Tue 28 Nov 2006
New age today reports that our new commissioner fought for the Pakistani army.
Mudabbir fought for Pakistan
army in 1971
NEW AGE, 28 November 2006
One of the two newly appointed election commissioners, Mudabbir Hossain Chowdhury, had fought against the country in favour of the Pakistani occupation army during the war of independence in 1971.
The president of the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, Nasiruddin Yusuf Bacchu, confirmed the allegation against Mudabbir on Monday.
‘Being a son of the soil, Mudabbir, who was then a second lieutenant in the Pakistan army, actively participated in the massacre, the occupation Pakistan army carried out in the country during the war of liberation in 1971,’ Bacchu, a freedom fighter, told New Age.
On December 16, 1971, the victory day, Mudabbir, like other members of the occupation army headed by lieutenant general Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, surrendered to the joint command, he said.
He also referred to a book, Muktijuddhey Bektir Abasthan (Stand of Persons in the War of Liberation), in which the author, Major (retired) Shamsul Arefin, mentioned the fact of Mudabbir’s role as an officer of the Pakistani occupation army and his surrender.
In this light, I am adding a little 5 minute docu that was done by Channel S in London recently in order to define a rajakar and their role in history. Its really worth a look how they connected it with the current crisis in the Muslim world. The idea was to have the younger generation born in London connect to this piece of “ancient” history. It is one of the boldest piece of work I have seen in the recent history.
2006 - Tareq Rahman with Ali Ahsan Mujahid , head of albadar in 1971.
November 28th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Iajuddin aka BNP perhaps can’t find anyone in the party who is not a rajakar.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:03 am
I hope folks can finally see the deep-rooted relationship between Razakars and BNP leadership. Khaleda Zia has always relied on them, sometimes even more than BNP leaders.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:07 am
razakar = volunteer
also used in our history to identify ‘those guys’ and in very fruitful, often vengful related discussions.
what an incredible own goal by prof/pres. though perhaps this is an opportunity to speak about fairness.
is wouldnt be correct to use the term if he was officially in the military from before? was he? i suspect we will be informed soon.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:34 am
“Hai hai rajakar gulo desh khailo”, but the question to ask is why these things don’t matter any more. 20 years ago if one of these people got a controversial post, there would be agoon everywhere. I remember Nizami coming to DU campus (once only) and getting beaten up by students. I remember burning cars in street after Azam got his citizenship back. How did all that disappear?
November 28th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Comfort with and accommodation of “razakars” goes back earlier than that, surely. Wasn’t Shah Aziz Prime Minister some 14 years before Golam Azam got his citizenship back? Not to mention the ministries and perks held in the early 80s by people like SaQa, Anwar Zahid etc
November 28th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Yes, it started w/ Shah Aziz. But it’s a question of gradual incrementalism.
Also, there are many shades of roles in 1971, which gets lost in this rhetoric.
Al Badr/Al Shams: active paralimilitary
In my mind, this is the group that is truly in the “rajakar” category.
But this now expands to include:
- stayed in job in 1971
- signed a statement in 1971
- joined shanti committee
- fought in the pakistan army
Lot of nuances get lost of course, and inevitably as “rajakar” has been used to term everybody who was on the wrong side, the term itself has lost any bite.
Humayun Ahmed had a play in the 80s, where the parrot kept saying “thui rajakar”. He meant it seriously, but in some ways it’s about as effective as that.
Morally or politically, you could certainly oppose the flourishing of those who did not support independence of the country, whose affairs they now run. But tactically, is the “rajakar” term losing bite. Evidence shows, yes.
So what are the new tactics?
November 28th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
thankyou for your taxonomy naeem.
i still think there needs to be more tolerance and reconciliation , the justice is in the details and personal convictions and circumstances i think.
i normally switch off as soon and i hear raving about rajakars and nirmul committees and collaborators, not because i am happy to ignore, but i dont trust that the infomration on that spoon has a high fidelity and completion.
it resembles the whole ‘awami league want to tear islam out of the souls of the bangladeshis’ ranting.
both schools staring you in the eyes with gruesome evidence and an unsettling certainty that their is the only story to be told…
naeem - what can be gained by going into this at this stage? please be characteristically specific.
it hurts me that the bangladeshi people are being dishonoured and theres no manifestos or policy torko at this stage.
what will the awami league do when it gets in? (other than oppress its adversaries)?
