shahjahan was a die hard freedom fighter. The slayer's knife could not take his life. Deadly wounded, Shahjahan lay on ground for hours. Foxes smelled at him, dogs bit him. Fortunately his relatives came by before it was too late and saved his life. Nizami's knife  could not take Shahjahan's life, but took away his vocal cord.        

7. Shahjahan Ali also said one prisoner was burnt alive after being doused with petrol. He  said all those killings of prisoners were carried out on Nizami's order. 

Verifiable list of people killed by Nizami and his gangs:

Mohd Kamruzzaman

Kamaruzzaman's war crimes:

There were also allegations that Kamruzzarnan organized and led robbery gangs in the area. 

Abdul Alim

1. The first piece of evidence against Alim is given on page 38- 39 of the The Killers and Collaborators of 1971: An Account of Their Whereabouts. It says, "Abdul Alim himself carried out execution of Bangalees by lining them up in rows and then shooting them. Besides, there are many allegations of Alim killing Bengalees by bayonet charges". 

2. The same book carries a photograph from a newspaper of the period, which shows a beaming Alim standing beside one Major Afzal of the Pakistan army. Sitting on the ground were a number of freedom fighters, blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs. "Those freedom fighters were paraded through the town and later shot dead."

4. Molla Shamsul Alam, an eyewitness to the activities of Alim, narrated the tale of one freedom fighter, Fazlu who was captured by Pakistani troops after a fire-fight. He said the Pakistanis took Fazlu and two other prisoners to Abdul Alim at the C&B Colony hall room. Outside, Alim stood on truck and said to supporters gathered there, "Fazlu's father is a friend of mine. I had repeatedly asked him to dissuade his son from this path, but he didn't. Today he has to be to given his punishment, and that is death. I ask you all to find out those who still talk of Joy Bangla (Victory to Bengal, war-cry of the freedom fighters), in your neighbourhoods and beat them to death". Fazlu and others were then taken to Alim's house where they were put through inhuman torture. Later they were taken to the killing grounds in Khanchanpur and murdered. 

8. Shamsul Alam, an associate professor at Joypurhat College,  said that Alim and his cohorts once paraded 26 captured freedom fighters around the town on trucks before the prisoners were put to death. Before killing them, Alim put the prisoners on display in the play ground of Joypurhat College, where he told the students, "You can all understand the fate of these prisoners. They are all going to die. If you students join the Mukti Bahini (freedom fighters), then your fate will be the same". 

9. ldris Ali, another resident of Joypurhat, said he entered his home-town on December 5 along with other freedom fighters. They captured the "Peace Committee" headquarters the same day, and discovered various documents, including lists of intellectuals earmarked for elimination. Among the documents was minutes of a meeting held on Dec 4 and presided over by Abbas Ali Khan. The minutes bore Alim's signature. There were many other eyewitness reports by local inhabitants of the killings, torture and repression carried out in the area by Alim.

Delwar Hossain Saidi

Abdul Mannan

In 197 1, Mannan was one of the top leaders of the so-called Peace and Welfare Council that was set up to help the Pakistani occupation forces. During the war, Mannan issued several statements in favor of the mass murders committed by the Pakistani troops. In a statement published in newspapers on April 27 197 1, he said: "Patriotic people of East Pakistan have now come forward with crusading zeal to uproot the armed intruders and the secessionists. With the active support of the people, our brave armed forces have taken control of all the places." (Source: Killers and Collaborators of 1971: An Account of Their Whereabouts, page 77). 

On September 27, 1971 Maulana Mannan, then president of the Madrasa Teachers' Association, led a delegation of the association to a meeting with Lt Gen AAK Niazi, the Zonal Martial Law Administrator for Zone B (East Pakistan) and Commander of the Eastern Command. Mannan presented a copy of the Koran to the general and told him: "We are ready to cooperate with the army for Pakistan's security and to enhance the glory of Islam." The general responded: "Ulamas (Islamic scholars), madrasah teachers and other patriotic citizens can protect the communications network and uproot the anti-state elements." General Niazi assured full cooperation to them in organizing voluntary groups like the village defense forces to face the Indian spies. After the meeting, madrasa teachers and students were inducted into the Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Sams forces and given military training.  

