War Crimes By Pakistan Army In 1971 In Bangladesh
Dr Mohammad Aminul Hasan
Dr Mohammad Aminul Hasan, also known as Dr MA Hasan, was a freedom fighter, researcher on the war crimes of 1971 and convenor of the War Crimes Fact-Finding Committee (WCFFC) in Bangladesh.
He recently sat with Dhaka Tribune’s Kamrul Hasan to speak about the formation of the committee, its research procedures, and the reasons for the failure to get recognition for the genocide during the Liberation War.
How did the journey of the WCFFC start? Who were the pioneers?
Just after victory was declared, Tajuddin Ahmad, the country’s first prime minister, asked us to investigate the breaches of human rights during the Liberation War. It was in late December, and I resumed my office at Pilkhana on January 2. The other two members were DIG Khaleque of Bangladesh Police and the then DC of Mymensingh. For reasons that I cannot disclose, that didn’t work.
We again started working in 1987, but the government of General Ershad did not let us work properly. So, we had to continue our work in secret.
After the fall of General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in December 1990, we started our work again and went public through a rally under the banner of Shahid Lt Selim Moncha. Later, it became the WCFFC.
Later, support from Liberation War researcher Dr Sadullah, DU academic Dr Ahmed Sharif and many researchers boosted our initiatives.
What have you experienced during your research?
After the WCFFC was formed, we took 13 co-workers, including young researchers and two drivers, as team members. After around 19 years of intensive research, we collected over 10,000 documents with details of war crimes and genocidal crimes.
In the early 1990s and early 2000s, we recovered over 7,000 bones and skulls after excavating them across the country. We have cleaned and examined a good number of them.
During our research, we were shocked by the cruelty of the invading Pakistan Army and its collaborators. Many people were shot in the head at point-blank range. Many people were cut down in such a way that only a person with surgical knowledge could do it.
Dr MA Hasan’s aunt Rokeya Sultana, right, who was also the adopted daughter of Dr Gobindachandra Deb, and her husband Mohammad Ali. Ali and Dr Deb died during Operation Searchlight on the night of March 25, 1971, at Dr Deb’s residence in Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University | Syed Zakir Hossain
During 1972, we found that the hearts and brains had been detached from their bodies.
Numerous girls and women were raped, with many of them forced into prostitution and slavery.
Muslim Bengalis who were nationalists, political thinkers, or intellectuals were attacked. However, Hindus as well as other religious and ethnic minorities underwent the most suffering. They were targeted and attacked.
What is your opinion of the war crimes trials in the country?
It is good that a trial at least took place. But without bringing the main perpetrators under trial, it is not of any worth.
During our research, we found that approximately 53 types of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity were committed by at least 369 Pakistan army personnel and their collaborators in 1971. It is not a question of vengeance but of restoring the dignity of the nation. The trial is not for punishing people for ordinary crimes. It is to ensure justice for the people victimized during the war.
Only a few members of the Jamaat have been tried on different charges, but I personally have given them a list of 19 war criminals from different political parties with documented evidence. Why are they not framing more definitive charges against them?
The Liberation War is yet to be recognized as a genocide. What is your take on the matter?
The global community accepted that many war crimes had taken place on the soil of Bangladesh during the Liberation War, but it did not recognize it as genocide. There is a difference between war crimes and genocide. In a genocide, the charges should be specific. Flawed information could never be recognized as genocide.
The classical example of genocide should be separated, and genocide incidents should be presented in a more specific way. For example, we have collected the bullets used for the genocidal incidents in Barguna, Sylhet, Syedpur and other areas. It was found that the bullets were made by the Pakistan army and they used it at the time. This is undoubtedly evidence.
Dr MA Hasan’s brother Selim Md Kamrul Hasan | Syed Zakir Hossain
The main criminals must be tried and that could be used as prime evidence. The final course is to prove their intention to commit planned, strategic murders to eliminate people, usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group.
Is the government to be blamed?
It is a failure for the current government that they could not gain international recognition for the genocidal incidents during the Liberation War despite being in power for almost 13 years.
I don’t feel the government is very serious about this. That’s the reason why only some of the local collaborators were tried. The main criminals were Pakistani army officers, like then captain Jamshed Gulzar Kiani, Maj Gen Rao Farman Ali, Brig Sharif, Brig Bashir, Col Taj, Col Tahir, Captain Iftekhar, Brig Iqbal Shafi, Brig Arbab, their major collaborators, Bihari and other collaborators in the country. All of them should be tried with specific charges.
But the government did not do this.
Ian Martin from Unicef advised me that if the Government of Bangladesh wrote to the United Nations to recognize genocidal incidents during the Liberation War, it might work. At least, a recognition of cruelty perpetrated during the war could be certified.
So, I wrote to the then State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Captain (retd) AB Tajul Islam in this regard. He forwarded the letter to Dipu Moni, but nothing happened after that.
What should the government do now in this regard?
As a first step, the government has to ensure trials on specific charges. If that is not possible, a trial in absentia should be done. If that cannot be done, at least charges should be pressed.
Secondly, government-level initiatives must be taken. All the classical genocide spots should be preserved and documented.
They must make diplomatic approaches and engage an expert. If they need to, although a long time has passed, I still have some connections that could help the work to be done in less time.
All they need to do is establish before an international court, for example, a European court, a court in Belgium or in Germany, that the activities took place intentionally.
I have around 7,000 bones or skulls in my collections and they need to be buried. As I excavated them under the Bangladesh army, I wrote to them in September this year to bury them as these are evidence and I have the responsibility to return them accordingly.
It’s our ethical responsibility to bury them as soon as possible. I hope they will respond soon.
Apart from being a researcher, you were a freedom fighter as well. Would you like to share some war stories?
During a battle at Teliya Para on Sylhet Road in May 1971, we were fighting against Pakistani soldiers, deployed from the Azad Kashmir Regiment. At one stage, we came under heavy attack and many of us were forced back.
I, with a sub-machine gun, and Subadar Ismail, with a machine gun, took position on a tree to get the geographical benefit. At one point, a bullet grazed my stomach and hit Ismail in the abdomen as he was taking position behind me.
The bullet must have hit a major vein and he understood that he was dying.
Before he died, he told me: “Sir, please don’t let the machine gun be captured by the Pakistani army. We still need it. Please take it away with you.”
I believe this is the kind of spirit that helped us achieve liberation within nine months.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
