Legislative endeavours by the
Awami Government to try War Crimes and crimes against humanity committed by
perpetrators in 1971 war of independence may have some appeal with the public
but majority people believes it is nothing more than politics at play. It was under Awamileague leadership of Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman independent war was fought and our brave Bangladeshi people
gained their independence after a nine month arm struggle that had cost more
than 300,000 lives. The customary figure of 3 million had a history behind
which need to be further clarified from those who had been present at the time
of this historical mistake by Sheikh Mujib.
When Sheikh Mujib was freed
from Pakistani Jail after the liberation war, his first stop was the UK BBC Bangla service recalls:
“On 8
January 1972 , I was the first Bangladeshi to meet independence leader
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after his release from Pakistan
He recalls: “Mujib was puzzled to be addressed as "your
excellency" by Mr Panth. He was surprised, almost shocked, when I
explained to him that Bangladesh had been liberated and he was elected
president in his absence. Apparently he arrived in London under the impression
that East Pakistanis had been granted the full regional autonomy for which he
had been campaigning. During the day I and others gave him the full picture of
the war. I explained that no accurate figure of the casualties was available
but our estimate, based on information from various sources, was that up to
"three lakh" (300,000) died in the conflict.
“To my surprise and horror he told David Frost later that "three
millions of my people" were killed by the Pakistanis. Whether he
mistranslated "lakh" as "million" or his confused state of
mind was responsible I don't know, but many Bangladeshis still believe a figure
of three million is unrealistic and incredible.” ( Reported by the Guardian on
Tuesday 24 May 2011)
Sheikh Mujib had no clue what he was about to find when he landed in
Bangladesh on a RAF jet provided by the British Government. He received a
heroes welcome by a massive and emotional sea of people at Tejgaon
Airport. He was the undisputed leader of
Bangladesh. No one could challenge his authority: with his new found fame and
power, he formed a government based on secular ideology and assumed provisional
Presidency and later on as Prime Minister. Sheikh Mujib wanted to bring to
justice those who had comitted crimes against the people of Bangladesh, and
indeed this was the demand of every Bangladeshi. So, In 1973 the newly
independent government of Bangladesh passed a law, the International Crimes
(Tribunals) Act (ICT Act 1973), to authorize the investigation and prosecution
of the persons responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes
and other crimes under international law committed in 1971.
Sadly, the real perpetrators from
the Pakistani army who had committed horrendous crimes against innocent
Bangladeshi’s had already been released through
the Simla treaty signed between India and Pakistan in
1972. Now
the country was left with collaborators and Auxilary forces created by the
Pakistani Army to help them in their supression. More than thirty thousand
people were identified , but none of the accused facing war crimes accusation
at the ICT now, had been on the list. If they had committed such horrendous
crimes, Sheikh Mujib with his undisputed authority and Awami Government in
power, none could have escaped the authority or could have avoided arrest. But
it will be a surprised to many to know that none of the accused who are facing
war crimes charges now, had a single GD entry filed against them in any of the
police station in Bangladesh until the present Awami Government came to power.
It was Sheikh Mujibs forsight and the little wisdom he had,he felt the need
to give a general pardon to unite his people and create less divisions in the
war torn country. A part from afew who
had serious crimes against them, he
announced a general amnesty for the rest, and as a result, all those who had
been arrested were released.
Here, we need to make Some distinction
between those who had supported the Pakistani Army from a political and
idiological point of view, and those who had actively participated in the
killings,rape and act of arsons on innocent people of Bangladesh. Like Muslim
league and Nizami Islam, Bangladeshi Jamati Islam had been a small political party at the time of
independence, and purely from a political and idiological point of view, their
leaders had supported the unity of Pakistan, but never condoned killings that
took place during the war.
Many Islamic leaders, including people who had supported Awamileague during
the election, had been memebers in the peace committee that were formed during
the war - purely to save people from undue harassment by the Pakistani Army.
