My husband was killed in my presence in \\\'71:PW

Sharply reacting to a defence suggestion, a prosecution witness, also a Liberation War widow, said that her martyred husband was killed in her presence in 1971, reports UNB.

"Why should I resort to lie?" retorted PW-7 Jahanara Begum amid sobbing before the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2.

Mizanul Islam, the defence counsel for detained accused Maulana Abdus Sobhan, a Jamaat-e-Islami stalwart, instantly put his objection urging to delete the wordings as the PW's additional statement was driven by emotion after replying to the defence suggestion.

Turning down the defence objection, the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan, kept the PW's statement intact in the trial proceedings saying: "The PW's statement is allowed with defence objection."

Earlier, replying to a defence suggestion, PW Jahanara Begum said:

"It's not true that I made false and tutored evidence against Maulana Sobhan under the pressure of local Awami League leaders."

On May 22, during her testimony, the PW told the tribunal that on May 2, 1971, the Pakistan occupation army at the behest of Maulana Sobhan of Pabna had killed my husband, Rajab Ali Biswas, an activist of the country's freedom struggle, along with his friend, Shamsul Huq."