Try 195 Pakistan Army men

They should be prosecuted for ’71 atrocities, reiterate researchers, historians

With the nation celebrating the 47th Victory Day today, researchers and historians have reiterated the demand for trials of Pakistan Army's 195 officers, the prime accused of the 1971 genocide. They said Bangladesh has the moral and legal right to try them, although the trial seems a far cry. They said the nation had already seen the execution of some leading war criminals but the trial of Pakistani soldiers who committed all kinds of war crimes including genocide, rape and looting in 1971, still remains a far cry.

 The then Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had declared on January 29, 1972 that his government would not forgive those who were guilty of genocide in Bangladesh. After the withdrawal of the Indian Army from Bangladesh in March 1972, the Indian Prime Minister visited Dhaka. In a public meeting on March 17 at Suhrawardy Uddyan attended by Indira Gandhi, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared that the Pakistani Prisoners of War would be handed over to Bangladesh for trial.

Talking to this correspondent, writer, historian and war crimes researcher Shahriar Kabir said Bangladesh has the moral and legal right to try the 195 Pakistani army officers, and the nation was now eagerly waiting to see the trials of those who masterminded the 1971 atrocities.

“Pakistani forces had committed war crime on Bangladeshis in 1971 and the

government should ensure justice as far as possible,” said Kabir, who is also the president of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee.

 Prof. Muntassir Mamoon said that the Pakistani occupied forces had killed more than 3,000,000 people in Bangladesh and should have been brought to book by the Bangladesh government.

 Nuzhat Chowdhury, daughter of martyred intellectual Dr Alim Chowdhury, said the government should take immediate steps to bring the prime accused of the 1971 genocide under trial.

Among other eminent historians and intellectuals, Prof. Jayanta Kumar Ray, Hiranmay Karlekar, Prof. Meshbah Kamal, journalist Manash Ghosh, Prof. Kausik Bandyopadhyay, Fowzul Azim, and barrister Tureen Afroz, too, have demanded the trial of Pakistani Army officers who engineered the genocide.

Earlier, on 20 January 2016, the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh, formed a 5-member investigation cell to collect information on the 195 Pakistan Army personnel.

Mohammad Abdul Hannan Khan, chief coordinator for the ICT investigation agency, said: “It was an informal investigation. During the investigation we have collected information about those Pakistani Army officials who were involved in the atrocities, officials who had commanded the committing of atrocities against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.”

He said: “We have collected information from upazila and district levels but the trial against the Pakistani Army officials is not a matter of the ICT. We need to follow international law to punish them as they are not Bangladeshis.”

He claimed they would be able to start trials against the 195 Pakistani Army officers if the government completed the procedures. When contacted, Law minister Anisul Huq said the trials of the 195 Pakistani war criminals, released under the Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan in 1972, were under consideration.

“The present government is very sincere about trying the Pakistan Army’s 195 officers. Now we are examining legal aspects regarding how the prime accused of the 1971 genocide can be brought to justice,” the law minister said.

“We will do so for the solace of departed souls of the three million people who were murdered in cold blood and two hundred thousand women and girls who were raped by the Pakistan Army,” he said.

However, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said on Thursday that he did not know anything about the trial of 195 Pakistani soldiers.

Former US diplomat Thomas A Dine, who had worked in Delhi in 1971, alleged that the then United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Alfred Kissinger and President Richard Nixon were behind the atrocities committed against Bangladeshis in 1971 by the Pakistani Army.

At an international seminar in Dhaka in November this year, Dine claimed that, along with the 195 Pakistani soldiers, Kissinger and Nixon should also be brought under trial for their stance during the Liberation War in 1971.

Indian war veteran Brigadier (retd) RP Singh said: “Bangladesh has brought the collaborators to book but we cannot sleep in peace until we bring the officers who committed genocide during the Liberation War to book.” RP Singh was the first and only Indian Army personnel who fought against the occupation Pakistani forces, disguised as a Bangladeshi.

He said: “Pakistani Army officers had committed war crimes across East Pakistan in the name of Islam. All the officials who were on duty here during the Liberation War have to be brought to book.”

 Why trial did not take place  After the reconciliation talks between India and Pakistan in 1972 following the latter’s defeat in the Bangladesh war, a tripartite pact was signed in New Delhi between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1974.

The pact allowed the Pakistani “war Criminals”, which included Lt Gen AAK Niazi, defeated Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan’s Eastern Command and many senior commanders, to go back to their country from Indian jails.

The repatriation was also facilitated after Islamabad issued a statement in April 1973 assuring Bangladesh of putting the soldiers on trial.

