 In 1971 a few days before 16 December, he was picked up from his university flat by Pakistan Army and its collaborators (the Al-Badr militia led by Matiur Rahman Nizami), and taken to Mirpur, where he along with other intellectuals was executed.His dead body was recovered later and buried in the compound of the Dhaka University Central mosque.On 3 November 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal - a special Bangladeshi court set up by the government - sentenced Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuz Zaman Khan to death after the tribunal found them guilty in absentia of torture and murder of 18 intellectuals including Anwar Pasha during 1971 Liberation war of Bangladesh.