Finally, justice for the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh!

Pratim Ranjan Bose

When the Nazi criminals were sent to the gallows, the world cheered.

But, when millions of liberal Bangladeshis erupt in joy for execution of one of the many culprits of the world’s most under-reported and yet worst incidences of genocide - that had happened under the very nose of global powers – during Pakistani army rule between 1947 and 1971; the rich unites in describing such executions as ‘controversial’.

The dice started rolling in February this year, when a large number of the young and educated of a 90 per cent Muslim majority nation, staged an uprising in Dhaka, demanding death-sentence to radical Islamist leader Abdul Quader Molla, and a nearly a dozen of his fellow collaborators, for slaughtering and rape of millions of Hindus and Muslims at the instruction of East Pakistan army bosses.

Bangladesh Parliament

Molla who had reached mythical heights for his atrocities - initially on Hindus and then on pro-liberation Muslims – was accused of slaughtering at least 300 and raping countless women, right in the capital city of Dhaka. On February 5, a trial court ordered him life imprisonment.

Bangladeshis, who had been denied justice for four long decades, since the country was born in 1971, could not take it anymore.  They interpreted the order as an attempt on the part of Seikh Hasina government to pacify radical forces and backtrack from her 2008 election promise to bring the criminals to book.

The grit and determination of theprotestors took the entire political establishment, cutting across party lines,in Dhaka, by surprise. In the end, it sealed the fate of political dilly-dally.

Shahbag uprising, 2013

Hasina, whose popularity is otherwise on the decline, went ahead with the trial to protect her liberal image. With their back on the wall, Molla’s colleagues in Jaamat-i-Islami flashed the religious card and resorted to widespread violence.

And, Hasina’s arch-rival, a moderately right-wing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which initially sympathised with Shahbag protests, cited ‘lapses’ in trial proceedings to reap political harvests from the divide.

Molla was finally hanged by theapex court of Bangladesh on December 12 - the only person to be sent to the gallows so far, for killing millions.

The 160 million-strong nation, bordering Eastern and North Eastern India, that had been witness to an unique struggle for mother language in the past, is now faced an unprecedented political churn, that might open a new horizon for secular democratic forces in the sub-continent.

The demand is for democratic Bangladesh, where justice is not denied for narrow religious reasons.

Double Standards

But, the moral guardians of the world are not convinced. They are now picking holes in the trial and possible violation of human rights.

True, the war crimes tribunal in poor Dhaka, is no match to their Leipzig or Nuremberg when it comes to procedures – the same procedures that left the Red Indians “solemnly to watch the working of the white man's law that compelled a man to dance upon the air”, as Jack London famously portrayed in “The Unexpected”.

Supreme Court of Bangladesh

Let us accept, the rich are masters in holding trial, so as to execute without a semblance of guilt! There is also no denying that the world has changed a lot since the Nuremberg trial; so much so, that the moral guardians of the world, will not dare to raise a voice against the highest number of executions in China, where one party decides what is right or wrong.

The rich were happy as long as we killed each other, by deadly weapons sold by them. It must not occur to them that their shrewd politics delayed trial of Bangladesh Liberation War criminals by 40 years.

They in the West didn’t support the secular democratic government of a new born nation, in 1971- to fulfil political and economic interests of the Cold War regime - and allowed it to slip to army rule as early as in 1975. And. they never pushed those army dictators - surviving on jingoism - either in Pakistan or Bangladesh, to make amends.

Everyone did their best to brush the whole episode under the carpet and happy to see us in the subcontinent engaged in demolition of secular and democratic forces. To them, we were beggars, till their own economies started crumbling.

The North is now keen that the vast ‘markets’ in the region are not disturbed. They are scared that a churn in Bangladesh, however welcome it is for us, may jeopardise their geopolitical interests.

It is none of their interest that those Bengali speaking young men and women - who shook the very foundations of religious fundamentalism in Bangladesh – demanded justice that has been long pending.  

They were blind when some university students revolted against a self-proclaimed ‘more Islamic’ Pakistani army regime, nearly six decades ago. They are also oblivion to the fact that despite all the flip flops in Bangladesh’s history, the radical Islamists could never gain popular grounds in the vote politics.  

The world was only interested in a status-quo that ended up helping dreaded criminals, who should have been sent to the gallows decades ago, to climb up on social ladder using political or religious catapults.

Bangladeshis wanted to change this forever. And, they did it.

Creating history

Thank You Bangladesh, for ignoring the words of wisdom!

At least one is now punished for the massacre that took place more than four decades ago! 

It brings a sigh of relief to thefamilies of 2-3 million dead and 200-400 thousand raped. It also brings somejustice to the millions of Hindus who were displaced in the riot.

True hundred others escaped the noose due to prolonged delay in trial but, you couldn’t help it. If there were some lapses, let it be. Some times, better to commit mistakes than repeating the history of grave injustice.

We want justice. Shahbag, 2013

We always knew the culprits. We also know you gave the accused a fair chance to defend their case in the apex court of Bangladesh. He was lucky to have avoided the noose for so long. Over their in the North, they would have sent him to the gallows 40 years ago.

The world is scared that you will now be overrun by fundamentalists. But, they don’t know this rice-and-fish loving community, divided between two different political geographies in 1947, always had a distinct approach to life.

Sure, the radicals will not take the defeat easily. There may also be some hardship in the short run. But, we are confident you can take that in your stride.

You are fighting to save Bangladesh from slipping into the hands of radicals. You actions encouraged millions acrossinternational borders to demand justice for every riot, be in Delhior Karachi.

Thank you Bangladesh, for creating history!

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