5 Aug 2012: Molla 6th witness cross exam, day 1

OUT OF SEQUENCE POST

Tribunal Two

Misc

Defense Counsel Abdur Razzak first raised an issue that there was a mistake made by the son of Mr. Quader Mollah in that he only took the signature of the jail authority officials not the signature of Quader Mollah for the Wakalanama relating the transfer of accused to Dhaka Central Jail. He also said that his signature is also needed to authorize the new counsel Abdus Sobhan Talukdar. He asked if he could get their signatures

After that, Mr. Abdur Razzak submitted an application to the tribunal regarding the alleged contempt of Sayeda Sajeda Chawdhury and 27 August was given as the date for hearing this.

Cross examination

The cross examination of Md. Shafiuddin Molla, the sixth witness giving evidence against Molla, continued - following on from previous day

Defence: You have said on that last date that you were a voter in the election of 1970. Are you also a voter at present?

Witness: Yes, of course.

Defence: Did you participate in the election which had happened recently?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: Is the information mentioned in the voter list correct?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: See one copy of the voter list. Is the information regarding your name and address in serial no.: 2220 correct?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: Here your date of birth is 24/11/1953 and occupation is business.

Witness: My date of birth is wrong here.

Defence: Have you submitted any documents or papers related to your date of birth to the tribunal?

Witness: No.

Defence: You said in your statement that you voted at that time. But, I am saying you didn’t participate in any election then. You are telling lie.

Witness: I have told the truth, I voted.

Defence: Which village was on the north of Alobdi village?

Witness: On north side, there was a vast rice field. There is a village far on the north, around 5 km far after the rice field, but I can’t say the name of that village.

Defence: Which village was on the south?

Witness: Duaripara village and Botanical Garden.

Defence: Which village was on the east and how far in km?

Witness: Digun village, about 200 yard far from our village.

Defence: On the west?

Witness: There was a paddy field on the west and Savar Thana after the paddy field.

Defence: Which side of the Albdi village was straight?

Witness: It was straight on North-South.

Defence: What was the length of your village on North-South?

Witness: About 1.25 miles.

Defence: In which side was your home?

Witness: On the west, in the middle of the village.

Defence: Were there many houses on the north side of your house?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: How many brothers and sisters do you have?

Witness: We are 4 brothers and 3 sisters.

Defence: Were all the brothers alive then?

Witness: They were alive then and they are also alive now.

Defence: Who is the eldest of them?

Witness: I am the eldest.

Defence: Please tell your brother’s name by seniority?

Witness: Altaf Uddin Mollah, Nasir Uddin Mollah, Sharif Uddin Mollah.

Defence: Are all of them educated?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: How much junior is your immediate brother from you in years?

Witness: 12/13 years junior.

Defence: What is the educational qualification of Altaf Uddin Mollah?

Witness: He studied up to Class X.

Defence: Describing the death of your uncle Nabi Uddin Mollah did Altaf Uddin Mollah write any book about Liberation War on him?

Witness: I don’t know.

Defence: In which high school had you studied?

Witness: In Adarsha High School at Mirpur – 10.

Defence: In which year did you complete your study?

Witness: In 1972.

Defence: Accused Abdul Quader Mollah studied in which school or college, dont’t you know?

Witness: No, I don’t know.

Defence: From which direction did one enter in the Alobdi village from the main town/Dhaka?

Witness: From East side.

Defence: Wasn’t there any way from other 3 sides to enter the village?

Witness: There was a way by river from the west side.

Defence: Was the road, which was on the east, made of soil?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: There was no vehicle moved up to your village.

Witness: Yes.

Defence: You were not connected with any political party in 1970.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: You had a business as a grocer at that time.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: How many brothers did your father have?

Witness: They were five brothers – the eldest brother was my father, then Habibulla Mollah, nabiullah Mollah, Abdus Sobhan Mollah, [xxxx] , and Shirajul Mollah.

Defence: What did your father and other uncles do?

Witness: They all cultivated their lands.

Defence: What was the distance of the cultivable lands on the north side from your home?

Witness: It started from 300/400 yards away to five miles north.

Defence: You told about a bush under which you hid yourself. On which side of the cultivable lands was that?

Witness: On the north side of our village where the houses had been finished, a little far from those houses.

Defence: Inside the bush, where you had hidden yourself, from there nothing was visible except the southest home, am I correct?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: What was the depth of the hole where you hid yourself?

Witness: About 4 feet depth from the soil level.

Defence: What was your height at that time?

Witness: Same as today; may be a little more or less.

