No War Criminals in Bangladesh!
Mash posted another great article with some video footage from 1971 carried on US TV networks. I am embedding only one video, but please view all of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwwPbkyZVJo
http://www.docstrangelove.com/2007/10/24/bangladesh-genocide-archives-video/
The newscaster begins the segment with "What did happen there will never be forgotten by the people of Bangladesh, specially the women." Read that phrase, hear his words, and burn in in your heart, and promise yourself, you will not forget, nor will you let the world forget.
Right after I finished watching the clips on Mash's site, I saw the dailies from Dhaka, and my hands are shaking in rage as I am typing this.
Jamaat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mujahid claimed that there are no war criminals in Bangladesh, since there were no anti-liberation forces in Dhaka in 1971.
Daily Star did not pull any punches, they came out with the facts.
Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh yesterday said they did not work against the Liberation War in 1971 and claimed that there is no war criminal in the country.Amader Shomoy quoted an interview with Nizami conducted on August 8, 2007. As far as we can determine, it hasn't been published before. In it, Nizami asked:
"In fact anti-liberation forces never even existed," Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid told reporters coming out of the talks with the Election Commission (EC) on electoral reforms.
According to newspaper reports, speeches and statements of those accused of war crimes, and the finds of different probes including the People's Enquiry Commission, Mujahid, who was president of East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Shangha and chief of the infamous Al Badr Bahini back in 1971, helped the occupying Pakistan army carry out massacre, looting and rape.
Only two days before the war ended, he led the killings of renowned academics, litterateurs, doctors, engineers, journalists and other eminent personalities with a view to leave the nation intellectually crippled.
Senior Jamaat leaders Abdus Sobhan, Moulana Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, Abdul Kader Molla and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman who were in the delegation to the EC yesterday have been charged with war crimes.
Jamaat Amir Matiur Rahman Nizami was the president of Islami Chhatra Shangha (Islamic Students' Organisation) in 1971. Al-Badr Bahini was set up under his direct supervision. He became the commander-in-chief of the paramilitary force designed to eliminate the freedom fighters, reads the report of the People's Enquiry Commission, a body formed in 1993 with eminent citizens to investigate into the activities of the war criminals and the collaborators.
How can those who could not even file a general diary with the police against us for war crimes now call us war criminals?This bluster is not happening in a vacuum. The CTG has been inexplicably quiet about Jamaat and lenient on their crimes. Jamaat must think they are untouchable.
I want to see these snakes tried for war crimes before they die of natural causes. What can we do? Nizami actually reminded me of something that I forgot. The amnesty was not a blanket one: people involved in rape, murder, arson and robbery were not eligible for pardon. So this does not require a new law, or even an emergency proclamation. All it will take is the will of the government to try and convict these criminals.
I will NOT forget. I will not let YOU forget.
Posted by J at 4:33 PM
8 comments:
- Priyaranjan said...
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It was always understood that Jamat would be the beneficiary of massive government crackdown against AL and certain segment of BNP. It has escaped relatively unscathed. Perhaps we need to figure out first where our current rulers have come from.
The following is not an allegation. I am just looking to clear up issues. I hope someone with specific answer will post some information that will have. I have tried Bangladesh government sources but did not get any answer.
1. Is Dr. Ahmed a US citizen?
2. When did Dr. Ahmed join Pakistan Civil Service?
3. When did he terminate his job with Pakistan Government?
4. Why does his biography published immediately after 1/11 give the impression that he worked for Pakistan government until 1978? Check for yourself at
http://thedailystar.net/2007/01/13/d7011301011.htm
5. Why does not the above biography mention anything about Dr. Ahmed being a joint secretary in Bangladesh Finance ministry?
6. Why has his biography been recently updated to state that he was a joint Secretary in Bangladesh Finance ministry? Why does not it specify any date?
7. When did his service with Bangladesh government start and when did it end? I am not talking about Bangladesh Bank job.
No innuendo or diatribe please. I am looking for facts.- October 25, 2007 5:56:00 PM EST
- tacit said...
