repenting for their action in the war.
Sometimes I feel that Israelis are much better than Pakistanis and
Jamati war criminals. Let me clarify why I am saying that. Have you
ever heard any Palestinian women raped by Israeli solders? I never
heard of that. Israelis are fighting with the Palestinians since
1948 for their own existence. They also have upper hand in every war
but I find they never lost moral values in the way Pakistani and
their Jamati friend lost in 71 war.
Only by this one point I find Jews are much better than rapist
nation Pakistani and their collaborator Jamati.
Nader Chowdhury
--- In chottala@yahoogroups.com, Abdul Momen <syl.boston@...> wrote:
>
> War Criminals of 1971: Time to Take Action
> Dr. Abdul Momen*
> It is highly misleading that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
government pardoned all the war criminals and he did nothing during
his `war ravaged reconstruction period'. The fact shows otherwise.
In fact, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government started
prosecuting the perpetrators of 'crime against humanity' or 'war
criminals' immediately after independence and he also passed the
Collaborators Act (1972) and the International Crime Act of 1973
that barred re-entry of any collaborators to Bangladesh. Sheikh
Mujib promulgated the Special Tribunal Order on January 24, 1972 (PO
No 8 of 1972) after 14 days of his return from Pakistani jail to try
those Pakistani collaborators/Razakers/Al-Badrs and other stooges of
the Pakistani army. Under this order he arrested 37,000
collaborators amidst of strong opposition by left-leaning journalist
like Enayetullah Khan [see his write-up titled '75 million
Collaborators', the Holiday, 1972]. Out of
> them as no grievous criminal charges were filed against 26,000,
therefore they were pardoned and released in a general amnesty.
However, nearly 800 cases were completed and given jail sentences.
Another 11,000 were in jail including Nizami, Abbas Ali Khan of the
Jamat-e-Islam Party (JI), and their prosecution was at various
stages of completion. In addition, those that were involved
in `crime against humanity' and against Bangladesh, they were denied
of Bangladesh nationality and passport.
> On November 4, 1972 all religion-based politics were abolished as
per sections 12 and 38 of the Bangladesh Constitution of 1972.
> Unfortunately, when General Ziaur Rahman, a valiant Mukti-judda
emerged as a `strong man' in 1975, he abrogated the Collaborators
Act and released all the prisoners including those that were
sentenced. For political/ personal reasons he allowed religion-
based parties to operate and started reinstating and rehabilitating
them. No wonder, those who were guilty of `crime against humanity'
and collaboration with enemy (Pakistan) state started returning from
abroad especially Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and they were given
Bangladesh citizenship and passport. Example, Golam Azam of the JI
Party.
> On those days I was working with the Bangladesh government and
many individuals and their relatives that had no Bangladesh passport
approached us for consideration. However, once General Zia took
over, all of them were issued Bangladesh passport or `travel
documents' to return to Bangladesh.
> It is sad that few vested quarters including Abdul Mannan Bhuiya,
the ousted BNP Secretary General and current Law Advisor Barrister
Moinul Hussein are misleading the public and the nation by stating
that Sheikh Mujib pardoned them or shifting the responsibility by
blaming why they did not prosecute them. In fact, Sheikh Mujib
started the prosecution and he pardoned only those that did not have
criminal cases against them. He did not pardon those (Razakers, Al-
badr or Al-Shams) that had `criminal cases' and those that
committed `crime against humanity or war criminals' such as rape,
murder, and the like. Thousands of criminals were in prison during
his time; however, many were absconding abroad including Golam Azam,
the leader of the JI party and they were involved in anti-state
activities abroad. He did not get time to complete the prosecution
because of abrupt massacre.
