Al Jazeera English - News - Bangladesh 'War Crimes' List Out

Al Jazeera English - News - Bangladesh 'War Crimes' List Out

Al Jazeera English - News - Bangladesh's Long Wait For Justice

Al Jazeera English - News - Bangladesh's Long Wait For Justice

NEWS CENTRAL/S. ASIA

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Bangladesh's long wait for justice By Tony Birtley in Dhaka

Bangladeshi authorities claim that three million people were killed, while a Pakistani government investigation put the figure as low as 26,000 civilian casualties He stood rigid like he had seen a ghost which he probably had. His face was expressionless, devoid of emotion, belying the inner turmoil that Tapan Kumar Das was obviously wrestling with. We stood at culvert number 337, one kilometre down the tracks from Saidpur railway station, a small Bangladesh town close to the Indian border. It was the first time 62-year-old Kumar Das had stood here since that day, June 13, 1971. Within a few minutes it all came flooding back to him. And the story he told me made me understand why he had never come back since. During the war of Liberation with Pakistan he was rounded up along with another 430 men women and children, all of them Hindus. Their captors were fellow Bengalis, but Muslim supporters of Pakistan who were fighting against secession. The train slowed to a halt, he told me, and then Hindus were brought out of the carriages. "Men with swords and knives were waiting," he said. "And they were crying 'help me help me, save me save me, oh god save me' but no one there, no one there. They killed us one by one. Only 21 people, 21 young men we jump from the train and narrowly escaped." Das said that Pakistani soldiers were waiting on the other side and opened fire as he and the 20 young men ran. Family lost He has never forgotten what happened, forgiven those who did it, nor travelled on a train since. "Some things that happened are reminiscent of the Holocaust. This is a never ending list of atrocities, violence beyond imagination" Dr M.A Hasan, War Crimes Fact Finding Commission Das says he lost 13 members of his family that day including his father, elder brother, uncle and cousins, cut down by swords and bullets in a preplanned execution. His story is but a small part of a greater picture of horror that happened during nine bloody months as the war of liberation was won with the help of India and the nation of Bangladesh came into being. But it came at a terrible cost. According to Bangladeshi activists up to three million people were killed by Pakistan and its local allies. Pakistan denies the allegations and claims just 25,000 people were killed. The full story of what happened those 37 years has largely been suppressed, in part by international manipulation during the Cold War era, and in part by delicate domestic politics and concerns. This could change however. There is a growing momentum within Bangladesh for pressure to get an international war crimes tribunal convened to try those accused. Evidence collected A group called the War Crimes Fact Finding Commission was started a few years ago to collate evidence. "Some things that happened are reminiscent of the Holocaust. This is a never ending list of atrocities, violence beyond imagination" said Dr. M.A Hasan one of the leading members of the commission. His brother was killed during the war and he has devoted 19 years of his life to the pursuit of justice. "We have tried for reconciliation. If the perpetrators, if they don't open their minds how can you forgive, how can we get dialogue," he said. "They need to open their minds and confront the truth or they should feel guilt and then the victim can say we push for reconciliation." There have been half hearted moves before to get justice but these all petered out. But this time however, there is added momentum with the backing of a group of formers senior military officers known as the Sector Commanders Forum. "We cannot have reconciliation without truth, we cannot base reconciliation on falsehood so we want the truth and truth can only come out through trial so we want the truth, we want the light, we want to come out of the darkness we are living today," A.K. Khandker, retired air vice-marshal, said. He was a sector commander in the Pakistani army in 1971 and said he saw how civilians were brutally murdered. But Khandker says that he and other officers were spurred to join the calls for a tribunal because of what he calls "the denials and lies" being offered by some about what happened in 1971. War crimes The Fact Finding commission has documented thousands of incidents of alleged war crimes, taken thousands of statements from survivors and eye witnesses and collected video and photographic evidence. It has resulted in a total of 1,600 people being official accused of war crimes. This number includes 456 Pakistani soldiers as well hundreds of locals who fought with Pakistan. Many members of Bangladesh's intellectual community were murdered These include some from major Bangladesh religious parties, some of whom have served in government as ministers. But the accusations are completely denied. Abdur Razzaq is a London trained barrister who is also assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islam. He said: "These are mere allegations. The onus is on them to prove these allegations. As far as we are concerned it was a political decision, we have never been involved with any of those crimes. "Yes we supported Pakistan but we are not involved with any of the crimes - rape, murder or looting, and no one has bee convicted." Up until recently, there was little to show for that dark period; a few monuments but no official museum. It has been left to a few private individuals to start their own Museum of the War of Liberation, containing memorabilia from that period including human skulls and bones of victims. Akku Chowdhury is trustee of the museum. "There were people didn't know about the liberation war, they didn't even know about the genocide because there was a systematic policy of erasing that part of history after 1975," he tod Al Jazeera. "So due to that vacuum we decided to start this museum so that at least we could show to the new generation how the nation was born, what price we had to pay for this flag, for this independence." Rape allegations There are many examples of the human price that was paid. Hasina Begum remembers 1971. She says she was wounded by Pakistani soldiers who shot dead her mother and then smashed her two young brothers into a wall until dead. "The Pakistani soldiers were like devils. I only survived because I played dead" Hasina Begum "As they burst into our room my father said 'it is the end of the universe' and we started to read the Quran" she said while wiping tears from her eye. "The Pakistani soldiers were like devils. I only survived because I played dead." It is claimed that 450,000 women were raped during the nine months of hostilities. Some committed suicide, others had abortions. Those who gave birth gave their babies up for adoption in countries like Canada and the United States. Few received any counselling or help. Some were even shunned by the conservative society. That is what happened to Butul Rani. She says she was taken to Dhaka prison by Pakistani soldiers and was raped twice in three days. She was 13 years old. "If I had a weapon I could have killed them" she said. "Every human being has got some dignity and after I was raped my dignity was destroyed. Many people said unkind things after the incident." It is clear that a growing number of people feel the dignity of Bangladesh has suffered because no has been held accountable for what happened all those years ago. UN tribunal The only way for the damage to be repaired is for a United Nations tribunal to be convened. A.K. Khandker, a former air vice-marchal, agrees. "If the United Nations is involved for this trial, the trial will carry credibility and second thing that once the United Nations is involved no political party coming into power will be able to stop it or cancel it," he said. That has happened in the past but the momentum this time may be too much for any political party to stop. "Those who are responsible for killing three million people should be behind bars," Shahriar Kabir, a writer and journalist, said. "The important thing is criminals should face the trial, they should be punished so that such crimes cannot be repeated." But, standing on the railway tracks at Saidpur, Tapad Kumar Das, fears that justice may be put off once more. "They must come before the law," he said almost pleading. "Justice, yes justice. If not they will come again, they will organise and come again. No doubt". Before the UN can consider setting up war crimes tribunal there must first be an official request from the government. Bangladesh will not have a government to replace the current emergency caretaker administration until next January, but many parties are already indicating they will include the issue of a tribunal in their mandates. It is not certain if Bangladesh will get justice and its day in court. But until it does it will be difficult for many to move on, away from the memories of the terrible cost that was paid for the birth of a nation.