None could deny the fact that many influential people who had supported 6 point demand of the Awamileague, but were
unable to join freedom fight had been a member of peace committee at various places all over
the country. These people joining the peace committee had nothing to do with
collaborating with the enemy to kill people, but was purely from humanitarian
need to save peoples lives, and property from the tyranny of the occupation Army.
And many lives had been saved due to their role. This was realized by Sheikh
Mujib, and therefore,those people who had been a member of the peace committee
were relased after ivestigations.
Sadly, Sheikh Mujibs reign came to an abrupt end due to multiple wrong
decisions he had taken to consolidate his power. People of Bangladesh had never
fought for one party rule, nepotism, secularism, or tyranny. Sheikh Mujib had
no experience of running an independent country from the government side. all
his life, he had fought from the side of the opposition. So, a sudden
opposition to his rule was too much for him to patiently persevere. He took
drastic action to eliminate his opposition by extra judicial killings; it is
said that on his orders some 30000 thousand activists of the communist party,
inculding their leader Siraj Sikder were killed by Sheikh Mujibs Rokki Bahini,
a paramilitary force formed by Sheikh Mujib, exclusively to be loyal and
answerable to him. After the killing of Siraj Sikder, he had arrogantly said in
the parliament “ Where is Siraj Sikder Now?”
Sheikh Mujib then decided in priciple to disband the Army, and merge the
army with the Rokki Bahini. This plan was in the Air, but not implemented . He
soon established a system of one-party rule called ‘BAKSAL’, banned all the
newspapers except four government publications, and declared himself lifelong
president through a constitutional amendment in early 1975. His declaration of
one party rule was opposed by many political opponents. Corruption, nepotism,
and secret killings began to spread all
over the country. The Armys junior officers became agitated by one party rule, Sheikh Mujibs family
crimes, and his backtracking from what they had envisaged for an independent
Bangladesh. The Army officers then decided to stage a coup that led to the
killing of Sheikh Mujib and many members of his family.
Sadly,after his death, the public reaction that had been witnessed in
Bangladesh and abroad were suprisingly no where near to what one would have
expected for a leader whose home coming in Bangladesh had witnessed millions of emotional Bangladeshi’s
from all walk of life lining up the streets of Dhaka to receive him. But on his
death,there had been no protest from the public, or crying in sorrow. This was
not expected for a leader who had fought all his life for the rights of his
people and at the end had to give his
life, but not a shed of tears dropped from their eyes at his cruel death.
Unfortunately, it is the sad truth of history that what ever good one may do,
it is forgotten once the person becomes a tyrrant. people never forgives oppression and tyranny. But
we never learn from history.
40 years later, his daughter Sheikh Hasina is devoutly following the
footsteps of her father. If there was a lesson to be learned for the Awamileague,
it would have been from Sheikh Mujib’s rise and fall. Sheikh Hasina and her
party should reflect deeply on this hard truth, and change their ways before
another tragedy befalls on them.
After Sheikh Mujibs death, briefly Khondokar Mustaq, a cabinent member of
Awamileague was in power before Ziaur Rahman removed him, and declared Martial
Law. He later reversed ban on all political party and restored democracy. Later
he became president, but sadly, he was also killed in an Army coup in
Chiitagong. His party BNP ruled most of the time under the
leadership of Begum Zia, the wife of General Zia.
After a long absent from power, Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujib
became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh in 1996. What changed the destiny of
Awamileague and Sheikh Hasina from being
a party in opposition to party in power, was the caretaker Government system
envisaged by Bangladeshi Jamati Islam. Sheikh Hasina and Jamat had fought side
by side for a none party caretaker government which was necessary in a young
democracy like Bangladesh where the party in power always had an upper hand in
influencing vote rigging due to politicising of the civil, police, and the
election commission. Ironically, when Sheikh Hasina came to power in 2008 with
a two third majority,she changed the constitution to remove the provision of
caretaker system which she had fought for in 1996.
To be continued…
