A court in Bangladesh on Monday ordered an investigation into allegations that a former minister ordered the killing of freedom fighters during the country's 1971 independence war with Pakistan.
Matiur Rahman Nizami is among 13 people facing police investigation after a murder case was filed against them. Magistrate Ashiqul Khabir said: "They are accused of killing many freedom fighters and setting fire to villages." He added that the killings allegedly took place on November 25, 1971, at Keraniganj, close to the capital Colombo.
Nizami, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Islamic party in Bangladesh, was industries minister in a coalition government that held power until October 2006. Mozzaffar Ahmed Khan, who filed the case, told reporters the murdered freedom fighters named in the case included two of his nephews and three other men known to him.
Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation in 1971 after a bloody nine-month war in which an unknown number of people died at the hands of the Pakistan army.
In January 1972, Bangladesh named members of paramilitary groups formed by the Pakistan government and other Bangladeshi nationals who supported Pakistan during the struggle as collaborators.
War veterans over recent months have called on the country's emergency government to try so-called "war criminals" accused of collaborating with the Pakistanis. The current military-backed government took over on January 12, 2006, after a political crisis over vote-rigging allegations, which led to the cancellation of national polls. It has pledged to clean up the country's notoriously corrupt politics before holding rescheduled elections by the end of 2008.
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