SQ Chy arrested

BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury has been arrested a day after permission was sought from the International Crimes Tribunal on war crimes charges. UPDATES 3

Dhaka, Dec 16 (bdnews24.com)—BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury has been arrested a day after permission was sought from the International Crimes Tribunal on war crimes charges.

A team of RAB and Detective Branch of police arrested him from a Banani house around 4:30am on Thursday, officials of the law enforcing agencies told bdnews24.com.

But they did not confirm on which charges he was arrested.

Director general of the elite force RAB Mokhlesur Rahman confirmed his arrest by DB police.

DB's Dhaka metropolitan sub-inspector Mahbubur Rahman also confirmed the arrest.

Chowdhury, a BNP standing committee member, was first taken to Cantonment Police Station and then to the DB headquarters at Minto Road.

His son Faiaz Quader Chowdhury told bdnews24.com: "We've heard that father fell ill following the arrest. Then he was taken to PG hospital (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University) and later to the DB office."

Another son of the senior BNP leader, Humam Quader Chowdhury, told reporters that no legal procedures had been maintained in that arrest.

"If there are any specific charges, show us his (Salahuddin) arrest warrant," he said.

BNP secretary general Khandker Delwar Hossain deplored the arrest.

After placing floral wreath at the grave of Ziaur Rahman in the capital's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, he said, Salahuddin Quader had been arrested despite an appeal in this regard was pending at the International Crimes Tribunal.

The investigation agency, on having much evidence of alleged war crimes against the BNP leader, on Wednesday submitted an appeal to registrar Shahinur Islam seeking his arrest.

Hearing on the appeal will be held on Sunday.

Awami League advisory council member, Suranjit Sengupta, after paying tributes to the liberation war martyrs at the National Memorial, said, "Salahuddin Quader's current post is not considerable in this case. He has been arrested basing on whether he had set fire and commited murders during the liberation war in 1971."

The police will later clarify the grounds of his arrest, he said.

Tofael Ahmed, another advisory council member of the ruling party, said, "War criminals like Salahuddin Quader should have been arrested earlier. All [war crime suspects] will be arrested one by one."

A team of the tribunal, led by chief prosecutor Ghulam Arif Tipu, visited Rauzan in Chittagong on Sep 24 to investigate war crime allegations against Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury.

The tribunal talked to freedom fighters and other pro-liberation people of the port city for information.

Law enforcers in the early hours of Wednesday raided the war suspect's Dhanmondi house. Chowdhury was, however, not there at his residence during the raid.

Currently, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, executive committee member Delwar Hossain Sayedee, assistant secretary general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla are behind the bars as they are facing various war crime charges.

In Chittagong, Prafulla Chandra Singha brought accusations against Chowdhury of killing his father Nutan Chandra Singha, owner of Kundeshwari (a herbal medicine factory), during the liberation war.

The family of Nutan provided the investigation team with information of the day he was killed at his home at Gahira of Rauzan on Sept 24, 1971.

Prafulla told the team that Chowdhury had brought Pakistani army personnel to their house on Apr 13, 1971. Later on that very day, the Pak forces dragged Nutan from the house's temple and killed him brutally.

The tribunal members said people were testifying against the BNP leader.

However, the senior BNP leader, son of Muslim League leader Fazlul Quader, rejecting the allegations against him, has been questioning the credibility and jurisdiction of the tribunal itself.

Tribunal prosecutor Zeyad Al Malum, one of the seven-member team, on Sep 25 said: "We've got information about the involvement of Fazlul Quader Chowdhury's family, his son Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat leader Mir Kashem Ali with war crimes."

Asked if Salahuddin Quader and Mir Kashem will be arrested, he told bdnews24.com: "The measures against them will be similar to what the five others faced."

He was speaking to bdnews24.com and several private television channels at Chittagong Circuit House after a press conference.

After visiting the house of Nutan, the tribunal investigators went to the Jagatmallaparha and Unasatturparha execution grounds. Local members of Razakar force and Pakistani army, on Apr 13, 1971, killed 35 pro-liberation people, seven from one family, at Jagatmallaparha. On the same day around 5pm, 69 Hindus at Unasatturparha were killed.

The tribunal team also took testimonies of the eye-witnesses.

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