November 28th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Fug, the evidence is pretty clear that this guy was in the army in ‘71 and surrendered. A guy who fought against the creation of Bangladesh. Is the irony really so lost in the fact that one of the commissioners entrusted with ensuring a free election in a country was actually someone who fought so it wouldn’t be created in the first place?
November 28th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
One big policy difference we saw under AL was to negotiate a peace treaty in CHT, which BNP opposed and basically gutted as soon as they got into office. For people like myself, these policies regarding minorities is enough to oppose BNP. But for mass majority of Bangalis, they don’t really give two hoots about ethnic cleansing in CHT, oppression of Hindus and other minorities, so that is not enough of a differentiator.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Speaking generally, Rajakars are still hated in Bangladesh. This hatred for 1971 collaborators spans beyond the feuding party lines in Bangladesh.
However it is a different story whether you want to see them living, working or doing politics in Bangladesh or not.
in 1978, Shah Aziz was needed by late president Ziaur Rahman who was looking for a real good parliamentarian to tackle Awami League in the parliament in the reborn democracy in Bangladesh.
Similarly in 1973, as Tofayel Ahmed still proudly says, Bangabandhu personally intervened to release Muslim league President Sabur Khan out of jail and Tofayel carried the letter to jail gate. Bangabandhu and Tofayel both thought, the combined weight of a good man Sabur Khan ( SK), long serving politician SK, good friend and political mentor SK was significantly higher than his role as Shanti committe leader in Bangladesh.
Now lets discuss why rajakars are so much tolerated in Bangladesh,
1. In each movement since 1982 Ershad regime Jamaat leaders piggybacked two major political parties and have their face seen in the media.
Till 90s they have very visible as the 3rd partner in anti Ershad movement. In fact caretaker government was their idea.
During 1991-96, jamaat piggybacked AL to showcase themselves. Now what Jalil is doing, Late Abdus Samad Azad used to do the same thing in mid 90s prior to 96 fall of BNP governmnet. Almost every evening there were press conference od Azad’s house to declare new movements. Jamaat leader Nizami, Kader Molla used to attend all those joint press conferences.
We all know the rest of the history.
2. Rajakar term does no longer evoke as much emotion as it used to do. One major reason is abuse of the term. Over the years in Bangladesh politics, a section of political spectrum as well as media and cultural activists, have resorted to denounce their opposition terming them Rajakar. In this context, leading freedome fighters like Ziaur Rahman, Kader Siddiki, Major Jalil, Shahjahan Shiraj, Mir Shawkat Ali, etc were termed rajakar repeatedly.
The reality is that current day BNP leadership have as many freedome fighter as AL have in their leadership.
14 party allied commentator Mozammel Babu recently said, ” A Razakar is always a razakar, however a Muktijodhdha is not always a muktijodhdha”. He however did not clarify when a muktijoddha cease to be muktijodhdha.
My point is that the more the term razakar or even the whole of Muktijudhdho will continue to be used for petty political gain, the less weight the term razakar will carry.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
i dont think that rajakar is as compelling a pejorative as Mir Jaffar. rajakar is lopsided and diluted with abuse and imprecision.
A NEW VOCABULARLY OF ANTIPATHY
mir jafaresque
mir jafargiri..
mir jafaristan
mir jafarcake
mir jiraffe
November 28th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Excellent op-ed by Syed Badrul Ahsan today.
Nightrunners of Bengal
http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/11/29/d61129020331.htm
Excerpt
Back in 1971, again in the dark, Moulana Mannan scampered away from the home where the lately abducted (and murdered) Alim Chowdhury had given him shelter. It is always the morally weak, and the politically corrupt, who run for their lives. And so in the dark the Moulana ran, to live not just another day but for a number of years. As long as he lived, he felt little need to say how ashamed or how sorry he was about his dark deeds in the year of our collective travails. There were other collaborators who ran, some in little more than their underwear, only to be caught in the end.
