Intellectual killings: Journo Nazmul’s son testifies Ashraf, Mueen abducted, killed his father

Martyred journalist Sayed Nazmul Hoque’s son Sayed Mortuja Nazmul on Tuesday testified that fugitive war crimes accused Chowdhury Mueenuddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan were actively involved in abduction and killing of his father and other intellectuals towards the end of the liberation war.
Mortuja, now 47, testifying as the seventh prosecution witness against Mueen and Ashraf in the International Crimes Tribunal-2, told the tribunal that he came to know the information from his mother, brother, paternal uncles and journalist Ataus Samad.
He said that his father worked for Pakistan Press Institute in 1971 and also used to write in different newspapers including the then Daily Dawn and Pakistan Observer. He was also the city editor of Dhaka Times.
The witness said that his father went to Europe with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as his private press secretary in 1969 and in 1971. After the arrest of Sheikh Mujib on March 25, his father was taken to West Pakistan twice and was brutally tortured in confinement there in a bid to give false statement against Mujib.
The witness said that his mother had told him that a group of 6 or 7 armed Al-Badr men covering their faces under masks stormed into their living room at Purana Paltan area in Dhaka by breaking open their door at the night following December 10, 1971 at around 4am.
The Al-Badr men called his father and as his father approached them and gave his identity, they picked him up and went away.
He said that he came to know from seniors of his family that the Al-Badr men on the same night picked up journalist Serajuddin Hossain and ANM Golam Mostafa just before picking up his father.
The journalists were abducted as per a blueprint of Al-Badr to eliminate intellectuals of the Bangalee nation, he said.
He said that the Al-Badr men abducted journalist Nizam Uddin on December 12, 1971, journalist Selina Parvin on December 13, 1971 and journalist Shahidullah Kaiser on December 14, 1971.
The Al-Badr men picked up Dhaka University teachers including Anwar Pasha, Gias Uddin Ahmed and Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, he said.
He said that after December 16, 1971, they searched the killing fields of Rayerbazar and Mirpur but his father’s body was never found.
Later, Ashraf’s state defence lawyer Md Abdus Shukur Khan and Mueen’s state defence counsel Salma Hai Tuni cross-examined him.
On completion of his cross-examination, the tribunal adjourned the proceedings of the case until tomorrow.