Maulana Mannan had direct involvement in the killing of eminent physician Alim Chowdhury. According to the wife of the late physician, Mrs Shyamoli Chowdhury, and his younger brother Abdul Hafiz Chowdhury,  some members of the Al-Badr had gone to their house on December 14 197 1. Prior to that, the Al-Badr men had spent about 45 minutes at the residence of Maulana Mannan, then a tenant downstairs. They took away Alim Chowdhury who never returned. In the third week of December, Abdul Hafiz Chowdhury filed an FIR with the Ramna police station in Dhaka. Police nabbed the absconding maulana from the Azimpur area of the city. Mannan gave a confessional statement that three members of the Al-Badr who were his students picked up Dr Alim Chowdhury. Mannan had a very close relationship with Brig Kashem and Capt Kayum, two key men in the Pakistani army who coordinated the slaughter of the intellectuals. The two officers had come to Mannan's ground-floor apartment only a month ago on the occasion of an Islamic festival at 2:30 am.  

In 1971, the Razakar forces organized by Mannan unleashed a reign of terror in Faridganj under the leadership of Khalilur Rahman, an elected chairman of the local village council. They killed innocent Faridganj people, raped their women, burnt their houses and looted their property. Worst of all, according to popular accounts, Mannan's men took advantage of the situation to wipe out his political opponents, killing them after torture. 

".....Mannan's Razakar forces, acting under his instructions, killed innumerable Bengalis in Faridganj including Awarni League leaders Abdul Majid Patwary, Haider Box Patwary, Ahmad Ullah Khan, Ishaq Khan, Sultan Khan, Amirullah Khan, local primary school headmaster Nibaran Chandra Das, Haren Chandra Das, Ansari Abdur Rab, Abdul Matin Saut, Sekandar Bhuiya, Abdus Satta Bhuiya, Upendra Chandra Karmaker, Jageshwar Bhoumik Mainuddin Khan, Abdul Wadud Khan, Habibuilah, Eshaq Mir, Akkas Miah, Abu Taher, Ayatullah, Hashim Khan, Hare Krishn Das, Jagabandhu Das, Madan Krishna Das, Nagendra Chandr Kabiraj and Govindra Chandra Das.. Hasmati Begum and Arafa Begum, both from the village of Prattashi, were killed after rape." : Aminul Huq Master, president of Thana Action Council in 1971 and the then general secretary of the Awanmi League's Faridganj chapter, M Abdul Jabbar Patwary and Abdul Awal, both members of the action council.

Abdul Kader Patwary, son of martyr Haider Box Patwary, of  Keroa village near the Faridganj market, said that politic enmity between his late father and Maulana Mannan dated back to the time of local elections organized by military dictator General Ayub Khan in the mid- 1960s. In 197 1, Mannan's men came searching for Abdul Kader. As the son was not available, the Razakarmen picked up the father, the mother, the brothers and sisters. All but father Haider Box returned home. After three days of torture, Haider was killed. Said Abdul Kader: "My father was killed on instructions of Maulana Mannan." 

M Abdul Kader Patwary, son of martyr Abdul Majid Patwary, said: "Razakars swooped on our house on the night of July 3 (1971). They took away my father Abdul Majid Patwary to Faridganj PS  headquarter with his legs tied with ropes. From 10 pm on July 4, they began torturing my father. The Razakars uprooted his beard strand by strand. Later the Faridganj police station officer in charge Oziullah told me that a Pakistani major contacted Maulana Mannan in Dhaka several times after my father was taken there. The major told Maulana Mannan at the time of first contact, 'The man you wanted is with us'. The last time Maulana Mannan ordered 'kill him'. At around 1 am that night he was killed." 

M Wajiullah, a businessman from Chandpur, also recounted the story of Abdul Majid Patwary's killing. He was also taken there by the Razakars. 

