A case of genocide – Pakistani atrocities during liberation war of Bangladesh

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In the discourse on international justice that has taken place since the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia’ in 1993, one situation has been notably absent: Bangladesh’s war of liberation from Pakistan in 1971.

But that appears set to change. Recently, two US lawmakers Congressman Steve Chabot and Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna have introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives, urging the US President to recognise the atrocities committed against ethnic Bengalis and Hindus by the Pakistani armed forces in 1971 as a genocide. Chabot and Khanna introduced the resolution in the US House of Representatives on October 15, 2022, calling on Pakistan to offer apologies to the people of Bangladesh for its role in such a genocide.

In a tweet concerning the resolution Republican Congressman for Ohio’s 1st congressional district Chabot says, “We must not let the years erase the memory of the millions who were massacred. Recognising the genocide strengthens the historical record, educates our fellow Americans, and lets would-be perpetrators know such crimes will not be tolerated or forgotten”… “The Bangladesh Genocide of 1971 must not be forgotten. With help from my Hindu constituents in Ohio’s First District, Ro Khanna and I introduced legislation to recognise that the mass atrocities committed against Bengalis and Hindus, in particular, were indeed a genocide.”

In the similar vein Khanna, a Democrat and the US Representative from California’s 17th congressional district, tweeted that the 1971 Bengali Genocide in which millions of ethnic Bengalis and Hindus were killed or displaced in one of the most forgotten genocides of “our” time. “There was a genocide. Millions of people were killed (in 1971) in what is now Bangladesh, and what was then East Pakistan.”

The definition of genocide in Section 3(2)(c) of Bangladesh’s International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973, is identical to the definition provided under Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, 1948. It includes the killing of members of a particular group, causing serious bodily harm and mental harm to members of such a specific group. Under the Genocide Convention, such an atrocity has to be “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, religious or racial group.” It is clear that the crimes in the territory of Bangladesh during 1971 were committed with specific intent to destroy an entire ethnic group. Even Pakistan’s own Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report, while considerably suppressing data about the magnitude of the violence, provided a conservative estimate of 26,000 people having been killed. Bangladeshi official figures put the death toll at 3 million people. Furthermore Bangladesh has been gathering information about specific crimes.

Violence perpetrated by Pakistan in East Pakistan in 1971 received worldwide attention at the time, but has been largely ignored since. The political and ideological circumstances that led to the secession of East Pakistan were conducive to religious and ethnic genocide. Journalists’ reports, expatriate testimony, refugee reports and an investigation by the International Commission of Jurists in 1972 all indicate, that the Pakistani army commited genocide in Bangladesh in 1971.

The reason that the issue was ignored for so long is that no ideological or partisan faction in the United States stood to gain much from the study of the Bangladesh genocide. A combination of factors has prevented those involved in the horrific genocide of 1971 in Bangladesh being brought to justice. Regional power politics, the economic considerations of Bangladesh immediately after its independence and continuing internal political strife have together held the process back.

In 1973, Bangladesh declared that a two-tier tribunal under the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act would be established. This tribunal was to include prominent national and international jurists and the purpose was to try captured Pakistani Army personnel and their collaborators for violations of the Geneva Conventions, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

Pakistan’s reluctance to let the tribunal function became apparent from Bhutto’s statement on May 28, 1973, when he declared that Pakistan “cannot stomach” trials of POWs alleged to have committed atrocities and threatened Bangladesh with reciprocal action on Bengalis in Pakistan’s custody. “We know the Bengalis passed on information during the war. There will be specific charges. How many will be tried, I cannot say,” Bhutto reportedly stated, implying that Pakistan wanted to use Bengalis under its custody as a bargaining chip.

While the genocide and the liberation war have not been forgotten by the people of Bangladesh, the collaborators were gradually rehabilitated through state patronage. After the 1975 army coup and the overthrow of the Awami League regime, many of the collaborators, who had been opposed to the Awami League, joined the political parties floated by two military leaders, Ziaur Rahman (1975-1981) and Ershad (1982-1990). These two military leaders tilted the country toward Islamic ideology, allowed religion-based parties to function, and appointed a few well known collaborators to their cabinets. Under such a situation the pursuit of justice and the case for genocide was never taken up by radical parties in Bangladesh.

Now, the return to power in Dhaka of the Awami League has led to a new attempt at conducting war trials of the protagonists -most of whom belong to the Jamaát-e-Islami. The Government of Bangladesh declared in March 2017, that it would take the initiative to get the United Nations recognise the events of 1971 as genocide. In doing so, it was perhaps taking a cue from the Armenian attempt at getting international recognition for the Armenian Genocide. But the government has to grapple with time deadlines, differences between domestic and international law and other complexities as it tries to bring about delayed justice for the wrongs done five decades ago. The persistent efforts by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the growing stature of Bangladesh has led to renewed interest in correcting a historical wrong and promoting study of the mass murder and rapes that took place in 1971.

Pakistan will continue to do what it first did immediately after the creation of Bangladesh and try to impede the process by roping in China and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states amiable to it. Bangladesh must therefore use all instruments of state power at its disposal to ensure that the events of 1971 are recognised internationally as amounting to genocide. For this, it is also imperative that Bangladesh present a water-tight case before the international community and prove beyond reasonable doubt that Pakistan and its local Bengali collaborators committed genocide. Given Bangladesh’s decision to gain international recognition for the events of 1971 as genocide, it becomes pertinent to analyse the matter from the perspective of international law and ask the question: was it genocide?

(IFFRAS Commentary)