Momen urges US, UK to send back killers of intellectuals

Foreign Minister DR AK Abdul Momen today urged the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) to repatriate two identified war criminals who were convicted for killing intellectuals in 1971.

"We want that the US and the UK will send back those two killers in Bangladesh to face justice," he said while speaking at a seminar titled "Energising Bangladesh's Youth Workforce for Global Success" at North South University. 

The foreign minister said the government's effort has been continuing to bring back convicted war criminals Chowdhury Mueen Uddin from the UK and Ashrafuzzaman Khan from the US.

"They (killers) became leaders on Islamic institutes there (in US and UK) but they are killers," Momen said.

 The foreign minister urged the media to make a special episode on those two killers to make local people know that killers are living in their neighbourhood freely. 

Just two days ahead of the country's cherished victory, 52 years ago on December 14, the occupation Pakistan army in collusion with their local collaborators -- Al-Badr, Al-Shams and Razakars - butchered the most prominent intellectuals of the country in a bid to cripple the newly emerging nation-Bangladesh.

"In my knowledge, such kind of brutality (killing of intellectuals) was never seen anywhere in this world," Momen said. 

Mueen and Ashraf were sentenced to death after the Special War Crimes Tribunal found them guilty of abducting and murdering 18 intellectuals including nine university teachers, six journalists and three doctors in December of 1971.

Immediately after December 16, 1971, when Bangladesh achieved victory in the war, Mueen, a leader of the infamous Al-Badr Bahini, fled Bangladesh and emerged as a leader of the Muslim community in the UK.

After his conviction, Bangladesh requested the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) to issue a red notice to arrest Mueen.

Ashrafuzzaman was a leader of the then Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha and then became a commander of the Al-Badr, a death squad formed by Jamaat with Pakistani army's help to cleanse Bangladesh of its intelligentsia in 1971.

As Al-Badr commander, he not only helped in the abduction and massacre of the intellectuals but himself shot seven professors of Dhaka University in the killing ground of Mirpur.