Sherpur freedom fighters back off from war criminal Kamaruzzaman burial ban call

Freedom fighters in Sherpur say they will take out victory marches after Mohammad Kamaruzzaman is hanged, withdrawing the demand against allowing him to be buried in the district.

They were in a meeting with Sherpur Deputy Commissioner Zakir Hossain on
Saturday evening, where Superintendent of Police Mehedi Karim was also present.

“They lifted the ultimatum against Kamaruzzman’s funeral and burial after the meeting,” DC Hossain told bdnews24.com.

The senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader, a former Al-Badr commander, is facing death for crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War.

He was born at Sajbarkhila village in Sherpur district on July 4, 1952.

File Photo

He was visited by members of his family at Dhaka Central Jail on Saturday afternoon, in what appeared as the last meeting before his execution.

Sherpur Zila Muktijoddha Sangsad had earlier handed a memorandum to the deputy commissioner against allowing Kamaruzzaman’s burial in the district.

“But now we’ll hold victory processions after he is hanged,” said its unit commander Abu Saleh Nurul Islam, also brother to Kamaruzzaman’s wife Nurunnahar.

Security has been beefed up at Sherpur over the pending execution.

RAB personnel have been deployed as well as two Bangladesh Border Guard platoons, said DC Hossain.

Kamaruzzaman’s family members in Sherpur have been preparing his grave near the ‘Kumri Bajitkhila’ orphanage he built at Sherpur Sadar.

The family chose the location as per Kamaruzzaman’s last wish, said his eldest brother Kafil Uddin.

The International Crimes Tribunal on May 9, 2013 sentenced the Al-Badr commander from Mymensingh to death for atrocities committed during the 1971 Liberation War.