Moulvi Farid Ahmed, an intelligent man who made the grave mistake of taking Pakistan’s side against his own Bengalis tried to run, but was caught by the Mukti Bahini, never to be found again. Syed Sajjad Hussain loved imitating the English, but when it came to defending the “integrity and solidarity” of Pakistan, he did not flinch from seeing his academic colleagues and his students die at the hands of the Pakistan army and its local quislings. It was a bizarre case of English literature and murderous communal ideology coming together in the service of genocide. On 16 December, Hussain’s “courage” failed him. He ran, was caught and treated by the freedom fighters in expected manner. Then he ran through the night again, this time to Saudi Arabia; and then ran back, once secular Bangladesh turned communal, to this country, to be shunned by Bengalis who had not forgotten 1971.
November 28th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
The question has been posed somewhat polemically, with an emphasis on “who”.
It’s not a request for a pedagogic response as to the dictionary definition of “rajakar”. It’s not about a tedious semantic disquisition on the word “rajakar”. Let’s get with the programme!
My answer as to who is a rajakar is coloured by personal family experience in Bangladesh. Along with my eldest brother and teenage sister, my mother (who is now in her 70s) had to use her wits to evade being captured by these rajakars.
Having been involved with the Nirmul Committe, I can tell you that the NC is preoccupied with people like Azam and Nizami. As a member of the NC I was involved in the campaign to stop the likes of Azam entering BD politics.
As to the possibly tendentious inclusion of those who:
- stayed in job in 1971
- signed a statement in 1971
- joined shanti committee
- fought in the pakistan army
Well, I’ll say it with a clear conscience; those who actively and knowingly participated in the genocide, are war criminals (call them rajakars if you want to). They were part of the apparatus that attempted to obliterate the Banglaphiles and Banglaphones.
I remain grateful to drishtipat for bringing up this painful issue. Every Bengali must be helped to voice their thoughts on this issue. Had my Bengali mother not survived, I would not have had the good fortune of being the product of a post-independence BD.
One of the great things about my mother is that she speaks about forgiving the Pakistani army and its minions for the trauma. That’s something of a luxury she can now afford, she’s living to a ripe old age without anyone trying to stifle her freedom. My mother’s attitude, I believe, amply illustrates the exception of Bengalis as vengeful.
In South Africa, reconciliation happened because the guilty were prepared to admit to their guilt. Can the rajakars do the same?
November 28th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
It seems to me that we as Bangladeshi will never learn that todays world is different that before. Todays politics and criticism should be towards economic and social development in Bangladesh where we spend our valuable time finding who is Rajakar and who is not. I also have seen same thing while I was in Bangladesh a week ago.
I don’t know when this kind of mentality will change and be proactive to build this country. We know that most of the political leaders in Bangladesh do not think about Bangladesh except their fame and wealth. I also think if we don’t change here, they won’t change their either.
My advice to all of us that forget about Rajakar topics, be creative, be proactive, and setup an example for Bangladesh. I don’t have trust with any political parties in Bangladesh, but we have to live up with one of them when they come to the power. It might seem mean to some of you, but this is fact and this is real.
Best wishes,
M. M. Chowdhury
http://www.amreteckpharma.com
November 28th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
Responding to # 10.
Caretaker government was originally proposed by professor Muzaffar Ahmed, IBA teacher at Dhaka University. I heard him saying that on NTV interview and citing some renouned witnesses.
Goo Azam hijacked the idea and preached as his own. If all the Jamatis claim that it was their idea, but only the Muzaffar Ahmed I know claims it was his, I bileive the later. Jamaits are “master of stealing ideas”.
November 28th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
My point @ # 10 was not intended to credit Jamaat, but it was only to show how intricately Jamaat involved itself with Bangladesh political events over the years.
Prof Muzaffar Ahmed, current chairman TIB trstee board, and former adviser to Late Presiden Ziaur Rahman, probably did propose a caretaker form of government. In fact many other columnists of that time had the same proposal.
