Ashrafuzzaman Khan

One of the chief al-Badr  (death squads) executioners during the liberation war. Ashrafuzzaman was the cleaner mainly in Dhaka city. It has been proved that Ashrafuzzaman himself shot to death seven academics of Dhaka university in the killing zones at Mirpur. A certain Mofizzuddin, who drove the vehicle that carried those hapless victims to Mirpur, has clearly identified Ashrafuzzaman as the "chief executer" of the intellectuals. 

After Liberation, Ashrafuzzaman's personal diary was recovered from his residence, 350 Nakhal Para, Dhaka. On two pages in his diary were listed names and residential addresses of nineteen academics and the medical officer of Dhaka University. Out of those twenty enlisted people, eight were missing on December 14: Munier Chowdhury (Bengali), Dr. Abul Khair (History), Ghiasuddin Ahmed (History), Rashidul Hasan (English), Dr. Faizul Mohi (IE R)  and Dr. Murtaza (Medical Officer). 

Mofizuddin confessed that Ashrafuzzaman himself shot all of them. As per Mofizuddin's description, the decomposed bodies of those unfortunate academics were recovered from the swamps of Rayer Bazar and the mass grave at Shiyal Bari in Mirpur, Dhaka. There were also other names in the diary including Dr. Wakil Ahmed (Bengali), Dr. Nilima Ibrahim (Bengali), Dr. Latif (IE R), Dr. Maniruzzaman (Geography), K M Saaduddin (Sociology), AMM Shahidullah (Math), Dr. Sirajul Islam (Islamic History), Dr. Akhtar Ahmed (Education), Zahirul Huq (Psychology), Ahsanul Huq (English), Serajul Islam Chowdbury (English), and Kabir Chowdhury (English). 

Another page of his diary recorded the names of sixteen collaborating teachers of Dhaka university. Apart from that there were also names of Chowdbury Moinuddin, the chief of operation for killing the Bengali intellectuals,  and Shawkat Imran, a member of the central al-Badr command, and the head of Dhaka al-Badr forces. 

The diary also contained names and addresses of several other prominent Bengalis. All of them lost their lives in the hands of  al-Badr forces. On a small piece of paper the name of the member finance of the Pakistan Jute Board, Abdul Khaleq, was written down. On December 9, 1971, the al-Badr forces kidnapped Mr. Khaleq from his office. They demanded Tk 10,000 as ransom. They saw Mrs. Khaleq for ransom money. But at that time she was unable to pay the kidnappers more than tk 450. She promised that she would give them the rest of the money later, and begged them her husband's life. But Mr. Khaleq never came back. 

Ashrafuzzaman has also been implicated in the murder of some journalists. It was Ashrafuzzaman who kidnapped the shift-in- charge of the Purbadesh, and the literary editor, Mr. Golam Mustafa. 

Ashrafuzzaman Khan, was a member of the Central Committee of the Islami Chhatra Sangha (the student front of Jamat-e-Islam). After liberation he went to Pakistan and worked for Radio Pakistan. Recently Ashrafuzzaman has moved to New York and presently heads the Queens branch of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).

Currently (2005) Ashrafuzzaman is the vice president of ICNA.