The special tribunal on the Chittagong arms haul cases has pointed to the direct involvement of the then ministers and top military and civil officials.
As per the full text of the sensational verdict released on Tuesday, the role of the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the incident was termed ‘mysterious.’
Four days after pronouncing the verdict, Judge S.M. Mojibur Rahman of the Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Court and Special Tribunal-1 released the full text of the 500-plus page judgment of the two cases.
The judge said the then DGFI chief Maj. Gen. (retd.) Sadiq Hasan Rumi had informed the former Prime Minister about the situation. She did not react but said she was aware of the event.
On January 30, the tribunal sentenced Indian separatist leader Paresh Barua along with 13 others including two former ministers and top officials of the DGFI and NSI to death.
It also said that the arms and ammunition had been smuggled to reinforce the Indian north-east separatist group ULFA.
According to the full texts, the smuggling of such a huge volume of weapons and ammunition was not possible without government support. “… They [the intelligence officials] were involved in the conspiracy to destroy the entire nation by putting the country’s existence at stake,” said the judge.
The tribunal handed down death penalty to the then ministers Motiur Rahman Nizami, the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, and Lutfozzaman Babar, the high profile state minister for home affairs, in the case.
