Recognise 1971 Bangladesh genocide to stop repeat: Families of victims urge world

The families of the Bangladesh war victims have called upon the international community to recognise the 1971 genocide to prevent recurrence.

“If you don’t recognise genocide as genocide, then you are keeping the door open for future genocides to happen,” Nuzhat Choudhury, daughter of martyred intellectual Dr Abdul Alim Chaudhury, said on Monday.

“If you don’t teach your children what is right or what is wrong, and what is genocide, future generations will again become Hitler….because they will not know any better.

“Had you recognised our genocide, Rwanda would not have happened. If our perpetrators in Pakistan were brought to trial, Baluchistan today would not have happened,” she said.

She was speaking at a discussion organised by the International Affairs Sub-Committee of Bangladesh Awami League in Dhaka, marking the black night of March 25 in 1971 when Pakistan army launched genocide in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh nationally observes Mar 25 as Genocide Day commemorating those killed by the Pakistani occupation forces on that night.

The systematic genocide of the innocent and unarmed people of Bangladesh by the then Pakistani military regime left over three million dead, a quarter of a million women and young girls raped.

Bangladesh is also lobbying for international recognition of the day.

Martyred freedom fighter Altaf Mahmud’s daughter Shaon Mahmud also demanded recognition of the day as international genocide day at the event where representatives from different diplomatic missions including UK, China, Japan, and Spain were present.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, Awami League Presidium Member Faruk Khan, Joint General Secretary Mahbub Ul Alam Hanif, retired judge Justice Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, British-Bangladeshi citizen Julian Francis who worked with Oxfam in 1971, Professor of International Relations Delwar Hossain, Shammi Ahmed, Awami League’s International Affairs Secretary, were also present at the event.

Ambassador Muhammad Zamir, Chairman of International Affairs Sub-Committee, chaired the discussion moderated by Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Shah Ali Farhad.

Justice Manik warned if the international community failed to recognise the 1971 genocide, similar genocide will take place.

To stop that from happening, the wider world should stand up and recognise Bangladesh genocide as soon as possible. "It's better late than never,” he said.

Prof Delwar who teaches at Dhaka University said the world has enough evidence to recognise the 1971 genocide.

“It's shame on the part of the international community that the genocide of 1971 has not been recognised,” he said.

“Everything is political, we know. But there is a moral aspect, there is an aspect of justice in the world. If we believe in global community, if we believe in global cooperation, we need to recognise what happened in the 1971 in Bangladesh,” he said.

Francis, for whom the 1971 is still a ‘nightmare’, said the foreign ministry should be asked to ensure that all Bangladesh missions around the world are ready to take up the issue of the genocide in 1971 with their host governments and seek their cooperation.

“Rightly or wrongly, personally I consider all the deaths of all people who left their homes as a result of the actions of the Pakistan authorities and their collaborators as genocidal deaths. Perhaps we will never know the accurate figure. It could easily be over three million,” he said.

He said it is now up to the government to contact members of parliament, especially of Bangladeshi origin, or with strong connections to Bangladesh, in many countries of the world so that they can have debates in their respective parliaments to recognise that what happened in Bangladesh in 1971 was indeed ‘genocide’.

For instance, he said, in the British parliament’s House of Commons, there are three Labour party members including Tulip Siddiq, niece of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“After national parliaments of different countries have officially recognised that genocide did occur in 1971, pressure can be brought to bear on different world bodies to officially recognise the Bangladesh genocide in the same way that the Holocaust of the Second World War is recognised,” Francis said.

“March 25 each year can then become recognised in Bangladesh in the same way and with the same respect as February 21 which is recognised by the UNESCO as International Mother Language Day.”

State Minister Shahriar said it was due to the “lack of continuity” of the government policy in Bangladesh that the day has not been recognised globally.

He urged the diplomats to support Bangladesh to get the genocide recognised.

To become a good friend of Bangladesh and remain as a friendly country, all other countries should realise that “we cannot compromise on the issue of Liberation War”, the state minister said.