Freedom fighter Jashim's sister feels 'stone lifted off her chest' as killer Quasem hangs

Freedom fighter Jashim Uddin Ahmed's sister Hasina Khatun has expressed relief at the execution of war criminal Mir Quasem Ali.

Mir Quasem went to the gallows for crimes he committed as an Al badr Commander during the Liberation War.

The torture and murder of the young freedom fighter Jashim was one of the charges that led Quasem to the gallows on Saturday night at 10:30pm.

Expressing her immediate reaction to the execution of the war criminal who was responsible for the death of her cousin Jashim, she toldbdnews24.com, "I do not have my own brother. Jashim, the son of my paternal aunt, was my only brother. The very day I heard that he had died after being tortured at Dalim Hotel, I wanted that the perpetrator of the act must hang."

She said that Jashim was just 18 at the time and the family stayed at Sandwip. He was actively involved in the freedom struggle.

She recalled that Jashim had come calling a day after Eid-ul-Fitr in November 1971 and had expressed his desire to relish some pulao.

Hasina heeded her cousin's request. When he stepped out of their house that day, he was picked up by the pro-Pakistan Al-Badr militia.

Charge No. 11 brought against Mir Quasem, alias ‘Khan Saheb’ of Dalim Hotel, by the prosecution alleged that he had ordered the killing of the teenaged freedom fighter on Nov 8, 1971, after having him abducted.

The young fighter’s body along with those of five other unknown dead was thrown into the Karnaphuli River.

Jashim was detained at the notorious Dalim Hotel, which has become a metaphor for the atrocities committed by Al-Badr during the Liberation War.

"They had detained Jashim in Dalim Hotel and unleashed inhuman torture on him. One day he wanted some water after a round of gruelling torture, but they did not give him even that," Hasina Khatun said.

Another detainee, Advocate Shafiul Alam, told the family later that he had given Jashim water in which hands had been rinsed for drinking.

Shafiul and several others were freed from Dalim Hotel after Bangladesh was liberated. He was then able to tell the family about the torture Jashim had suffered, Hasina remembered.

Saying 'the terror of Chittagong' Mir Quasem is still a 'powerful man', she said that he had managed to buy much time through reviews and petitions with his wealth. "None of the others (war criminals) have been able to do that."

Quasem's party the Jamaat-e-Islami has been an ally of the BNP since the early 2000s.

"I could not even imagine that he would receive this punishment one day", she said, remembering the time when Quasem went on to become a ruling alliance partner.

Expressing satisfaction that Mir Quasem had finally been hanged, Hasina said, "A great weight has been lifted from my chest. I am relieved. I am happy that justice has been delivered."

Hasina Khatun was a witness in the case against Quasem during the war crimes trial.