fact that Chittagong and the road to Chandraghona had been suitably decorated for the presidential motorcade: but no motorcade had passed that route.
Sometime in the last week of December a barrister colleague of mine, Amirul Islam reported that he had interviewed a client in jail who complained of having been subjected to severe torture and bore marks of torture on his person. He said that while subjected to torture he was pressed to implicate persons in a conspiracy case Amirul Islam was very worried and sought advice as to what he should do. It was suggested to him that steps should be taken immediately to bring this to the attention of the High court and press for a medical board to examine the person. The same evening a petition was prepared to the High court alleging torture and asking for a medical board to examine the victim. The petition created great interest, and the court was persuaded to constitute a medical board. The person in question was Kamaluddin Ahmad, who later was to be approver No. ‘1 in the Agartala Conspiracy Case’.
A few days later a series of arrests started. Ahmed Fazlur Rahman, Ruhul Quddus, Shamsur Rahman, all senior Bengali members of the Pakistan civil service and a number of Bengali armed forces personnel were arrested. Ahmed Fazlur Rahman was the first of the Agartala Conspiracy case accused to seek a lawyers interview, and named me as his lawyer. I met him in jail at the end of the last week of December 1967 or the first week of January 1968. He reported that immediately after his arrest he had been taken to a flat in the new residential arca of Bonani in Dacca, where he was continuously interrogated of several days. The interrogators wanted him to implicate persons in a conspiracy case. While these arrests continued the atmosphere continued to grow tense. Indeed even lawyers acting for the arrested persons felt vulnerable to arrest. A habeas corpus application was moved for Ahmed Fazlur Rahman. The same day Barrister K.Z. Alam approached me to move an application on behalf of Lieutenant Commander Moazzem. He was advised that different lawyers should appear for each of the arrested persons as a common legal front would tend to show links between these person, an impression which should be avoided in a conspiracy case. Ishtiaq Ahmed had then taken up Lieutenant Commander Moazzems case. Kamaluddin Hossain, Ruhul Quddus brother-in-law, had taken up the petition for Ruhul Quddus. When the petition was moved in the high court, the government lawyers appeared and stated that some investigations were proceeding against these persons. The first of the Government press reports issued in carly January did not name Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as an accused. It was the official press release on January 20, which for the first time named Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the principal accused.
For the next five months the entire case was covered by a blanket of secrecy. No information was given about the location of the accused who had by then been shifted from jail and placed in military custody. An Ordinance was promulgated to provide for trial by a Special Tribunal. The special tribunal consisted of S.A. Rahman Judge of the Supreme Court, and two Bengali High Court Judges. MR. Khan and Maksumul Hakim. The trial seemed political from the very beginning. The main evidence presented was the testimony of approvers who, when produced at the trial, alleged torture and tended to turn into hostile witnesses.