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I wish someone in Dhaka would take up Nizami's challenge and file a General Diary against him. Then we shall see where bhodroloks and bhdromohilas stand on rape, murder, arson, and robbery.
- October 25, 2007 8:21:00 PM EST
- Mash said...
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We will not forget.
- October 26, 2007 12:00:00 AM EST
- fugstar said...
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Priyaranjan,
Whats with the retrospective guilt tripping of Dr F? Is he unworthy just because at that time he didn't find hope in the independant bangladesh, when other economists of ours had been busy painting a picture of switzerland.
Civil service people are conservative! They are designed to be that way.
What do you make of the NAP war time policy?
I think if we subject everybody to a simple, burnt, view of that interim period there will be few oldies left in the blamestorm and the racial takfir thing.
Shadakalo, where is the grey?
On the burning issue that we cannot forget and cannot forget to remind eachother of at the most opportune of times. The DS front loaded the 'Jamat went to the EC' article with it very carefully.
When, inshAllah there are trials/truth commissions(followed by a period where we just get on with it) is it even possible to have a fair one in light of all the distortion and amplification we perpetuate with our burnt hearts?- October 26, 2007 7:12:00 AM EST
- J said...
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Priyaranjan:
I am talking to an ex-colleague of FUA to get some history. But one thing for sure, he did not work in the Pakistan civil service until 1978. That is the result of some unfortunate phrasing.
Fugstar:
I don't see much need for grey when it comes to the leaders of Al Badar and As Shams, or the Rajakars. Kindly educate us about the "distortion and amplification" you mention. Prothom Alo and DS quoted specific dates and issues of Sangram (Jamaat's paper in 1971) about speeches and announcements by Messers Nijami/Mujahid. Any evidence to the contrary would be most welcome.- October 26, 2007 10:48:00 AM EST
- Priyaranjan said...
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Dear J,
I also thought that his biography in Daily Star (and other English dailies) was not properly phrased and gave the impression that he worked for Pakistan government since 1978.
My confusion was further complicated when a Princeton Campus newspaper story, which I think is not correct, stated:
*****************
After receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees from Dhaka University in Bangladesh and a second master's degree from Williams College, Ahmed came to Princeton for his doctoral studies, culminating in a dissertation entitled "Migration and employment in a multisector model; an application to Bangladesh."
Ahmed then went on to become a lecturer at Dhaka University, followed by a stint in civil service in Pakistan before serving at the World Bank for more than 20 years.
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/01/15/news/17088.shtml
*********************
I have checked the following:
1. He was not in Mujib Nagar government
2. He did not work for Bangladesh government immediately after Dec. 16, 1971
3. He did not flee Pakistan via Afghanistan as many did
4. He was not repatriated to Bangladesh following Mujib-Bhutto agreement
All of these make sense. He got his Ph.D. in 1975 from Princeton. There was no reason for him to be in Pakistan during 1971-1975.
I am trying to figure out if he was in the USA during 1971 turmoil. There is no record of Dr. Ahmed being active in anti Pakistan activities in 1971 assuming he was in USA at that time. Many Bengalis participated in such activities at that time.
The confusion can be cleared up very easily if Dr. Ahmed's biographers were forthcoming and specific about dates. Transparency helps everyone.- October 26, 2007 12:19:00 PM EST
- Priyaranjan said...
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I also thought that his biography in Daily Star (and other English dailies) was not properly phrased and gave the impression that he worked for Pakistan government since 1978.
It should read till 1978 instead of since 1978.- October 26, 2007 12:21:00 PM EST
- - a said...
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Thank you Shadakalo bloggers!
- October 26, 2007 3:37:00 PM EST
Links to this post
- Genocide, 1971
- They claim it never happened: one of the worst nightmares of human history. They claim monsters never existed: those who feasted on their own brother's blood. Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Shah Abdul Hannan and their comrades in Oxford ...
- Posted byE-Bangladesh atOctober 27, 2007 5:42:44 PM EST
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