Two suspected 1971 'war criminals' arrested in Bangladesh

Two alleged 1971 "war criminals" were arrested and remanded to police custody on Saturday in Bangladesh, a month after the new parliament passed a resolution to try the Bengali-speaking collaborators of Pakistani troops during the country's liberation war. In the first such case in over three decades, a court in northwestern Rajshahi allowed two men, suspected to be 1971 "war criminals" to be remanded to police custody for interrogation following their arrest. Daud Hossain, 70, and Nur-e Anwar, 65, were arrested from their village homes at Mohonpur sub-district on charges of killing 15 people during the Liberation War, after a case was filed by the son of one of the '1971 martyrs'. "It is the first instance in the country where alleged war criminals have been arrested in a regular case," Rajshahi district police chief Shahabuddin Khan told newsmen. Police said Hossain was an activist of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami that opposed the country's independence, while Anwar was a worker of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Seventeen others are also charged in the case after the complainant Merajul Sheikh said the accused were collaborators of Pakistani troops and indulged in robbery, murder, arson and rape at Modanhati and nearby villages during the war.

Al-Badar

Al-Badar was a paramilitary force formed in Bangladesh in 1971 by the Pakistan army. On 1971-03-25, after beginning the Bangladesh Liberation War, Pakistani military forces required military support from Bengali supporters who still wants to live with Pakistan, or don't like indian interaction in the movement; as well as the non-Bengali muhajirs in order to abolish the independence fighters of Bangladesh, the Mukti Bahini, Hemayet Bahini and Kaderia Bahini. The Al Badar were formed to detect these independence fighters and to have guides as well as co-fighters who were familiar with the local terrain.

The force was composed of madrasa students-teachers, Bengali supporters of Muslim League and Jamaat E Islami, and muhajirs coming from non-Bengali part of India.

There were three type of Paramilitry forces Pakistan formed,
1. Razakars: refuges who were came from other parts of india during sepration of India and Pakistan, and setteled in East Pakistan.
2. Al-Badar: Bengali Muslim Students from Colleges, universities and madrasah, who were loyal to Jamat-e-islami.
3. Al-Shams: Bengali Madrasah Students, teachers & supporters of islamic parties other than Jamat-E-Islami (these smaller parties included Nejam-e-Islami and various factions of Muslim League).

Al-Badar was very organized para military force among those three forces, they had their own hirarchy of organization & reporting system. The Al Badar were assigned a variety of combat and non-combat tasks including:
# Taking part in the operations
# Spying against Muktibahini
# Interrogation
# Working as the guides of the regular army
# Assassination
# Detecting and killing Mukti Bahni Soildiers
# Providing supply line to front army .