Defence: Whether the hole was natural or manmade?

Witness: Manmade.

Defence: How many people were cutting rice in the rice field spreading 5 miles in north side?

Prosecutor objected to such type of questions.

Witness: There were people, but I can’t say the exact number. ….. I haven’t understood your question. At the time of Fazr, no people were cutting rice, subsequently; all became busy with their own lives.

Defence: Much rice was pending to be cut in east side.

Witness: Rice was pending to be cut in all sides.

Defence: How high were the rice trees?

Witness: A person could hide himself standing within the rice trees.

Defence: Were such high trees on west side also?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: You didnt see anything from inside the bush as there were long rice trees on all sides?

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: Your uncle was killed by the Pakistani army inside your house and after that, he was burnt using bundles of dry grains.

Witness: My uncle was killed in line with the other people. No incident of burning his dead body with dry grains was happened.

Defence: How many members of your family were killed by Pakistani army?

Witness: Only my uncle.

Defence: Whose homes were situated surrounding your home?

Witness: There were the homes of Lalu on the north side, Razzak Master on the south side, Jinnat at east side, and [another] on west side.

Defence: Where was the home of Advocate Jahiruddin?

Witness: I don’t know. We were then students.

Defence: Whether Advocate Jahiruddin was Bengali or non-Bengali?

Witness: I can’t say.

Defence: Did Advocate Jahiruddin go to your village for election campaigning?

Witness: He went to our area, but because of bad condition of road, he didn’t go to our village.

Defence: Did you talk to him at that time?

Witness: I saw him, but didn’t talk.

Defence: Did you see him to talk to others?

Witness: As we were little, so didn’t note that.

Defence: Advocate Jahiruddin was non-Bengali.

Witness: I don’t know.

Defence: At that time, the non-Bengalies of Mirpur also canvassed in favor of him.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: Advocate Jahiruddin won the election of 1970 with numerous votes.

Witness: Yes.

Defence: Mirpur was not as populous as it is now.

Witness: Yes.

Defence: In Mirpur, the distance between houses was large and there were woods between them.

Witness: In west side of Mirpur, the distance between houses was huge and there were bushes between them.

Defence: The communication between the people of town areas was not a lot within Mirpur.

Witness: The communication occurred as per needs.

Defence: The communication of the people in the town areas with your village was also not very much

Witness: We came to town and the people of town went to our village as required

Defence: You told, there were low lands beside your village. How low were those lands?

Witness: I didn’t measure that. I can’t tell exactly.

Defence: There was no way of travelling except using boats in your village at the time of rainy days.

Witness: Yes.

Defence: The flood water existed for few months of the year. Then the rice fields went under water.

Witness: No rice was grown at the time of water. Boro rice was grown in dry season. Rice was grown once in a year.

Defence: Did you hear any speech of Advocate Jahiruddin regarding election campaign?

Witness: No.

Defence: Did Advocate Jahiruddin make any election campaign in or beside your village?

Witness: I can’t remember.

Defence: Were all members of your family inside the house on 24th April, 1971?

Witness: With my father and uncles we were inside the home.

Defence: Are you now connected with politics?

Witness: No.

Defence: Are your father or uncles now connected with politics?

Witness: Two of them are alive now, and they are not connected with politics.

Defence: Are your brothers now connected with politics?

Witness: One brother Altafuddin Molla may do BNP politics.

Defence: How many children has your uncle Nabiulla Molla?

Witness: 4 sons and 2 daughters.

Defence: Tell the names of his sons from seniority.

Witness: Andesh Ali Molla, Obaydul Molla, Ainulla Molla and Ajijulla Molla.

Defence: Are all of them alive?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: Are those four connected with politics?

Witness: No.

Defence: How many members of your family now are connected with politics?

Witness: Only my brother Altafuddin Molla.

Defence: How many members of your family were connected with politics in 1971?

Witness: Only I was the activist of Chhatra League. The remaining all only supported Awami League.

Defence: Have you submitted any documents in the Tribunal proving that you were the activist of Chhatra League at that time?

Witness: How can I submit after such a long time! Besides, our houses were burnt.

Defence: Were your houses burnt on 24/04/1971?

Witness: Along with our house, numerous houses of Alobdi village were burnt by the Pakistani army and their assistants on 24/4/1971.

Defence: Was there any funeral for your Uncle Nabiulla Molla’s dead body?

Witness: No.

Defence: Where did you stay after 24th April, 1971?

Witness: At Savar area. We stayed there till the liberation.

Defence: Did you stay in your sister’s home at Savar?

Witness: No.

