Two high-profile Pakistani intellectuals yesterday welcomed Bangladesh's move to expose Bengali-speaking perpetrators of 1971 crimes against humanity, as a special tribunal earlier this week in its maiden order issued arrest warrants against four main suspects.
"I appreciate and support any move against anyone responsible for the killing of innocent civilians in 1971.Genocide is a crime against humanity and every sensitive human being must support a move to put the criminals on trial in a court of law," leading Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir told BSS.
In an interview over phone from Islamabad, Mir, who earned a professional repute for his in-depth journalistic study of militancy in Pakistan and voice for human rights in his country, said "I will (also) support any move against any Pakistani army officer who is responsible for violating law in 1971 or 1977 or 1999 or 2010 anywhere".
"War criminals are our joint enemies. They killed Bangalees in Dhaka and other cities and gave a bad name to people of Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar who were not aware of what was going on in former East Pakistan," he said.
Another leading Pakistani rights activist Begum Nasim Akhtar Malik, who had witnessed part of the March 25, 1971 genocide in Dhaka, told BSS over phone, "The 1971 war criminals must be exposed to trial".
"Otherwise, the next generation will learn nothing about the history and from the history," Malik said over phone from London, where she is currently staying with her sons.
She, however, suggested Bangladesh to carry out a massive campaign for building public opinion regarding the trial for the sake of justice so that the perpetrators of the crime do not get a chance to hatch "fresh plots" in the name of religion "as they did in 1971".
Their comments came as the International Crimes Tribunal on Monday issued first arrest warrants against Jamaat Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid and senior assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla.
The four, however, are already in jail to face several other charges including sedition and murder cases while the tribunal order came on a special prosecution panel petition seeking orders so that the four arrested Jamaat bigwigs could be kept in confinement "in the interest of smooth investigation" of charges of 1971 crimes against them.
While throwing his weight also for the trial of Pakistani war criminals as asked about the trial of particularly 195 Pakistani officers who were listed as "war criminals" soon after Bangladesh's independence, Mir said "Pakistan army committed atrocities not only against Bangalees in (erstwhile) united Pakistan, they (also) killed a lot of innocent people in Baluchistan from 1958 to 1969 during the Martial Law regime of Gen Ayub Khan."
"Another dictator Gen Yahya Khan was responsible for the genocide of Bangalees in 1971," he said.
Asked for his comments about Bangladesh's protracted demand for an official Pakistani apology for the atrocities committed by its soldiers against unarmed, innocent Bangalees in 1971, the leading Pakistani journalist said Islamabad should apologise to strengthen the ties.
"Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former dictator Musharraf expressed soft regrets in the past but never issued an official apology. I have demanded and supported official apology many times because I love Pakistan and I love Bangladeshis," he said.
"I think this apology will strengthen relations between the two countries," Mir added.
"Today or tomorrow, Pakistan will have to seek the apology", Nasim Akhtar said, adding that the progressive leaders of her country and the ordinary Pakistanis are now thinking that Islamabad must seek apology.
"A true Muslim is he, who can seek forgiveness, understanding his own wrongs," she said.
1971 war criminals to be brought to justice: Hasina
Bangladesh arrests are opening act of war crimes tribunal
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