Justice brings solace to martyrs' families

The execution of war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami has brought some solace to the family members of the victims, freedom fighters and locals who witnessed the brutalities of the Pakistan occupation forces and their local accomplices in Santhia upazila under Pabna district during the 1971 Liberation War. 

"My father helped the freedom fighters in the village. They (Nizami and his fellows along with Pakistan army) killed my father mercilessly in front of my mother on November 27 among other people in Dhulauri village," freedom fighter Mazaharul Islam Liakot told this correspondent yesterday.

"My mother is now happy to see the justice although we had to wait 45 years for it," he said.

Liakot's father Md Abdul Awal, a village doctor, was among the 52 martyrs who were buried in Dhulauri mass grave on November 27 in 1971 after Nizami along with his associates and the Pakistan occupation army killed the innocent villagers as 'punishment' for supporting freedom fighters.

The death penalty of Nizami consoles the family members of the martyred people in Dhulauri village, said Md Abdur Rouf Montu who also lost his father Abul Kashem Fakir in Dhulauri massacre.

"After a long wait for justice, victim families are happy to see the execution of Nizami's death penalty," said freedom fighter Johurul Haque of Haria village, also the key witnss in the case against Nizami regarding the massacre in Santhia's Demra where more than 400 people were martyred on May 13 night in 1971.

Motiur Rahman Nizami instigated the Al-Badr, an auxiliary force of the occupation army, to commit crimes against humanity during 1971 Liberation War.

Nizami, also chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, was hanged early yesterday and buried in his ancestral village Monmothpur of Santhia upazila in Pabna in the morning.  

Freedom fighters and the family members of the Liberation War martyrs in the area went to the mass graves and offered prayers for the peace of the martyred souls.