Defence: In whose home did you stay at Savar?

Witness: At nobody’s home; we stayed at temporary rooms prepared by us in an open place.

Defence: What did you do at Savar at that time?

Witness: There was no work to do.

Defence: Where did the members of your adjacent homes stay?

Witness: In different places of Savar area.

Defence: Do you not know the name of Quader Mollah’s village?

Witness: I don’t know.

Defence: You didn’t know Quader Mollah in 1970/71.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: He never went to your village in 1970/71.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: Which areas constituted the election area of Advocate Jahiruddin from north side to south side?

Witness: I can’t say.

Defence: What was the number of voters in your area in 1970?

Witness: I can’t say.

Defence: How many polling centers were there?

Witness: I can’t say.

Defence: Now the feature of your village is completely different from that of 1970/71.

Witness: Yes, now it has turned into a town. There is the connection of electricity, gas and water.

Defence: Under which Union was your village in 1970/71?

Witness: In Harirampur Union; the Chairman was from our village.

Defence: Who was the Chairman of your area at that time?

Witness: Harun Molla. He is alive now.

Defence: Did only Armies use helicopter at that time?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: You lied when you said that your age was 19 in 1970. You were a minor then.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: You told a complete lie regarding hiding within the bush.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: Before this case, you were never connected with any politics.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: Was there anyone with you when Investigation Officer took your statement?

Witness: I was alone. Nobody was with me.

Defence: Who called you to thana?

Witness: Thana’s staff called me from home.

At this moment, the Defense Counsel rad out parts of his statement that he had given in the tribunal

Defence: You never told these which you’ve stated in your statement to the Investigation Officer.

Witness: I told these to the Investigation Officer.

Defence: Which you’ve stated in the Tribunal regarding the occurrences of Alobdi village, connecting Abdul Quader Mollah, those all are false and fictitious.

Witness: I told the truth.

Defence: Do you have any cousin named Ibrahim?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: Your brother Altafuddin Molla and Ibrahim flew flag of liberated Bangla on your home. So the Pak army burnt your house.

Witness: As they were minor then, they might fly flag. But that was not the only reason, because Pak army burnt many houses of the whole village.

Defence: Did you know Moti master (Motiur Rahman Dewan)?

Witness: Yes, I knew and also know him. He is alive now.

Defence: Was he within the village at that moment?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: Did you know Bihari Akhter Gunda of your area?

Witness: I knew his name.

Defence: Did Moti master watch the incidents of genocide or conflagration of your village?

Witness: I can’t say.

Defence: There is a copy of a book named “Muktijuddhe Mirpur”, ‘dedicated to the remembrance of martyr of great Liberation War- my uncle Nobiulla Molla.’ The name of the writer is Altafuddin Molla. Is he your brother?

Witness: This is my brother’s name.

Defence: You have read this book.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: Do you, your brother Altaf Molla and all of your family members know Moti master?

Witness: Yes, as we are the resident of same village, all knows one another.

Defence: Moti master helped your brother to write this book.

Witness: I don’t know.

Defence: As there is no mention in this book about the connection of Quader Molla with the above mentioned incidences, so you are pretending to not read the book.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: Have you submitted any documents or papers related to your name in the voter list of 1970 to the tribunal or to the Investigation Officer?

Witness: No.

Defence: You didn’t ever know Quader Molla in 1970/71.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: You didn’t see the people of your village or the people cutting rice gathered by the Pak army.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: On which side the people were gathered?

Witness: On north side, where the rice had been gathered.

Defence: There was no force (Bahini) of Quader Molla at that time.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: He was not present there taking rifle and also didn’t talk with the Pak army.

Witness: He was present and also talked with Pak army.

Defence: What do you do now?

Witness: Now I am joined with business of Eastern Housing.

Defence: Did you not maintain any diary regarding your activities from 1970 to present?

Witness: No.

Defence: Tell your date of birth.

Witness: 24/11/1953 as stated in National ID card.

Defence: You are giving false witness by taking oath in this learned Tribunal.

Witness: This is not true.

Defence: How many children do you have?

Witness: I have 3 sons.

Defence: What is the date of your marriage?

Witness: Cant remember

Defence: Can you remember the dates of birth of your children?

Witness: I can’t say.

Defence: What does Altafuddin Molla do now?

Witness: He does politics. What anything else does, that he can say, I can’t say.

Defence: Do you and Altaf Molla live in same house?

Witness: No.

The Tribunal ordered that a copy of the book mentioned and the date of publication to be submitted.

The next date was fixed on 06/8/2012.