On December 27 197 1, Maulana Mannan was handed over to Ramna police. He was released after influential quarters had intervened. He went into hiding. A report published on May 7, 1972 by the daily Dainik Azad and headlined "Help nab this cannibal" said: Abdul Mannan, the so-called maulana (Muslim cleric), a former general secretary of the Muslim League, a crony of the Peer of Sharshina (a religious leader known as a hated collaborator of the Pakistani army), an organizer of the Razakar-Badr forces, the mastermind of innumerable murders especially in the Faridganj area, is still at large. He is the one who organized the Razakar forces in Faridganj three months after the Liberation War had begun. He had a hand in killing Abdul Majid, the prominent Awami League leader from Faridganj, and Dr Alim Chowdhury of 29/1 Purana Paltan, Dhaka."

Presently Mannan owns, thanks to Zia's political and Ershad's financial patronization, and runs the Inquiab, the official news media of the Muslim fundamentalists. Due to the backing of BNP and Ershad governments, Inquilab has become a major daily newspaper. The Inquilab was responsible for the communal riot during Gen Ershad regime. It also instigates the Muslim zealots against the progressive artis, thinkers, journalists and  academics. It declared Dr Ahmed Sharif, a professor of Dhaka university, a heretic and offered rewards for his head as Khameni's people in Iran did to Salman Rushdie. 

Verified list of people killed by Mannan and his gang: 

Abdul Kader Mollah

One of the largest mass graves of people butchered by Pakistani troops and their allies was discovered in the Shialbari area of Mirpur after independence. According to the locals of Mirpur area  Molla was instrumental to the the killing of thousands of Bangalees in Shialbari and Rupnagar areas of Mirpur during the war. Many of them confirmed that Molla began his killing spree even before the army had began its operation. 

On March 6, a public meeting was arranged in front of the gate of  Ceramic Industry at  Section 6 in Mirpur, to press for demands of the Bangalee people. As the people raised the nationalist slogan Joy Bangla (Victory to Bengal), narrated M Shahidur Rahman who was present at the meeting, Kader Molla and his gang attacked the meeting with swords, machetes and other sharp weapons, injuring many. 

According to M Firoze Ali, a resident of Block B at Section I in Mirpur,  Kader Mollah was behind the killing of  his brother Pallab Tuntuni, an 18-year old student. Young Tuntuni was an active supporter of the nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and that was why his name was penciled into Molla's hit list. On March 29, Molla's hit men kidnapped Tuntuni from another part of the city and took him to Mirpur. The boy was then dragged from one part of Mirpur to another, and back again, with his hands tied behind his back. At a big play ground used usually for major religious congregations, Tuntuni was tied to a tree and left for two days. Later, Molla's men returned and chopped off the boy's fingers. On April 5, a week after being kidnapped, Molla ordered his men to shoot Tuntuni dead. The boy's dead body was left dangling from the tree for another two days as a warning to others in the area, before being thrown in a mass grave with seven other bodies, Feroze Ali said. 

Another eyewitness to Molla's criminal activities in 1971 was M Shahidur Rahman Chowdhury. He said that Razakarmen under the command of Kader Molla brutally murdered woman poet Meherunnessa in October at Section 6 of Mirpur. He said one Shiraj, who lived in the poet's home, lost mental balance at the sight of the murder. Shiraj still suffers from psychological disorder, Chowdhury said. 

There are also allegations from the inhabitants' of Mirpur area that Molla organized local non-Bengali people of Manipur, Sheorapara, Kazipara areas of Mirpur into armed groups under his own command. With those (Behari) armed bands, Molla organized killings of thousands of Bangalees at various killing fields of Mirpur. 

Charmonai Peer: Maulana SM Fazlul Karim

Maulana Fazlul Karim runs a residential madrasa (A Jesuite style institute) in Charmonai, southern part of Bangladesh. During the war hundreds of Bangalee women went for shelter to his madrasa to escape the mass rape and murder by the Pakistani troops. They thought as a holy man the maulana would save them from the bestiality unleashed by  the occupation forces. 

But the so-called maulana and his colleagues declared those hapless girls as commodities of war (and hence as per Islamic law consumable by the Muslim soldiers) and as such supplied them to the Pakistani soldiers. The dead bodies of those raped girls were flung into the nearby river or buried in the mass grave behind the madrasa. The maulana is also alleged to have slain many Hindus and freedom fighters in his own hand like the head Imam of Mymensingh did as described by Taslima Nasrin in Nirbachita Columns.  