Likewise now a days we write, propose so many things in this blog or in conferences. These are useless until they are adopted by political parties. Jamaat first picked up the idea in ther demands and BNP-AL followed Jamaat over the next years.
November 28th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
@ M.M.Islam #14:
Why do you ask us to forget Rajakar topics ? If we forget our glorious past, how can we build our future ? The nazis are still hated all over Europe for what they did 60 years ago although Nazis were brought under justice. But in our country, rajakars were spared without facing any punsihment for their killing and rape in 1971. May be a few of them were jailed for some time, but their ‘homra chomras’ are now VIPs in a country whose birth they opposed, whose intellectuals were killed ruthlessly by them. This is very shameful for us and no matter however late we are, rajakars (at least the top guns) should be tried for their war crimes.
Forgetting the past is not the answer, everyone should get paid for what they have done in the past for the country. I have seen people asking for forgetting 71 but the same set of people often refer to 74 famine or 75 Baksal regime. Sometimes some of them also praise Ayub Khan or ‘Kaide Azam ‘for what they did b4 71. This is a total inconsistency of judgement principally driven by the political stand, not from any economic development perspective.
FZ T
November 29th, 2006 at 12:32 am
Hi FZT,
You are contradicting yourself and showing double standard of morality. As I presume, you are not ready to forget the past. But how can you make friendship with British who colonized our countries for 200 years and committed so much of atrocities on us! Didn’t you forget that past and now even invite them to meddle in our affairs? Even, the USA governement was against our freedom and sent 7th fleet to Indian ocean agaist us. Didn’t you forget that? It was the Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who was against us and an accoplish of Pakistani Barbarism on us. But ironically, forgetting the past Hasina received award from the infamous Henry Kissinger. Are these not double standard of morality, per your position!
Thanks1
November 29th, 2006 at 8:26 am
FZ Says @ #17
FZ, I am not sure if you understand the real life situation. You are keep coming with the solution that will kill or priosn millions of people in Bangladesh since they are Rajakar. By creating this solution, you will kill another 5 Crore poor people in Bangladesh since they will die in poverty. This poverty will be created if you continue tried those Rajakar or create a hatred situation in Bangladesh.
I am not soft on Rajakar, but my point is that what will you accomplish now by killing them or putting them in prison? Don’t you understand that countries like India and China busy on their econominc development and which ultimately will reduce poverty, lifting their countries up. You and me are busy talking about Rajakar where US business investment group is busy investing in India and China. Don’t you think we could take some of the investment pie if Bangladesh political situation was better.
I believe that we need to forgive them and talk about positives for Bangladesh. Don’t you think that some countries are benefiting because of our Political hatred situation in Bangladesh? Just ask this question yourself, you will get the answer.
Best wishes,
M. M. Chowdhury
http://www.amreteckpharma.com
November 29th, 2006 at 8:49 am
If Mudabbir really fought for Pakisatn Army in 1971, he should be termed as a War Criminal, not just a rajakar. I see it as our collective failure that we couldn’t take these war criminals to court as of yet. If they had asked for mercy and apologized publicly for their crimes, then we’d have thought about forgiving them. Just a few days ago Jamaat leader Mujahidi appeared on ‘tritiyo matra’ of channel I. He chose not to respond to the question whether they were sorry for their role in 1971.
It was Ziaur Rahman who abolished the special ‘Daalaal aain’ which could be used for the trials of collaborators of Pakistani army. He rehabilitated the collaborators and war criminals for his own political gain. History of our liberation war was deliberately changed during the era of Zia-Ershad. As a result, a whole new generation grew up knowing nothing about our liberation war, except the controversy of who declared our independence. What do we expect from this generation now? How can they feel the pulse of 1971?
November 29th, 2006 at 10:25 am
In conventional wisdom Modabbir may not be dubbed a Rajakar, but he most certainly forfeited his rights to act as a person who will oversee a process that will decide the future of this great country for next five years. The people who elected him to this post are just as bad or may be worse than Madabbir.
