Bangladesh arrests former NSI boss with links to 1971 war crimes

Former National Security Intelligence or NSI director general Muhammad Wahidul Haque has been arrested on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the War of Independence from Pakistan.

The police detained him from his Baridhara home in Dhaka on Tuesday after the International Crimes Tribunal or ICT had ordered his arrest, said ICT Investigator Motiur Rahman.

Wahidul Haque will be produced before the tribunal on Wednesday.

A two-strong tribunal headed by Justice Amir Hossain issued the arrest warrant in response to an appeal from the prosecution, ICT Prosecutor Tureen Afroz told bdnews24.com.

Wahidul was serving in the Pakistan Army during the 1971 war. He joined Bangladesh Police after returning home in December 1974. In the 1990s, he joined the NSI and later served the Department of Immigration and Passports as its director general.

Tureen said Wahidul is accused of killing innocent people in the Rangpur Cantonment in 1971. “We are investigating his alleged involvement in the war crimes.”

The prosecutor said they were bringing the charges against Wahidul for him being a member of the Pakistan Army. 

She said they started initial investigations after receiving the allegation against Wahidul filed on Dec 5, 2016.

They needed to get Wahidul arrested because he was a “very influential person and trying to influence the investigation”, Tureen added.

The former NSI boss is accused of killing 500 to 600 innocent Bengali and Santal people using a machine gun at the Rangpur Cantonment on Mar 28, 1971, two days after the proclamation of Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan.

Investigator Motiur said Wahidul, hailing from Madaripur, was commissioned in the Pakistan Army’s 11th Cavalry regiment on Oct 16, 1966, and got transferred to the 29th Cavalry later.

The 29th Cavalry was relocated to the Rangpur Cantonment in March 1970. Wahidul worked there as an adjutant until Mar 30, 1971, according to the case dossier.

He was transferred to West Pakistan later in the same year and stayed there until December 1973.

Wahidul returned to Bangladesh in December the next year and was appointed to the Bangladesh Police on Oct 1, 1976.

During Ziaur Rahman’s regime, Wahidul had worked as an assistant superintendent of police in Cumilla until 1977. He was transferred to Chattogram as an additional SP the following year and became the SP of Noakhali in 1982.

The former Pakistan Army official worked as an additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police from 1984 to 1987 and deputy inspector general for Chattogram Range in 1988 before becoming the commissioner of Chattogram Metropolitan Police.

He was transferred to the NSI later. He worked there as a director until 1996 before becoming the acting chief.

He served as the director general of the passport department from 1997 to 2002. Later, he worked as an additional IG of police until 2005.