Abdul Kader Mollah

Abdul Kader Molla was known as a "butcher" to the Bengalis in Mirpur area (outskirts of Dhaka city) during 1971. Mirpur at the time was mainly populated by Behari (non Bengali) Muslim migrants from India, who were among the most ardent supporters of the Pakistani occupation of Bangladesh.

One of the largest mass graves of people butchered by Pakistani troops and their allies was discovered in the Shialbari area of Mirpur after independence. According to the locals of Mirpur area Molla was instrumental to the the killing of thousands of Bengalis in Shialbari and Rupnagar areas of Mirpur during the war. Many of them confirmed that Molla began his killing spree even before the army had began its operation.

On March 6, a public meeting was arranged in front of the gate of Ceramic Industry at Section 6 in Mirpur, to press for demands of the Bengali people. As the people raised the nationalist slogan Joy Bangla (Victory to Bengal), narrated M Shahidur Rahman who was present at the meeting, Kader Molla and his gang attacked the meeting with swords, machetes and other sharp weapons, injuring many.

According to M Firoze Ali, a resident of Block B at Section I in Mirpur, Kader Mollah was behind the killing of his brother Pallab Tuntuni, an 18-year old student. Young Tuntuni was an active supporter of the nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and that was why his name was penciled into Molla's hit list. On March 29, Molla's hit men kidnapped Tuntuni from another part of the city and took him to Mirpur. The boy was then dragged from one part of Mirpur to another, and back again, with his hands tied behind his back. At a big play ground used usually for major religious congregations, Tuntuni was tied to a tree and left for two days. Later, Molla's men returned and chopped off the boy's fingers. On April 5, a week after being kidnapped, Molla ordered his men to shoot Tuntuni dead. The boy's dead body was left dangling from the tree for another two days as a warning to others in the area, before being thrown in a mass grave with seven other bodies, Feroze Ali said.

Another eyewitness to Molla's criminal activities in 1971 was M Shahidur Rahman Chowdhury. He said that Razakarmen under the command of Kader Molla brutally murdered woman poet Meherunnessa in October at Section 6 of Mirpur. He said one Shiraj, who lived in the poet's home, lost mental balance at the sight of the murder. Shiraj still suffers from psychological disorder, Chowdhury said.

There are also allegations from the inhabitants' of Mirpur area that Molla organized local non-Bengali people of Manipur, Sheorapara, Kazipara areas of Mirpur into armed groups under his own command. With those (Behari) armed bands, Molla organized killings of thousands of Bengalis at various killing fields of Mirpur.

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Courtesy : Muktodhara