Moinuddin Chowdhury

The chief executioner of the Al-Badr and Al-Sams forces. The key person behind the brutal murder of hundreds of progressive Bangalee intellectuals in 1971. Moinuddin and his cohorts picked the enlisted intellectuals from their residences between 12-14 December,1971 and killed them at Rayer bazaar and Mirpur. It is said that those who were still alive after being shot by Moinuddin's henchmen, Moinuddin himself used to slit their throats in his own hand like slaughtering bulls for Korbani. 

Moinuddin was the mastermind  among his criminal peers as nothing much has been found against him. One of his razakar mate said he saw Moinuddin taking away all the money and important documents from the Al-Badr head office in Dhaka after the victory of Bangladesh. Presently Moinuddin is a British citizen and the special editor of the Jamat publication- the weekly Dawat. He is expatriate Bangladeshi elite and travels to Bangladesh frequently. 

Ashrafuzzaman Khan

One of the chief Al-Badr  (leaders of death squads in 1971) executioners. It has been clearly proved that he himself shot to death 7 teachers of Dhaka university in the killing zones at Mirpur. A certain Mofizzuddin, who drove the vehicle that carried those hapless victims to Mirpur, has clearly identified Ashrafuzzaman as the "chief executer" of the intellectuals. 

After Liberation, Ashrafuzzaman's personal diary was recovered from his residence, 350 Nakhal Para. Two pages of his diary registered names and residential addresses of 19 teachers as well as the name of the medical officer of Dhaka University. Of those 20 persons, 8 were missing on December 14: Munier Chowdhury (Bengali), Dr. Abul Khair (History), Ghiasuddin Ahmed (History), Rashidul Hasan (English), Dr. Faizul Mohi (IE R)  and Dr. Murtaza (Medical Officer). 

Mofizuddin confessed that Ashrafuzzaman himself shot all of them. As per Mofizuddin's description, the decomposed bodies of those unfortunate teachers were recovered from the swamps of Rayer Bazar and the mass grave at Shiyal Bari at Mirpur. There were also other names in the diary including Dr. Wakil Ahmed (Bengali), Dr. Nilima Ibrahim (Bengali), Dr. Latif (IE R), Dr. Maniruzzaman (Geography), K M Saaduddin (Sociology), AMM Shahidullah (Math), Dr. Sirajul Islam (Islamic History), Dr. Akhtar Ahmed (Education), Zahirul Huq (Psychology), Ahsanul Huq (English), Serajul Islam Chowdbury (English), and Kabir Chowdhury (English). 

Another page of his diary recorded the names of 16 collaborating teachers of Dhaka university. Apart from that there were also names of Chowdbury Moinuddin, the chief of operation for elimination of the intelligentsia,  and Shawkat Imran, a member of the central Al-Badr command, and the head of Dhaka Al-Badr forces. 

The diary also contained names and addresses of several other prominent Bangalees. All of them lost their lives at the hands of  Al-Badr forces. On a small piece of paper the name of the member finance of the Pakistan Jute Board, Abdul Khaleq, was written down. On December 9, 1971, the Al-Badr forces kidnapped Mr.  Khaleq from his office. They demanded Taka 10,000 as ransom. They saw Mrs. Khaleq for ransom money. But at that time she was unable to pay the kidnappers more than  450 taka. She promised that she would give them the rest of the money later, and begged them her husband's life. But Mr. Khaleq never came back. 

Ashrafuzzaman has also been implicated in the murder of some journalists. It was Ashrafuzzaman who kidnapped the shift-in- charge of the Purbadesh, and the literary editor, Mr. Golam Mustafa. 

Ashrafuzzaman Khan, was a member of the Central Committee of the Islami Chhatra Sangha. After liberation he went to Pakistan and worked for Radio Pakistan. Recently Ashrafuzzaman has moved to New York and presently heads the Queens branch of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)

 The Top Collaborators of 1971 and their present whereabouts