To response to M M Chowdhury,
please don’t try to tell me that we need to ignore the Rajakar topic. I WILL NOT do so. IMO most people of BD do not talk enough about the Rajakars or the war criminals – resulting in selection of Modabbir as EC.
In middle school we did not learn about the acts of these rajakars and how these Rajakars helped launch one of the worst kind of genocide in recent history, helped kill the professors, doctors and lawyers, and looted their friends. After liberation the rajakars either fled the country or received mercy by people in power. The people behind the coup and mass killing of the president’s families in ’75 were sent oversees and awarded with diplomatic positions.
Again, IMO enough cover up has taken place in this country by the people with twisted vision.
Let the truth come out.
Let’s call a criminal a criminal. And yes, forgiveness is a good virtue, but are there alleged criminals who are asking for forgiveness?? Where??
November 29th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Choudhury Shaheb,
I agree that we need to talk about economic progress. But since when economic progress and asking for justice became mutually exclusive. Ekta chaile, annota chawa jai na? Should we stop talking about human rights? You can’t have economic progress without rule of law and justice. Asking justice for the war crimes of collaborators is part of that.
November 29th, 2006 at 11:47 am
Maybe I could not explain myself properly. Ofcourse the rule of law and justice are part of the economical development. What I was trying to say that we don’t need to be bog down on this topics so much that we miss the real boat.
Now the Rajakar are not asking for forgiveness. What should we do? We can not impose those to them. Its like democracy can not be imposed or imported, it needs to be created. See, USA could not export democracy in Iraq. Its same in this situation, you can not do anything if those Rajakar don’t ask for the forgiveness.
I hope that I could explain my point.
Best wishes,
M. M. Chowdhury
http://www.amreteckpharma.com
November 29th, 2006 at 11:54 am
It’s important to distinguish between Dalals and Rajakars (in the latter I include AlBadr & AlShams). The former were more of an intellectual kind of collaborators, whom Mujib pardoned (I believe) — and I think we should accept that and move on.
On the other hand, the Rajakars (or Razakars) with blood on their hands should be pursued and prosecuted (not persecuted) to the fullest extent. Their impunity is the single most important factor leading to the culture of corruption and lawlessness thriving in Bangladesh today. Zia & Ershad therefore bear the brunt of the responsibility of the chaos we’ve been experiencing for the last 20 years.
As Asif has already remarked, you can’t have progress & human rights without social justice and law & order. Hear! Hear!
PS: Just some numbers for who can’t forget AL/Mujib/Hasina’s failures (and Rakshi bahini) but want us to forget the Razakars and their biggest patron, Gen Zia.
AL/Mujib/Hasina were in power for a mere 3 + 5 = 8 out of the last 35 years of our independence; on the other hand BNP/Zia/Khaleda were there for 5 + 5 + 5 = 15 years [the last time with a majority rendering them powerful enough to change the constitution; but all they achieved was a Great Image; a Prince of Corruption; Op. Cleanheart; RAB; JMJB/Jamati infiltration; and perhaps most significantly: Kansat and Phulbari].
November 29th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Very interesting cooments on Rajakar,Al-badr and al-shams and peace committeee– if I remember correctly in then East Pakistan there were a lot of Biharis residing– and they were initaially the supporters of the Pakistan Government army action –Pak Govt claimed that E.Pakistan was inflitrated by Indians mostly Hindus and these mingled with the AL politicians and were creating problems n trying to separate the Country. After their initial barrage of artilerry fire which caused human lives and burning of establisments they gave a break on the 27th during which many of the Muslim League workers and biharis/urdu speaking persons were approached to form “Peace Committee” first and then the biharis were trained and armed to help the Army while they showed the world that People in E.Pakistan accepted them to fight the hindu insurgents within then country– these Muslim Leagures,majority of whom were Peace Commottiee Members, bihairs, were later joined by the maulanas from the madrashas too–to save what is called Pakistan the land of muslims wherein infiltrated hindus were assisting the AL a party devoid of any relgion and moral values fully committed to hindu idealism and willing to be a part of India. Thats how the formations of all these organisations began.
