Bangladesh moves to revoke plots awarded to four 1971 war criminals

The housing and public works ministry has detected that RAJUK plots had been given to as many as four 1971 war criminals and has begun the process to cancel the allotment.

The four war criminals who have bagged the flats are Jamaat-e-Islami’s Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahasan Mohammad Mujahid, Delwar Hossain Sayedee and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman.

Nizami, Mujahid and Kamaruzzaman have been executed, while Sayedee is serving life in jail.

Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain on Thursday told bdnews24.com, “We have had information about four war criminals who have obtained these plots. We have ordered their cancellation.”

Nizami was the chief of the Jamaat when it joined the BNP-led coalition government, Mujahid was secretary general and Kamaruzzaman was assistant secretary general.

Sayedee is still the Nayeb-e-Amir of the Jamaat, which opposed Bangladesh’s liberation from Pakistan in 1971.

The International Crimes Tribunal in several of its verdicts had branded the party a ‘criminal organisation’ for participating in various war crimes at an organisational level.

Although investigations have begun into these crimes committed by the Jamaat, no coercive action has been possible due to the absence of a vital amendment.

Reports of the government bringing in the proposed amendments had done the rounds many times in the past, but concrete measures are yet to be taken.

A bdnews24.com investigation has found a building under the name of another executed war criminal, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, in a plot in the public works ministry’s Dhanmondi residential area project in Dhaka.

However, it could not be verified if the BNP leader had obtained the flat through government allotment or bought it from someone else.

Minister Mosharraf said he was not aware of it. “I will look into it. If it was allotted by the government, steps will be taken.”

He said war criminals could not be allowed to enjoy government-allotted plots.

M Bazlul Karim, Chairman of RAJUK, which had allotted the plots to Nizami, Mujahid and Sayedee, said they had received the ministry order to cancel the allotments. “We’ve initiated the process.”

The National Housing Authority had allotted the plot to Kamaruzzaman.

A top official of RAJUK’s Estate Department told bdnews24.com that a building hadalready been erected on the plot in Mujahid’s name in Uttara Sector No. 11.

But the city development agency would take appropriate action now as per law, said the official, on condition of anonymity.

The official said Sayedee had not paid a single instalment in 10 years on his Purbachal housing project land allotted to him.

Nizami had constructed a building on the Banani plot in his name by a developer but he had not obtained the mandatory permission from RAJUK.