Jamal's family trashes Shahid's statement
Talks with Babar for justice
Staff Correspondent, Ctg
The family members of abducted Chittagong business magnate and district BNP leader Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday talked with State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar and sought his cooperation for justice. They also talked with Haris Chowdhury, political advisor to the prime minister, on Sunday night and informed him about their grievances. They dismissed the statement of Shahid Chairman, prime suspect in the abduction, made before the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and journalists after his arrest, terming it 'confusing' and 'misleading'. Shahid said Jamal Uddin was killed about a month after his abduction on July 24, 2003 and gave some more information. Jamal Uddin's eldest son, Chowdhury Forman Reza Liton, and wife, Nazma Akhtar, telephoned the state minister at around 1:00pm yesterday from their Chandgaon residence and talked with him for about half an hour. "We told the minister that prime suspect Shahid disclosed the names of lawmaker Sarwar Jamal Nizam and his brother Maruf Nizam as masterminds behind our father's kidnapping but the minister disagreed on this," Liton told journalists after the telephone conversation. He went on, "The minister said Awami League leader Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu's name came up in Shahid's statement. But we strongly objected to this and told him we didn't have any enmity or feud with the AL leader and that any indication involving him is intended to divert attention from the case." Nazma Akhtar said, "We sought his (state minister) help to find out the culprits and told him that we won't get justice unless he takes up the matter sincerely. The minister assured us of proper investigation and justice." Earlier on Sunday night, Lition and his mother talked over the phone with Haris Chowdhury about the latest development in the case. "He (Haris) also assured us that we would get justice, and the culprits would be given exemplary punishment," Liton told journalists. Liton, his mother Nazma Akhtar and grandmother Almas Khatun, who brushed aside Shahid Chairman's statement about Jamal Uddin's 'killing', demanded that his body be produced if he was murdered. "Most of Shahid Chairman's remarks are misleading and devoid of truth. And we suspect that he (Shahid) made the statement as part of a plot to save the lawmaker (Sarwar) and his brother," Liton said.
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