Alhamdulillah Wassalatu Wassalamu Ala Rasulillah Wa Ma Tawfiqee Illa Billah. Fa Alaihi Tawakkaltu Wa Ilaihi Uneeb
I want to categorically inform the court; during the war of liberation in 1971 my role was not involved in anything else other than politics. Politically, we demanded handing over the power to the elected representatives. Jamaat-e-Islami demanded the same, so did the Islami Chhatra Sangha. I believe along with the rest of the world, that tragic incident would not have happened, had the power been handed over according to the results of the elections of 1970.
At the same time history also knows that who impeded the power transition after the election.
Who obstructed the transfer of power? No one can show that Jamaat-e-Islami voiced anything that may have hindered the transfer of power. As the President of the Islami Chhatra Sanga, I was the first to protest against what Mr. Bhutto said. It was Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who obstructed the transfer of power. He was used by Yahya Khan or Yahya Khan used him; or they did it together. However, we had no connection with the causes that created the
circumstances for genocide.
By chance, I happened to be the President of Islami Chhatra Sangha Pakistan at that time. I was President till the last week of September. In a conference in Multan between 25-30 September, I resigned from my position following an election. I had no activities afterwards. I used to work in a research academy as a research fellow. The incident you brought against me in the charge number 16, I was not the President of Islami Chhatra Sanga at that time;
neither was I member of that organization; nor did I hold any position of Jammat-e-Islami then. Therefore, I did not have any role at that time. I have been alleged to be the commander of Al Badr; the newspaper clippings that have been provided as evidence, none of those clippings have Al Badr commander or Razakar chief designation next to my name. The page
number 36 of the book that has been handed over to me as formal charge clearly states that the former Ansar force was transformed into Razakar; all resources of Ansar force were handed to Razakar force and the officers of Ansar forces were kept as officers of Razakar force. Therefore, how can I have the scope of being a commander? The book you prepared proves that I had no scope for that.
I visited some places as the President of Chhatra Sangha, delivered speeches; however not all the statements in the newspapers are mine. Your book also has that evidence. There is a notion of one speech of mine in Jessore. I spoke of verses number of 111 and 112 of Surah Tawbah; you will notice that there is partial translation of the verse number 111. And there is not a single word translation of the verse number 112. This proves that newspapers do not
record all the statements of a speaker. Therefore, if the same happens in other cases where statements that were not mine but implicated with me, it will not be strange.
The criminal offenses that have been mentioned; I am transparent to my conscience, I am transparent to Allah that I had a political role but I was not involved in any immoral and inhumane activities by the grace of Allah; Allah did not involve me in any such thing. The incidents that have been mentioned here was not perpetrated in my presence, not committed in front of me, not done to my knowledge, not executed by my consent and I was not even aware of them. Honorable court, I am coming to the points that I visited some place; however, I am the only son of my parents and I did not even go to visit them during the war of liberation in 1971; I did not stay in my locality. I did not go to my residence let alone going to the greater Pabna area. Therefore, the few forces that were formed there, I can tell with full responsibility these are nothing but the most heinous lies of history. There is no question of my involvement in any of those. I did not even know many of these places. I visited many places before the elections in 1986; I did not know these places before that time. It is seen here that in an incident in Karmoja I arranged a meeting in retaliation for not voting in my favour. I did not even take part in the elections of 1970! I was not candidate in that election, where does the question of voting in my favour come from? And where does the question of retaliation for not voting in my favour come from?
If given chance to talk, there are many things to talk about; I clearly want to say that when my name was published in the newspaper in 1988 as the Secretary General, my wife said, someone called in guise of your friend. What did he say? He asked her, do you wish to be a widow? She questioned, why was he asking that? He replied, we would kill your husband in front of you. She said, okay do that if you can. He replied, why are you accepting that so easily; keep him away from assuming the responsibility of the Secretary General. Keep him away from the being active in the politics of Jammat-e-Islami. My wife replied, he does what he feels to be right, I cannot prevent him from doing that.
record all the statements of a speaker. Therefore, if the same happens in other cases where statements that were not mine but implicated with me, it will not be strange.
The criminal offenses that have been mentioned; I am transparent to my conscience, I am transparent to Allah that I had a political role but I was not involved in any immoral and inhumane activities by the grace of Allah; Allah did not involve me in any such thing. The incidents that have been mentioned here was not perpetrated in my presence, not committed in front of me, not done to my knowledge, not executed by my consent and I was not even aware of them. Honorable court, I am coming to the points that I visited some place; however, I am the only son of my parents and I did not even go to visit them during the war of liberation in 1971; I did not stay in my locality. I did not go to my residence let alone going to the greater Pabna area. Therefore, the few forces that were formed there, I can tell with full responsibility these are nothing but the most heinous lies of history. There is no question of my involvement in any of those. I did not even know many of these places. I visited many places before the elections in 1986; I did not know these places before that time. It is seen here that in an incident in Karmoja I arranged a meeting in retaliation for not voting in my favour. I did not even take part in the elections of 1970! I was not candidate in that election, where does the question of voting in my favour come from? And where does the question of retaliation for not voting in my favour come from?
If given chance to talk, there are many things to talk about; I clearly want to say that when my name was published in the newspaper in 1988 as the Secretary General, my wife said, someone called in guise of your friend. What did he say? He asked her, do you wish to be a widow? She questioned, why was he asking that? He replied, we would kill your husband in front of you. She said, okay do that if you can. He replied, why are you accepting that so easily; keep him away from assuming the responsibility of the Secretary General. Keep him away from the being active in the politics of Jammat-e-Islami. My wife replied, he does what he feels to be right, I cannot prevent him from doing that.
