March
14, 2013
Violent birth
·
Bangladesh
is yet to come to terms with its violent birth in 1971, after the Pakistani
government sent in its army to stop then East Pakistan from becoming
independent.
·
It
is not exactly clear how many people died, but official figures estimate that
more than three million people were killed and hundreds of thousands of women
raped during the nine-month bloody battle.
·
The
minority Hindu community was particularly targeted. Many Hindus were even
forcibly converted to Islam.
·
India was forced to intervene after millions of refugees flooded to her
eastern states especially West Bengal & Assam. The war broke out and ended
with the surrender of Pakistani forces to India in Dec 1971.
·
Soon
after the war, there were demands from the victims and human rights groups to bring
those responsible to justice.
·
However,
Delhi, Dhaka and Islamabad agreed not to pursue war-crimes charges against the
Pakistani soldiers, who were allowed to go back to their country.
War Trials
·
The
war trials did not materialize despite various attempts, efforts to bring those
Bangladeshis who allegedly collaborated with the Pakistani forces to justice until 2012.
·
In 2010, for the first time, the Awami League-led
government set up the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) to try those
Bangladeshis accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces and committing
atrocities.
·
So
far seven people, including two from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist
Party and five from the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami Party, have been arrested
and are facing trial in Dhaka. All of them deny the charges.
·
The
Jamaat-e-Islami is the country's largest Islamist party and it opposed
Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan at that time. Some of its members
allegedly fought alongside the Pakistani army.
·
However,
the two opposition parties accuse the government of carrying out a vendetta and
trying to use the trial to curb their political activities.
·
Despite
the overwhelming public opinion in support of the trial, there are some
bottlenecks.
Political Parties
·
Awami League – The party was founded in
1949 by Bengali Nationalists. The party gained momentum under leadership of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during 1970-71. It successfully spearheaded the campaign
for separate nationhood. It is centre-left party and supports Democratic
Socialism, Bengali Nationalism and Secularism. Presently, Awami League is in
power under the leadership if Sheikh Hasina. The party supports War Trials.
·
Bangladesh
Nationalist Party - The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is a mainstream center right
political party, founded in 1978 by Ziaur Rahman, the Seventh President of
Bangladesh. The BNP is opposing the war trials and called them as ‘genocide’. A former minister from the BNP is charged
in war trials. Its highly possible that if comes to power, the BNP would scrap
the trials
·
Bangladesh
Jamaat-e-Islami - This is the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh. The Jamaat stood against the independence
of Bangladesh and opposed the break-up of the Muslim homeland in South Asia.
Three Jamaat leaders had been convicted of war crimes till date. In response,
the Jamaat has held major strikes and violent protests across the country,
which have led to more than 60 deaths
·
The Jatiya Party
(Ershad)
– The political party was established by former dictator President Hussain
Mohammad Ershad on 1st January 1986.
Doubts about Fairness of Trails
·
The tribunal is almost a domestic set-up and the three judges sitting on
the tribunal are from Bangladesh. The United Nations and other international
agencies have very limited role to play.
·
Human rights groups like Human Right Watch said some of the rules were
not consistent with international standards, as followed by war crimes
tribunals in Rwanda or Cambodia.
Trial’s major moments
·
2012 May-June - Key figures from the main Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, including
leader Motiur Rahman Nizami, are charged with war crimes by the government
tribunal investigating alleged collaboration with Pakistan during the 1971
independence struggle. Jaamat-e Islami supporters clash with police repeatedly
in following months in protest of the trial.
·
2012 October - Muslim rioters attack Buddhist
villages and shrines in south-east Bangladesh after an image said to show a
burnt Koran was posted on Facebook. The government denounces the attacks as
"premeditated and deliberate acts of communal violence against a
minority".
·
Tribunal Verdicts
- On January 21 2013, the tribunal sentenced Abul Kalam Azad, a cleric, to death in absentia, finding him guilty of torture, rape and genocide. He was a junior leader in the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in 1971 and a member of the Razakar Bahini, an auxiliary force set up to help the Pakistani army by rooting out local resistance.
- On 5 February 2013, the tribunal found Abdul Quader Mollah, assistant secretary-general of the Jamaat-e-Islami, guilty of crimes against humanity during the war for independence and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
- On 27 February 2013, the tribunal found another accused Delwar Hossain Sayeedi of war crimes and sentenced him to death. Sayedee, Jamaat-e-Islami Vice President is for setting afire 25 houses in a Hindu village, and abetting the killing of two persons, including a Hindu.
Shahbag Protest
·
Many
citizens were dissatisfied with the February 5, 2013 verdict of life sentence
for Abdul Quader Mollah, considering it to be too lenient. Following the
verdict, people used social media to criticize the verdict and express outrage
over Mollah flashing a victory sign after the verdict.
·
This led
to a small protest in Shahbag Square of Dhaka demanding death penalty for Abdul
Mollah and all other accused of war crimes.
·
Within
days, the protests received unprecedented support from the local and expatriate
Bangladeshis, especially the young, who actively participated and expressed
solidarity with the protesters at Shahbag.
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The
demands of these protests include:
Ø Capital punishment for Abdul Quader Mollah.
Ø Capital punishment for all those convicted of
war crimes by the International War Crimes Tribunal.
Ø Ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami and like-minded
religion-based political parties, anti-liberation forces and collaborators of
Pakistani occupation forces
Counter Protests: Timeline
·
On
February 4, 2013, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, announced a countrywide dawn-to-dusk general
strike for 5 February, in protest of their leader's trial and impending
verdict. The strike of February 5 was mostly peaceful.
·
However
the situation changed with the announcement of death sentence for Delwar
Hossain Sayeedi on February 27. Jamaat quickly called for a nationwide two-day
strike to start 3 March.
·
On next
day, Thursday 28 Feb, at least 40 people were killed as deadly clashes swept
the country after the verdict was announced.
·
Clashes
between police and Jamaat-e-Islami party workers continued on 1 March spreading
to the northern districts of Gaibandha and Chapai Nawabganj. The death toll rose to 44, including six
policemen.
·
Former
Prime Minister and BNP member Khaleda Zia declared
a nationwide dawn-to-dusk hartal for 5 March and called for countrywide rallies
on 2 March to protest what she called government corruption, misrule, oppression,
and "mass killings".
·
Violent
conflict continued on 2 March, with another four deaths and hundreds of injures
occurring. In Chittangong district, police opened fire on Jamaat-e-Islami
protesters, leading to three deaths. In Nilphamari, a young person died
when protestors and police clashed.
·
On 3
March, violence continued as the Jamaat organized strike began. The
violence spread across Bangladesh.
·
On 4
March, the second day of the 48-hour strike called by Jamaat-e-Islami, a
homemade crude bomb of low intensity was hurled outside a hotel in Dhaka where Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, was staying during his tour.
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At
least 98 people have been killed and more than 200 have been injured since
February 5, 2013. 19 people alone were killed by Jamaat-Shibir activists on the
day when war criminal Delawar Hossain Sayedee was convicted.
·
There
have been 15 shutdowns in Bangladesh since the crisis began and the nation
suffered losses worth $3 billion due to the frequent shutdowns.
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Attacks on Hindus: Activists of Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party
the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, the Islami Chhatra Shibir have
unleashed a streak of terror since Feb 28, 2013, targeting the Hindu community
in the country. Jamaat-Shibir men attacked and
destroyed at least 50 temples and set fire to several Hindu houses and business
