Dhaka – Defending himself the war crimes charges brought against him, BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury on Monday said the prosecution did not accuse him of being a psychopathic killer.“The prosecution didn’t charge me for being mentally retarded nor did the prosecution accuse me of being a wild maniac,” he told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 as defence witness No-1 while making his deposition for the sixth day.
“All the charges are totally dependent on the proposition that I was a political follower of my father, the president of Pakistan Muslim League (Convention) in 1971, also a supporter of a federation of Pakistan,” he claimed, adding, ”None of these charges are supported by any mens rea except genetic and biological between myself and my father.”
The BNP stalwart termed the charges made against him by the prosecution an exercise of going to milk the bull.
According to the prosecution, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, son of late Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, faces trial on 23 counts of charges under different provisions of section 3 (2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973, including genocide in collaboration with Pakistan occupation army, killing, extermination of Hindu minority groups, deportation, persecution and abduction in Chittagong district.
Claiming his alibi plea, Salauddin Quader told the tribunal that he had left Dhaka for Karachi from his father’s Dhanmondi house on March 29 in 1971 accompanying on his flight by Ambassador Osman Siddiqui, a year mate in Dhaka University (DU) and Issrat, another DU student who was one-year junior to him.
Earlier, the DW in his testimony had told the tribunal that on December 16, 1971, he was a resident in London and returned to Bangladesh in April, 1974 and entered through immigration in Dhaka International Airport at Tejgaon, traveling with a British travel document.
Besides, during his deposition today, he made an elaborate description recalling his father’s checkered political career in this subcontinent along with Pakistan.
Observing his long-drawn-out deposition, prosecutor Sultan Mahmud Simon at long last raised objection as the testimony has no relevance to the charges the accused faces.
Replying to the prosecutor, the DW, apparently irked, told the tribunal, “Let me depose as I want. Or else stop me and then hang me.”
At this point, the tribunal asked the DW to carry on keeping in mind the tribunal’s order on Sunday that had fixed a timeline to finish the deposition within two days.
In reply, Salauddin Quader said, “I’m undone. I’m trying to go over the main points.”
At the second half, while continuing deposition spending for an hour he suddenly fell sick in the witness box and later he had to spray medicine under his tongue for immediate relief.
The tribunal adjourned the proceedings for Wednesday.
(Source: UNB)