Honourable court, afterwards, I took part in the parliamentary election in 1991 and was elected as a member of parliament (MP) and elected as the leader of the parliamentary party. Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee was formed in 1992. We had to struggle against the activities of this Committee in parliament, in the Supreme Court as well as in the streets. As General Secretary and leader of the Parliamentary party I had to play a role. I came to the centre of attention from that time. Afterwards, the incident of Karmoja that was described, is an interesting case. In November of 2000 the result of election of the Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami was declared and I was elected Ameer for the first time. After the election of Ameer, it was decided that I would be sworn in on 6 December. On that day, some bones were resurrected from an old grave and shown on the TV,which was only to defame the new Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. No one brought this incident to attention before that day. Besides, Karmoja lies in the entry point of my constituency Santhia thana. I go here via that area, nevertheless, no one ever brought to me such allegation. They concocted this incident so that I cannot enter my constituency. But, by the grace of Allah, in the following election I received the highest number of votes from that constituency.
Honourable court, no party of individual was identified as was criminal because of the political role. Not only army but including the auxiliary force, a total of 195 individuals were identified as war criminals. Those who were the members of Malek cabinet, they were not included there. No member of the Peace Committee from the central to the district level was included there. Politically, Sabur Khan was a top leader; the founder of Bangladesh late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman himself freed him from prison and sent him home in a vehicle.
Honourable court, no party of individual was identified as was criminal because of the political role. Not only army but including the auxiliary force, a total of 195 individuals were identified as war criminals. Those who were the members of Malek cabinet, they were not included there. No member of the Peace Committee from the central to the district level was included there. Politically, Sabur Khan was a top leader; the founder of Bangladesh late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman himself freed him from prison and sent him home in a vehicle.
Therefore, I do not think that there is any scope for indentifying someone as war criminal or committing crime against humanity because of political role. I read in the Holiday magazine before being arrested that 195 individuals were set free to save the leadership of Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. I mentioned a while earlier, Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is the actor behind the genocide. I can clearly remember that when the assembly was postponed on 1 March, there was a cricket match going on the stadium that day. The spectators took to the streets leaving the game and chanted slogan, “Kick Bhutto in the head, free Bangladesh”. That same Mr. Bhutto came to Bangladesh on a state visit in 1974 and received unprecedented reception. Because of over-crowded reception, he was taken to the [Savar] monument not by road, but flown onto a chopper. These are parts of history.
Honourable court, the anger at me grew to some extent as I became a minister following the election in 2001; I came to attention after being elected the Ameer of Jamaat, I came to further attention after becoming a minster. But I want to categorically state that as a minister I never acted against the sovereignty or interest of the country. While I was the Minister of Agriculture, saplings of fruit trees were added to tree plantation campaign, as a result the production of indigenous fruits increased twofold. I was then transferred to the Ministry of Industries; after twelve years the sugar industry turned into a profitable industry.
Honourable court, no government is the last government and no judgment of the world is the final judgment; there will be another judgment in the hereafter. Everyone including you and I will have to face that judgment. How were the witnesses for this trial assembled! How were the complainant gathered! How was a vindictive campaign of politics of vengeance perpetrated in the name of investigation! Honourable court, I would like to request you; you have performed Hajj while assuming that position. You have visited the shrine of the holy prophet (peace be upon him); I would like to bring forward two Hadith of the holy prophet (peace be upon him). One is: it is adequate for an individual to be a liar, who states whatever he hears. According to this statement of the
holy prophet, rumors cannot be used as evidence in trials. I have a Kamil degree in Islamic jurisprudence. Based on that, I am stressing on this point. The second Hadith is regarding the responsibility, duty and honour of the judges. There are three categories of judges: judges belonging to the first class are those who unearth and realize the truth and give verdicts in
favour of that, they will go to the Heaven. There is another category of judges, who understand the truth but give verdicts against it; they will go to the Hell. The last category of judges who give verdicts without understanding anything, they also go to the Hell. I wholeheartedly pray for you who are responsible for this tribunal; in the words of the holy prophet may Allah give you the opportunity to become the judges belonging to the first class and save you from becoming the second and third class judges.
Honourable court, no government is the last government and no judgment of the world is the final judgment; there will be another judgment in the hereafter. Everyone including you and I will have to face that judgment. How were the witnesses for this trial assembled! How were the complainant gathered! How was a vindictive campaign of politics of vengeance perpetrated in the name of investigation! Honourable court, I would like to request you; you have performed Hajj while assuming that position. You have visited the shrine of the holy prophet (peace be upon him); I would like to bring forward two Hadith of the holy prophet (peace be upon him). One is: it is adequate for an individual to be a liar, who states whatever he hears. According to this statement of the
holy prophet, rumors cannot be used as evidence in trials. I have a Kamil degree in Islamic jurisprudence. Based on that, I am stressing on this point. The second Hadith is regarding the responsibility, duty and honour of the judges. There are three categories of judges: judges belonging to the first class are those who unearth and realize the truth and give verdicts in
favour of that, they will go to the Heaven. There is another category of judges, who understand the truth but give verdicts against it; they will go to the Hell. The last category of judges who give verdicts without understanding anything, they also go to the Hell. I wholeheartedly pray for you who are responsible for this tribunal; in the words of the holy prophet may Allah give you the opportunity to become the judges belonging to the first class and save you from becoming the second and third class judges.
I rely on Allah. O Allah! You judge the truth among us. Truly, Allah is the best arbitrator.
Great speech indeed.
ReplyDeleteThis speech demonstrates his innocence, simplicity and modesty.