Genocide in Bangladesh

Abstract

Introduction e birth of Bangladesh in 1971 was a unique phenomenon in that it was the rst nation-state to emerge aer waging a successful liberation war against a postcolonial state, Pakistan. e partition of India in 1947 on the basis of religion created a single, independent state of Pakistan, carved out of two primarily Muslim majority territories in the Western and Eastern parts of India, separated by 1,600 k. However, over the years, disparities and divisions started emerging between the Eastern and Western parts of Pakistan (Jahan, 1972). e Muslims in East and West Pakistan were divided by language, ethnicity, and culture. ough the Bengali Muslims of East Pakistan comprised the majority of the population, their language and culture were threatened by the non-Bengali ruling elites who belonged to West Pakistan. e Bengalis were politically excluded as the country was ruled by either non-elected civilian leaders or military dictators from West Pakistan. East Pakistan was also economically exploited as resources were transferred from East to West Pakistan (Sobhan, 1962; Rahman, 1968). In 1970 the Awami League (AL) led by the Bengali nationalist leader Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujibur Rahman (Sheikh Mujib), won an overwhelming victory in the Pakistan general election, the rst free election held in the country. But the West Pakistan-based leadership refused to hand over power. Instead, on March 25, 1971, they arrested Shiekh Mujib and launched a military campaign throughout East Pakistan. is triggered the declaration of independence of Bangladesh on March 26, 1971, and the start of a national liberation war which received logistical support from India. e liberation war reached its culmination in afull-scale conventional war between Pakistan and the joint forces of India and Bangladesh. Ultimately, Pakistan surrendered to the joint forces on December 16, 1971. e nine-months-long liberation war in Bangladesh in 1971 drew world attention because of the genocide committed by the Pakistani armed forces, which, with the support of local militant groups, conducted widely documented massacres, tortures, rapes, disappearances, destruction of property, and forced displacements (Loshak, 1971; Mascarenhas 1971; Schanberg 1971; Coggin, Shepherd, & Greenway, 1971). Newspaper reports, testimonies before the U.S. Congress and other studies published during 1971 and aerwards describe in detail many of the atrocities. e declassied documents of the U.S. government show that the U.S. government ocials serving in East Pakistan in 1971 used the term “genocide” to describe the events they had knowledge of at that time and/or were witnessing rst-hand (Blood telegram, 1971, published in Gandhi, 2002). e Pakistani military attacks targeted the Bengali nationalists with a particular focus on selected groups such as the students, intellectuals, and the Hindu community. Estimates of the number of victims vary. Bangladesh authorities claim that nearly three million people were killed; approximately 200,000 girls and women were raped; 10 million took refuge in India, and another 30 million were displaced within the country. Aer independence, the new government in Bangladesh made attempts to bring the perpetrators of these atrocities to justice. But internal and international pressures prevented that from happening. However, the demand for justice and accountability were persistently raised by civil society groups within Bangladesh. Finally, in the 2008 parliamentary elections impunity became a major campaign issue and the AL, which won an overwhelming victory, promised to prosecute these crimes. In 2009 Bangladesh established an International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), a domestic court with a mandate to prosecute Bangladeshi collaborators involved in the 1971 atrocities. e ICT is conducting an investigation and has begun to issue arrest warrants of alleged suspects. In 2010, four suspects were arrested. ese recent actions of the Bangladesh government have received international support. At the same time, the government has been advised to ensure that this justice meets international standards (ICT Brieng, July 2010). is chapter briey addresses the following questions: What were the historical forces and trends that led to the genocide? How was the genocide committed? Who committed the genocide? What were the responses to the genocide? What has been the impact of the genocide? What are the contestations about the genocide? And, nally, why is the Bangladesh case important to understanding the complexities of genocide?