Many within the Peace Committee were not too willing and in agreement to carry out what was asked of them but because they were unable to cross over they had to comply or face deadth–firing squad; so played along without too much participation while the Biharis were the most active lots– however there will always be some MIR JAFARS around and those joined the biharis.
After liberation many of these biharis ,al-shams and al -badrs and Razakars fled the country through teknaf to Burma guess the name was ayab –n from there onwards to other destination besides Pakistan.
Shah Aziz and Sabur Khan were Muslim Leaguegers no doubt and members of the Peace Committee too because they couldnt defy the orders from Yahya;however they were experienced parliamentarians and seasoned politicians and personally didnt take any action by which any Bengali was executed or in any trouble; thats the reason why Bongobandhu intervened to realease Sabur Khan and later I believe Shah Aziz too. Hope this will clear many of their misunderstanding of these organisations.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
I forgot to mention one other achievement of the BNP-Jamaat jote: they did use their 2/3 majority to amend the constitution: just so they could keep their own favorite “justice”, hoping he would continue as the head of the CG. Fortunately, that guy chickened out, though only after violent, bloody protests. Unfortunately, their devious ploys continue with Iajuddi’.
November 29th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
To tteller,
I am not against friendship with Pakistan or Britain, but we should not forget what they did in our country. Diplomatic relationship depends on mutual acknowledgement and goodwill, not on total submission and suppression of the truth. Rajakars are not Pakistani, they are Bangladeshi ppl who fought against us, killed our brothers and raped our sisters. Why should we forgive them and forget while they have not still begged our pardon ? So, I can’t understand how my stand is contradictory.
I am not here to defend Hasina or Khaleda. So I’ll not comment abt Kissinger chapter.
To M.M.Chowdhury,
Millions of ppl were not rajakars. And all of them were not guilty of killing, rape and arsons. And even if all of them cannot be tried, why don’t we start from the top ? At least the killers of the intellectuals, the Al Badr Bahini leaders, most of whom are now in a very prominenet positions, must be brought under war criminal charge.
I could not understand how following the path of justice can act as an impediments towards the development.
FZ
November 29th, 2006 at 11:14 pm
FZT and many other comments like, we can forget and forgive Pakistanis and the Americans who massacred us and who betrayed our cause. But we can’t do it from our own people.
This stand I don’t understand at all! Is it not quite unnatural. Those who faught against us and went agaist our interest did the same mistakes. My thinking is that we should forgive own people first. What will you do if your kids and your neighbor’s kids do the same crime. I think, it will be more expected, you will be more linient to absolve the crime of your own kids than your neighbor’s.
Whatever we do think we can do, as we are free to think and express.
Thanks.
November 30th, 2006 at 3:50 am
The word “Rajakar” has become similar to the “n” word in the US, which has now morphed into “nigga”. Offensive in general, but by now, acceptable, at least in certain circles.
November 30th, 2006 at 7:57 am
interesting observations.
i pray for the day when we can move on and this nasty political blood capital technique no longer exists. Bangladeshis have big hearts sometimes, Lets do a Mandela no?
To accuse somebody and deamonise him or her on bad information, decontextually, ahistorically but very politically and emotionally is undignified. I know how truth and falsehood spread in Bangladesh. Falsehood spreads wider and deeper, because its to easy to understand and we like to blame storm rather than brain storm.
I have very little hope for rational justice based discussion on this. We all go loopy as soon as the ‘r’ word comes up.
It is being done in the uk on a regular basis, its not nice, I dont think Syed Badrul Ahsan gives a stuff about the deshis in the uk, or about the good elements of previous national visions carried by people in bangladesh. If he wrote that in a uk paper about uk political figures he would have a very difficult time in court and have to pay legal penalties.
He can say what he says because the accused are dead and we dont question our fundamentals. We see him as an elderly statesman type which a good social memory. We dont have a libel system with integrity.
He hasnt doesnt his homework, but its ok for bangladesh press and the foreign thinktank scene i guess.
I agree with much of what has written in the past, not on this occassion though.
