By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka
Bangladesh yesterday set up a monitoring cell to capture fugitive convicts and under trial accused in the cases of war crimes during the War of Liberation in 1971.
The cell was set up in line with the May 13 order of the three-member International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) headed by Justice M Enayetur Rahim.
The tribunal in the order asked the government to set up a monitoring cell in 15 days and a report to this effect filed with the ICT, tribunal sources said yesterday.
It also ordered the home secretary and inspector general of police (IGP) to include one each member from Special Branch (SB), Detective Branch (DB), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and from the investigation agency of the tribunal in the cell.
The tribunal also asked the government to appoint a person not less than the status of deputy inspector general (DIG) as head of the body.
The monitoring cell has been asked to submit a progress report on fugitive accused with an interval of 40 days.
The order for constituting a monitoring cell came when a government monitory cell established to serve almost similar purpose remained dysfunctional since its formation in February last year. The eight-member cell held only one meeting in last 15 months without
any visible achievement.
The tribunal observed that despite armed with arrest and conviction warrants, the law enforcement agencies repeatedly failed to arrest the accused and convicts.
The court mentioned eight cases, including that of Abdul Jabbar, Zahid Hossain Khokon, Syed Hasan Ali and Nasir Uddin Ahmed, which showed little success in bring the accused to justice.
Law enforcers have arrested only one of the eight accused.