An article published in Indian daily the Hindu reads:  While “rejecting” Dhaka’s right to try the Pakistanis on war crimes charges, “because the alleged criminal acts were committed in a part of Pakistan by citizens of Pakistan”, the Pakistan government expressed “its readiness to constitute a judicial tribunal of such character and composition as will inspire international confidence to try the persons charged with offenses”. However, Pakistan did not constitute any such tribunal nor did it act in accordance with the recommendations of the Justice Hamudoor Rahman Commission, constituted by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, which suggested trials of identified Pakistani top soldiers for their atrocities in the former East Pakistan.

As soon as the trial of war criminals began, questions were raised from different quarters as to how and why the 195 Pakistani soldiers were released in 1974 without any trial.

It has also been argued that those 195 Pakistanis were the main war criminals and their release raises questions about the merit of the current trial process. BZ Khasru in his book, ‘The Bangladesh Military Coup and the CIA Link’, has detailed the reasons why the trial of Pakistani officers did not take place. He sketched a political portrait of the Pakistan-US alliance and diplomatic geo-strategy concerning Bangladesh’s Liberation War during and after 1971.

He claimed in his book that the USA had used India to help Bangladesh over the trial. After directed by USA, India pressured Bangladesh to opt the trial. Four months into his presidency, as the facts contained in the book show, Pakistan’s then President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto wrote to US President Richard Nixon, requesting him to influence Bangladesh not to put Pakistani soldiers on trial on charges of atrocities committed during 1971.

 At one point in history, those POWs were repatriated to Pakistan.

Initially, the issue of recognising Bangladesh as an independent state by Pakistan was subject to Bangabandhu’s holding off the war crimes trials in Bangladesh. Moreover, Pakistan was creating pressure on Bangladesh with the support of its allies to free the majority of the Pakistani POWs. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto threatened that, if Bangladesh carried out the trial of 195 POWs, Pakistan would also hold similar tribunals against Bangladeshis trapped in Pakistan.

In an interview on May 27, 1973, Bhutto said: “There will be specific charges [against Bengalis held in Pakistan now]. How many will be tried, I cannot say.” To prove that it was not just an empty threat, around 203 Bengalis were immediately detained as “virtual hostages” by the Pakistan government for the release of 195 POWs.

Fearing for the fate of the thousands of Bengalis held in Pakistan, and to gain the much-needed access to the UN, Bangladesh, finally, had to accept Pakistan’s proposal.  In this connection, 195 POWs accused of genocide and war crimes were repatriated to Pakistan under the Delhi Agreement, and in exchange, Pakistan promised that it would hold the trial of the 195 POWs on its own soil.

Relying on Pakistan’s promise, Bangladesh then withdrew its demand for trying the Pakistani soldiers in Dhaka.

 