> After the massacre of Sheikh Mujib and his family plus his closed
associates; Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed, Acting President Syed
Nazrul Islam, Secretary General AHM Qamruzzaman and Home Minister
Monsur Ali, the founders of independent and sovereign Bangladesh in
1975, one after another civil-military-technocratic or cantonment-
based governments ruled the country basically till 1996. In 1996,
when pro-people and pro-liberation government of Sheikh Hasina came
to power after 21 years with marginal votes; it neither could
reinstate the Collaborators Act nor could revive the original
constitution of 1972. Secondly, it followed `judicial process and
rule of law' and therefore, it did not set up any `kangaroo court or
special tribunal' to prosecute the criminals. One can debate that
as a weakness of the Hasina government or not.
> Therefore, it failed to punish the war criminals and the
culprits. But that does not justify that the criminals of `crime
against humanity' or war criminals should not face justice. It
would be unfair if they are allowed to go free or untouched.
Fortunately, now is an opportune moment to revive the clause
that `no religion-based political party can register or contest in
Bangladesh election' and those found guilty of `crime against
humanity' to be fully prosecuted. Unless the criminals and
murderers are fully prosecuted, you can neither establish `rule of
law' nor can stop political killing in Bangladesh.
> More importantly, the International Crime Act of 1973 of
Bangladesh is still active and Article 47, Section 3 of the Act
allows trial of war criminals. Therefore, the military-backed
government of Fakhruddin Ahmed that has started many essential
reforms can try the war criminals and punish them provided it has
the mindset and commitment. It is unfortunate that its Law Advisor
is trying to guillotine the golden opportunity.
> Secondly, Islami activist S. A. Hannan, a retired bureaucrat
following the JI party line of argument tried to mislead the public
by stating that there was `no genocide' in East Pakistan in 1971.
> Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an
ethnic, religious or national group. While precise definition varies
among genocide scholars, the legal definition of it is found in the
1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG). Article 2 of the CPPCG defines
genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing
serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately
inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing
measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group."[1]
>
> In 1971 the Pakistan occupation army plus their collaborators like
the Jamat-e-Islam, the Islami Chatra Sangho (currently renamed
Islami Chatra Shibir) and their militant killing squads; the Al-Badr
and the Al-Shams tried their utmost to apprehend and kill those that
demand an `independent Bangladesh'. Since majority of Bengali
speaking East Pakistanis (Sheikh Mujib got 167 out of 169 seats in
East Pakistan) or ethnic group favored an independent Bangladesh,
they waged a war with intent to destroy that ethnic group. The Pak
army systematically opened fire on un-armed masses of Bengali ethnic
group on the midnight of March 25th 1971 indiscriminately resulting
which, as per various reports 19,000 to 25,000 Bengali ethnic people
died on that dark night alone and over a period of 10 months, 3
million reportedly killed, 30 million were dislodged from their
homes and 10 million had to take refuge in neighboring India due to
cleansing operation, fear and
> repression. As per global ranking, Bangladesh genocide is second
to that of Nazi genocide of Jews.
>
> In order to cripple the whole `bangali nationalism and nationhood'
the Pak army in collaboration with the Jamat-e-Islam and few other
such parties and their affiliates systematically and calculatedly
murder the Bengali intellectuals, writers, doctors, journalists,
educators and their political leadership. In addition, in order to
cleanse the society of Hindu population, the Pak army and its
collaborators calculatedly killed and/or uprooted them. No wonder,
over 10 million East Pakistanis (out of 75 million) mostly Hindu
minority took shelter in the neighboring India.
>
> When Pak army captured me on April 20, 1971, they tested me
whether I could recite `kolema or shada' (the 1st pillar of Muslim
faith) and then they checked whether I had my circumcision, a symbol
of being Muslim in the subcontinent. In addition, when the army
forced us to lead them in their operations, they repeatedly asked
two questions; find `Mukti' (liberation fighter) and Hindu. If such
are reported, they would immediately open their fire, weapons and
mortars. Such is a testimony of cleansing of a religious group, a
clear evidence of genocide.
>
> Professor Abdul Momen, Boston, October 29, 2007
>
>
>
>
> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger
Café. Stop by today!
>
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