Freedom fighter never heard of Sayedee atrocities

Dhaka, Sep 2  The first defence witness for Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee said he had never heard about any of Sayedee's war crimes.

Shamsul Alam Talukder, a 68-year-old freedom fighter, said he had been to Sayedee's native Parerhat in Pirojpur, where he halted for a night in 1971 after the area had been liberated.

The three-judge International Crimes Tribunal – 1, set up to try crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, indicted Sayedee for 20 war crimes charged on Oct 3, 2011.

The first war crimes tribunal heard the freedom fighter's deposition with the newly appointed Justice Jahangir Hossain joining the session along with Justice Anwarul Haque and head judge Mohammad Nizamul Huq.

Talukdar said that during his visit to Parerhat, locals had recounted how the collaborators of Pakistani Army, the Razakars and Peace Committee members had tortured them.

"But I did not hear anything about Sayedee. And since I was a commander, it would have certainly reached my ears if Sayedee had committed such crimes."

A second-in-command under Major Ziauddin at the Sundarban sub-sector, the freedom fighter said he had come to testify upon the request of Sayedee's third son Masud Bin Sayedee.

Talukdar had been the Joint Secretary General of the Muktijoddha Command
Council between 2002 and 2007.

Seriously involved with politics throughout his student life, the freedom fighter was elected as the General Secretary of Bagerhat's PC college student council.

He became the East Pakistan Students' Union Organising Secretary of Khulna in 1964 and General Secretary the following year. In 1967, the witness became a central committee member of the student union and Vice President a year later.

In 1969, Talukdar joined Maulana Bhashani's NAP and also aspired to run for the provincial elections in 1970.