Punishment for crimes against humanity in 1971
Most importantly,
if one cares to take an opinion poll after the latest carrying out of the two death sentences, the same is very likely to yield a result showing that preponderantly our people in all walks of life consider that the sentenced ones were guilty of heinous crimes for which they were adequately punished. This is the reality
Sundays hanging of two notorious war criminals of renown, Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, marks the fact that the nation is near the closing of a period of ensuring justice for the victims during our War of Independence in 1971. For over forty years their expressed and unexpressed appeals for justice have been in vain and only suppressed. But these aspirations were revived with the courageous introduction of the War Crimes Tribunals by the incumbent government in 2010 and subsequently the death penalty first given and executed against a war criminal in 2013. Later there were several more death sentences carried out against other well known war criminals and together with the hanging of Mujahid and Salahuddin on Sunday, we may say that as a nation we are coming round to completing the trials of these committers of crimes against humanity in 1971.
Of course, there still remain a few notable war criminals who have been convicted but are awaiting completion of appeals procedures and new offenders can be brought under the aegis of the special tribunal as it as on going process. But it should suffice to say that on the whole the nation will conclusively see in the near future the end of this period after all available and interned individuals charged with genocide and other crimes of 1971 have had appropriate punishments meted out to them for their ghastly crimes committed in 1971.
When the war crimes were committed in Bangladesh, it was not only against individuals but against the nation itself. The trauma from oppression, treachery, lives lost and women violated in 1971 is a national one that is passed from generation to generation. One does not need to have suffered a personal loss to feel violated by the war crimes and criminals of 1971. And we also want to stress the fact that the ongoing trials are not about taking revenge but retribution for crimes against humanity. Hopefully the war crime trials will bring closure to the most horrific chapter in Bangladeshs history. The trials have adhered to due process in gathering evidence, protecting witnesses, and hearing both sides.
The two war criminals who were hanged on Sunday, finally met their fate after nearly five years since legal actions started against them. In matters of calling witnesses, receipt of evidences, selecting lawyers and in other ways, hardly major flaws or partisanships were noted in the running of these special courts. These positives about the tribunals were also observed and certified by foreign visitors who were allowed to witness for themselves the operation of these courts.