Try 195 Pakistan Army men

They should be prosecuted for 71 atrocities, reiterate researchers, historians

With the nation celebrating the 47th Victory Day today, researchers and historians have reiterated the demand for trials of Pakistan Armys 195 officers, the prime accused of the 1971 genocide. They said Bangladesh has the moral and legal right to try them, although the trial seems a far cry. They said the nation had already seen the execution of some leading war criminals but the trial of Pakistani soldiers who committed all kinds of war crimes including genocide, rape and looting in 1971, still remains a far cry. The then Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had declared on January 29, 1972 that his government would not forgive those who were guilty of genocide in Bangladesh. After the withdrawal of the Indian Army from Bangladesh in March 1972, the Indian Prime Minister visited Dhaka. In a public meeting on March 17 at Suhrawardy Uddyan attended by Indira Gandhi, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared that the Pakistani Prisoners of War would be handed over to Bangladesh for trial. Talking to this correspondent, writer, historian and war crimes researcher Shahriar Kabir said Bangladesh has the moral and legal right to try the 195 Pakistani army officers, and the nation was now eagerly waiting to see the trials of those who masterminded the 1971 atrocities. Pakistani forces had committed war crime on Bangladeshis in 1971 and the government should ensure justice as far as possible, said Kabir, who is also the president of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee. Prof. Muntassir Mamoon said that the Pakistani occupied forces had killed more than 3,000,000 people in Bangladesh and should have been brought to book by the Bangladesh government. Nuzhat Chowdhury, daughter of martyred intellectual Dr Alim Chowdhury, said the government should take immediate steps to bring the prime accused of the 1971 genocide under trial. Among other eminent historians and intellectuals, Prof. Jayanta Kumar Ray, Hiranmay Karlekar, Prof. Meshbah Kamal, journalist Manash Ghosh, Prof. Kausik Bandyopadhyay, Fowzul Azim, and barrister Tureen Afroz, too, have demanded the trial of Pakistani Army officers who engineered the genocide. Earlier, on 20 January 2016, the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh, formed a 5-member investigation cell to collect information on the 195 Pakistan Army personnel. Mohammad Abdul Hannan Khan, chief coordinator for the ICT investigation agency, said: It was an informal investigation. During the investigation we have collected information about those Pakistani Army officials who were involved in the atrocities, officials who had commanded the committing of atrocities against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971. He said: We have collected information from upazila and district levels but the trial against the Pakistani Army officials is not a matter of the ICT. We need to follow international law to punish them as they are not Bangladeshis. He claimed they would be able to start trials against the 195 Pakistani Army officers if the government completed the procedures. When contacted, Law minister Anisul Huq said the trials of the 195 Pakistani war criminals, released under the Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan in 1972, were under consideration. The present government is very sincere about trying the Pakistan Armys 195 officers. Now we are examining legal aspects regarding how the prime accused of the 1971 genocide can be brought to justice, the law minister said. We will do so for the solace of departed souls of the three million people who were murdered in cold blood and two hundred thousand women and girls who were raped by the Pakistan Army, he said. However, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said on Thursday that he did not know anything about the trial of 195 Pakistani soldiers. Former US diplomat Thomas A Dine, who had worked in Delhi in 1971, alleged that the then United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Alfred Kissinger and President Richard Nixon were behind the atrocities committed against Bangladeshis in 1971 by the Pakistani Army. At an international seminar in Dhaka in November this year, Dine claimed that, along with the 195 Pakistani soldiers, Kissinger and Nixon should also be brought under trial for their stance during the Liberation War in 1971. Indian war veteran Brigadier (retd) RP Singh said: Bangladesh has brought the collaborators to book but we cannot sleep in peace until we bring the officers who committed genocide during the Liberation War to book. RP Singh was the first and only Indian Army personnel who fought against the occupation Pakistani forces, disguised as a Bangladeshi. He said: Pakistani Army officers had committed war crimes across East Pakistan in the name of Islam. All the officials who were on duty here during the Liberation War have to be brought to book. Why trial did not take place After the reconciliation talks between India and Pakistan in 1972 following the latters defeat in the Bangladesh war, a tripartite pact was signed in New Delhi between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1974. The pact allowed the Pakistani war Criminals, which included Lt Gen AAK Niazi, defeated Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistans Eastern Command and many senior commanders, to go back to their country from Indian jails. The repatriation was also facilitated after Islamabad issued a statement in April 1973 assuring Bangladesh of putting the soldiers on trial. An article published in Indian daily the Hindu reads: While rejecting Dhakas right to try the Pakistanis on war crimes charges, because the alleged criminal acts were committed in a part of Pakistan by citizens of Pakistan, the Pakistan government expressed its readiness to constitute a judicial tribunal of such character and composition as will inspire international confidence to try the persons charged with offenses. However, Pakistan did not constitute any such tribunal nor did it act in accordance with the recommendations of the Justice Hamudoor Rahman Commission, constituted by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, which suggested trials of identified Pakistani top soldiers for their atrocities in the former East Pakistan. As soon as the trial of war criminals began, questions were raised from different quarters as to how and why the 195 Pakistani soldiers were released in 1974 without any trial. It has also been argued that those 195 Pakistanis were the main war criminals and their release raises questions about the merit of the current trial process. BZ Khasru in his book, The Bangladesh Military Coup and the CIA Link, has detailed the reasons why the trial of Pakistani officers did not take place. He sketched a political portrait of the Pakistan-US alliance and diplomatic geo-strategy concerning Bangladeshs Liberation War during and after 1971. He claimed in his book that the USA had used India to help Bangladesh over the trial. After directed by USA, India pressured Bangladesh to opt the trial. Four months into his presidency, as the facts contained in the book show, Pakistans then President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto wrote to US President Richard Nixon, requesting him to influence Bangladesh not to put Pakistani soldiers on trial on charges of atrocities committed during 1971. At one point in history, those POWs were repatriated to Pakistan. Initially, the issue of recognising Bangladesh as an independent state by Pakistan was subject to Bangabandhus holding off the war crimes trials in Bangladesh. Moreover, Pakistan was creating pressure on Bangladesh with the support of its allies to free the majority of the Pakistani POWs. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto threatened that, if Bangladesh carried out the trial of 195 POWs, Pakistan would also hold similar tribunals against Bangladeshis trapped in Pakistan. In an interview on May 27, 1973, Bhutto said: There will be specific charges [against Bengalis held in Pakistan now]. How many will be tried, I cannot say. To prove that it was not just an empty threat, around 203 Bengalis were immediately detained as virtual hostages by the Pakistan government for the release of 195 POWs. Fearing for the fate of the thousands of Bengalis held in Pakistan, and to gain the much-needed access to the UN, Bangladesh, finally, had to accept Pakistans proposal. In this connection, 195 POWs accused of genocide and war crimes were repatriated to Pakistan under the Delhi Agreement, and in exchange, Pakistan promised that it would hold the trial of the 195 POWs on its own soil. Relying on Pakistans promise, Bangladesh then withdrew its demand for trying the Pakistani soldiers in Dhaka.