Victims rejoice at Subhan verdict

He saw his father being killed in front of his eyes and endured the hellish rejoicing of the killers afterwards. And from that moment on, all he ever wanted was justice.
And Tahurul Alam Mollah's over four-decade-long wait was finally over yesterday when the International Crimes Tribunal-2 handed death penalty to Jamaat-e-Islami leader Moulana Abdus Subhan for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
Subhan, the then chief of Pabna district unit Jamaat and vice chairman of the local unit of Peace Committee that collaborated with the Pakistani army in their atrocities against pro-liberation Bangalees, killed Taharul's father Moazzem Hossain, cousin Matleb Ahmed Khan and nephew Nazmul Haque Khan Helal along with more than a dozen others at Ishwardi Central Jame Masjid in Pabna between April 12 and 19, 1971.
Moazzem had been hiding at the mosque since Pak army launched a crackdown in Pabna on April 11.
"… Some people dragged my father out of the mosque and took him near a bush beside a coal depot [on April 17]. Moulana Subhan was with them … Subhan took a knife from someone and my father shouted 'Allahu Akbar' when Subhan stabbed him,” Tahurul had told the tribunal.
“I witnessed a similar scene on April 18 from distance. Moulana Subhan and his cohorts killed my cousin Matleb Ahmed Khan and nephew Nazmul Haque Khan Helal at the same spot in the same way,” Tahurul had said in his testimony.
And now that justice has been served, he was elated.
"Now I will wait for its [the verdict's] execution," the 62-year-old told The Daily Star yesterday, with tears of joy rolling down from his eyes.
Subhan, the 79-year-old Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer who became a parliament member twice after the country's independence, was found guilty in six out of nine charges of crimes against humanity and was awarded death penalty on three, imprisonment until death in two and five years' jail term on one charge by the tribunal headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan.
Freedom fighter Fazlur Rahman Fantu had told the court during the case proceedings that at least 19 men were killed with Tahurul's father between April 12 and 19.
Tahurul's uncle ATM Shahiduzzaman Nasim was also a witness to the killings.
"I also saw Subhan killing my brother-in-law Motleb Ahmed and nephew Nazmul Ahmed,” Nasim had testified.
Another charge against Subhan for killing 400 people and rampaging through a number of villages under Satbaria union of Pabna's Sujanagar upazila on May 12 was also proved beyond doubt.
The news of the verdict sent a wave of jubilation among the people of Sujanagar.
"Families of Satbaria massacre victims are delighted over the death penalty of the mastermind of the carnage,” Omar Ali Sheikh, whose father and elder brother were killed on that day, told The Daily Star yesterday.
"Subhan masterminded mass killings in the district throughout the nine months of the Liberation War,” said Habibur Rahman Habi, commander of Pabna Muktijodhha Sangsad.
Following the pronouncement of the verdict, families of the 1971 martyrs, freedom fighters and others poured out onto the streets of Pabna town and distributed sweetmeats in celebration.