December 10th, 2006 at 1:48 am
Who gives a s**t about what he did and all that? If he was all that bad, then go to the court. I am not going to stay in the past. If any crime was committed then bring the culprits to justice. If that is not possible, then live with them. Because in that case it’s not their fault that they can hold honorable posts. I have seen enough deaths and destructions for the last 30 years caused by the pro-liberation party. I would pick to live with an anti-liberation guy over a terrorist pro-liberation guy any day. Simply because I don’t live in the past. This is the same reason why I would vote for them and have voted for them without any hesitation.
December 10th, 2006 at 4:08 am
The problem with bringing charges in court is that the amount of evidence is negligible. This is more function of lack of record-keeping than anything else. The time to bring charges was in 72-73 (or do national reconciliation, a la Mandela), when there were many more witnesses alive, and physical evidence was also plentiful. 35 years on, very little evidence survives.
December 11th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
As a daughter of a Martyr of 1971 I am so moved to see the clip of the documentar. To me Razakars are the biggest curse that has ever happened to our sad country, worse than any Pakistani soldier that ever lived because they (razakars) betrayed and brutalized their motherland.
I am equally disgusted to see the son of a freedom fighter (Tareq Zia) intimately conversing with one of the most brutal killers of 1971. Well, maybe if Tareq Zia lost his father he would have known how it feels.
I agree with Nayeem that these cases cannot be tried in a conventional court. As a defendent I know that. War crimes need special tribunals to be dealt with.
And I believe, every family in Bangladesh should have lost a dear one to know how costly the libaration war was and would have certainly given a s**t about these.
Justice is not living in the past. When a war criminal of the second world war is tried after 50 years people call it justice. What about justice for us?
And to do a “Mandela Thing” we need the Razakars to ask for forgiveness. I do not recall ever hearing something like that!
Bangladeshis are cursed by the injustice and betrayal that was done to the martyrs, the violated women, the freedom fighters and most of all our motherland. There cannot any moving forward by stepping through this blood soaked path. We do not mind to reap the benefit of liberation. But, it bothers us to recognize and respect the ultimate sacrifices that gave us all that. I do not think there can be anything more ungrateful than that.
Thanks to Allah, my father died and did not live to see this. He is so blessed. I wish I was too.
December 12th, 2006 at 10:02 am
Neepa,
As I understand your father was Dr. Alim Chowdhury who was given away to Pakistani Soldiers by Moulana Mannan who became a minister under Zia and Ershad later on. I can only offer my sincerest apologies to your family for not being being able to do justice for the wrongs done. But just like the video itself, there is hope. The video was done by young ones who were born after 1971 and who take great pride in the sacrifice made by your family among others. As long as they are there, there is hope. My father was taken away by the military as well but by the stroke of luck, he was spared his life. I can’t imagine the loss and anger you must feel. But do know there are millions out there who appreciate the sacrifices of people like you for which we enjoy the freedom and a country called Bangladesh.
December 12th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
Bangladesh as a country cannot move forward till we are honest about our history, confront our demons, and resolve the unresolved issues of the past. Now with the benefit of hindsight, I believe it was wrong not to try the war criminals of 1971. I had asked one of our eminent citizens, who played an important role in the post 71 regime, why this was not done. His reply was that there were not concepts of Truth Commissions at that time and legally trying everyone would have been more divisive than rehabilitative. However, he also agreed that at least some people should have been made examples of. But he confessed that not in their wildest dreams had the victorious freedom fighters imagined that the war criminals would reinvent themselves in such a manner in an independent Bangladesh.
I understand that an apology from the Razakars would be some kind of comfort for the victims of the Liberation War. However, I believe a bigger sense of achievement should be that fact that there are still conscientious people who salute the martyrs of 1971 and will be eternally grateful for the freedoms we enjoy today. Have you ever imagined what a Palestinian or a Kashimiri would give to have the freedom we have today? We owe our freedom to the fighters of 1971. We owe it to the martyrs to keep on fighting for the values for which they gave their lives.
January 3rd, 2007 at 10:56 am
I dont know if anyone knows about adviser
MR aziz ex-IGP , his and his family father and father-Inlaw’s role in 1971.