Daily Star - April 2 - War Criminals - Iftekhar tells Ban Ki-moon about growing demand for UN role in trial

Sent: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 6:57 am
Subject: FW: War Criminals - Iftekhar tells Ban Ki-moon about growing demand for UN role in trial

Daily Star

April 2, 2008

War Criminals

Iftekhar tells Ban Ki-moon about growing demand for UN role in trial

Julfikar Ali Manik and Rashidul Hasan

Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury has informed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of a "popular sentiment" for involving the UN in the process for trying war criminals of Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971.

Calling on the UN secretary general at the UN Headquarters in New York on Monday, Iftekhar told him that there is a growing demand for the trial of the war criminals, said a press release of the permanent mission of Bangladesh to the UN.

Following the unprecedented move, war heroes, eminent citizens and members of martyrs' families yesterday told The Daily Star that the government should formally request the UN for its involvement in the trial process.

They said the government should take initiatives to try the war criminals without delay and the UN should come forward.

The issue of trying the war criminals had been discussed in various international forums including the UN Human Rights Commission but this is the first time in 37 years since Bangladesh's independence that the government officially informed the top UN official of the demand.

Experts said the government should not limit its initiative to only informing the UN secretary general of the issue; it should ensure UN's involvement in holding the trial of the war criminals.

Deputy chief of Liberation Forces Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khandker in his reaction told The Daily Star last night that raising the issue before the UN top boss through the foreign adviser indicates the government's positive attitude towards it.

"But I think the government must take it up to the UN absolutely formally for its help as did Cambodia and other countries," said Khandker, also president of Sector Commanders Forum. He said he hopes that the UN will respond positively.

Shahriar Kabir, prominent researcher on war crimes and acting president of Ekatturer Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee, said, "We demand trial of both Pakistani and Bangladeshi war criminals.

"We expect UN's role in trying the Pakistani war criminals but now we are more concerned about the trial of Bangladeshi war criminals," he said.

The government can form a special tribunal under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 and can seek UN expertise on how to collect documents and evidence of war crimes, he added.

The government can also request the UN to send observers to witness the trial process.

Dr MA Hasan, convener of War Crimes Facts Finding Committee, told The Daily Star that Bangladesh should seek the UN help in writing so that it cannot remain inactive regarding the issue.

"This is also an obligation of the UN to ensure the trial of war criminals as Bangladesh ratified the UN Convention on Genocide 1948 [in 1998]," he added.

"The UN can help us in forming the tribunal and can send international jurists to help the enquiry commission regarding war crimes," he said.

Shaheen Reza Noor, president of Projonmo 71, an organisation of the children of martyrs of the Liberation War, told The Daily Star that the government will have to pursue the matter to ensure UN's involvement. Meanwhile, the government should take other necessary actions to start the trial.

National and international communities raised the demand for the trial of war criminals immediately after the emergence of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took the initiative to try the war criminals and formulated several laws to this end, but all ended after his brutal killing in 1975.

Families and relatives of martyrs, victims of war crimes, freedom fighters, socio-political and cultural organisations, human rights bodies, leading professionals and eminent citizens of the country waged movements on numerous occasions for the war criminals' trial. But due attention was never paid to the demand.

In the early 1990s, Shaheed Janani (mother of martyrs) Jahanara Imam took to the street with the demand and hundreds of thousands of people joined her. Unfortunately, the movement failed because of the negligence of the authorities concerned.

After this caretaker government assumed power last year, the demand was raised again with the initiation of different government drives against corruption and irregularities committed by high-profile graft suspects.

The expectation gradually turned into a desire. At one stage, the sector commanders of the Liberation War and war heroes became united last year to press home the demand.