US lawmakers introduce legislation to declare Pakistan’s ’71 atrocities as `genocide’

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Two United States (US) lawmakers have introduced legislation in the House of Representatives, urging President Joe Biden to recognize the atrocities committed by Pakistani army during Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 as genocide.

Congressman Steve Chabot, along with congressman of Indian origin Ro Khanna, introduced the legislation in US House of Representatives to declare “Pakistan Army action against Bengalis and Hindus in 1971 as crime against humanity, war crimes and genocide”.

“With help from my Hindu constituents in Ohio’s First District, Rep Ro Khanna and I introduced legislation to recognize that the mass atrocities committed against Bengalis and Hindus, in particular, were indeed a genocide,” Chabot tweeted on Friday.

The Bangladesh Genocide of 1971 must not be forgotten, he said.

The congressman said recognizing the genocide strengthens the historical record, educates “our fellow Americans”, and lets would-be perpetrators know such crimes will not be tolerated or forgotten,’ he tweeted.

“We must not let the years erase the memory of the millions who were massacred,” he added.

Khanna said he is proud to join Chabot in introducing the first resolution commemorating 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”.

The eight-page resolution titled ‘Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971’ calls on the government of Pakistan, in the face of overwhelming evidence, to offer acknowledgment of its role in such genocide, offer formal apologies to the government and people of Bangladesh, and prosecute, in accordance with international law, any perpetrators who are still living.

It condemns the atrocities committed by the Armed Forces of Pakistan against the people of Bangladesh from March 1971 to December 1971; recognizes that such atrocities against Bengalis and Hindus constitute crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide; recalls the death and suffering of the countless victims of such atrocities and expresses its deep sympathy for the suffering.

It reaffirms the US commitment to promoting peace, stability, and intercommunal harmony in the Indo-Pacific region, and the right of all people living in the region, regardless of national, racial, ethnic, or religious background, to enjoy the benefits of democratic institutions, the rule of law, the freedom of religion, and economic opportunity.