Arrogance personified

He has built an image of arrogance for himself and remained at the centre of many controversies.

With a smirk always etched on his face, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury revelled in spitting venom at his opponents, be it in politics or in other spheres, using vulgar and indecent words. Even his party chief Khaleda Zia was not spared by him.

But that did not put his political career in trouble until 2010. He rather enjoyed state power for years even though he had actively opposed the very birth of Bangladesh.

He had unleashed a reign of terror and carried out acts of genocide in Raozan, Boalkhali, Rangunia and Hathazari of Chittagong during the Liberation War in 1971.

However, after coming back to the country from London in 1974, he did not face any hurdle. Instead, he gained immense influence in his locality as well as the political landscape of the country.

In its verdict on Jamaat-e-Islami leader Motiur Rahman Nizami, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 said Nizami's appointment as a minister "was a slap in the face for the Liberation War as well as three million martyrs and two lakh women who sacrificed their chastity for the liberation of Bangladesh."

This is also applicable to Salauddin who became a member of the parliament six times with the support of the BNP, the Jatiya Party, the Muslim League and his own National Democratic Party.

He is still a member of BNP's national standing committee, the highest decision making body of the party. The party has yet to decide whether it will remove him for his conviction for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

He was sacked from the BNP after he had made derogatory comments about Khaleda Zia in 1998 but was reinstated later.

One of his remarks had caused huge controversy.

With an oblique reference to Khaleda and some senior BNP leaders on whom she relied for decision-making, Salauddin had said: "I knew the dogs wag their tails; now I see the tails wag the dogs."

He was again expelled from the BNP in May 2001 for his involvement in anti-party activities. Interestingly, he was reinstated in the party prior to the October 2001 parliamentary election and he was even given party ticket to contest the polls.

On his election as an MP, he was made the parliamentary affairs advisor to then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia with the status of a minister. 

The BNP-led government also nominated him as Bangladesh's candidate to contest the post of secretary general in the OIC amid huge criticism for his anti-liberation role. Bangladesh faced a humiliating defeat for his candidacy.

He had blamed Sheikh Hasina, then leader of the opposition in parliament, for his defeat and made derogatory remarks about her.

He provided false information about his educational qualification in his affidavit before the December 2008 parliamentary election.

The Election Commission moved to declare his seat vacant in parliament. But he made abusive remarks against the election commissioners and questioned their legal knowledge. He said he had read a lot more law books than they had seen.

As per the electoral laws, giving false information in the affidavit could cost anyone his candidacy. But the EC did not proceed that way to avoid controversy.

His remarks are often mixed with vulgarity. Take, for example, his comments during a media interview a couple of weeks before his arrest in which he described his situation from his Goods Hill house in Chittagong. He said, "If rape is inevitable, why not enjoy it?"

There was no lack of arrogance and unacceptable behaviour during his trial too.

On May 14, 2012, he apparently threatened the former chairman of the ICT, Justice Nizamul Huq, saying: "Mr Nizamul Huq! Please don't show me your red eyes."

It happened when Salauddin had wanted to cross-examine the first prosecution witness, Prof Anisuzzaman, even though he had his counsels. This prompted the tribunal to caution him that the trial would be conducted in his absence if he did not stop behaving that way.

"The accused [Salauddin] is an elected people's representative but his art of deliberation, actions and conduct as shown in the courtroom were not in conformity with rightness, decency and convention of good behaviour," said the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in its verdict in 2013.

Salauddin followed in the footsteps of his father Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, who was the president of Convention Muslim League that had opposed the Liberation War.

He was injured in a grenade attack launched by the freedom fighters. The injury forced him to leave the country in September 1971 for Pakistan. Later he went to London to study Bar-at-Law.

Soon after the country's independence, his father FQ Chowdhury was caught by freedom fighters and the allied force while escaping to Myanmar with 60 kilograms of gold and Tk 7 lakh in cash. He died in jail in 1974.

After his death, Salauddin returned to the country but remained politically inactive. His father's party Muslim League along with some other parties was banned for their anti-liberation role.

The political changeover following the brutal assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members came as a blessing for Salauddin. A door for his politics opened. He became active in Muslim League's politics again.

As the then mainstream Muslim League, led by Khan A Sabur, did not welcome him, he opted for splitting the party. He then created a faction of Muslim League ahead of the second parliamentary election in 1979 under the military rule of Gen Ziaur Rahman. It was then he first got elected as an MP.

The martial law regime's sympathy towards anti-liberation people worked in Salauddin's favour. None of the six cases filed against him with Raozan Police Station in connection with his crimes in 1971 had seen any headway after 1975. 

However, it is interesting to note that as a sector commander in 1971 Zia had ordered the killing of 22 collaborators including Salauddin and his father. This was testified by two freedom fighters before a war crimes tribunal that held Salauddin's trial. Maj Zia, they said, also designated a team to execute their killing.

But Zia changed his stance in his desperation to legitimise his illegal takeover of state power and to transform him into a civil leader. Salauddin thus emerged as a politician by becoming an MP in 1979.  

The second martial law regime, led by Gen Ershad that began in 1982, came with more blessing for Salauddin. As Ershad too became desperate to seek legitimacy for his regime, Salauddin joined the Jatiya Party and contested the 1986 parliamentary election with its ticket.

Although marred by widespread rigging by Jatiya Party men, he managed to win the election and was made a minister in the Ershad-led government. He was given important portfolios -- ministries of relief, disaster and rehabilitation, and housing and public works, and health.

In a publication by the Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat during the eighth parliament [2001-2006], Salauddin in his brief profile claimed to be the youngest ever cabinet member. He was 36 when he was made a minister in the Ershad-led cabinet.

His days in the Jatiya Party came to an end with his expulsion from the party and the cabinet for his role against the then government. He then formed the National Democratic Party (NDP) in 1988.

With the ticket of NDP, he was elected MP in the 1991 parliamentary election.

Salauddin dissolved the NDP and joined the BNP to contest the 1996 parliamentary polls. He won the parliamentary elections in 2001 and 2008 with BNP's tickets.

Finally, more than 40 years after committing the heinous crimes in 1971, Salauddin, who acted as a "self-proclaimed brigadier" according to the prosecution, was arrested in 2010.

After prolonged court proceedings, he was convicted and handed the capital punishment in October 2013 by a war crimes tribunal.

The Appellate Division's ruling that upheld his death sentence yesterday will bring an end to a life full of arrogance and controversies.