Bangladeshi war crimes court to open

[HAIDER]

DHAKA: A special Bangladeshi court was due on Wednesday to begin hearing its first case against Islamic leaders charged with atrocities during the country’s bloody 1971 war of independence.

The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal, which was set up last year to try people suspected of war crimes during the battle for liberation from Pakistan, will formally frame charges against Delwar Hossain Sayedee.

Sayedee, a senior official of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamic party, is accused of killing more than 50 people, torching villages, rape, looting, and forcibly converting Hindus to Islam.

“Today the court will frame charges against Sayedee,” Zaid Al Malum, a state prosecutor, told AFP.

Bangladesh, which was called East Pakistan until 1971, has struggled to come to terms with its violent birth.

The current government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, says up to three million people were killed in the war – many murdered by Bangladeshi collaborators of the Pakistani occupying forces.

Hasina is the daughter of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The 1971 war began after tens of thousands of people were killed in the capital Dhaka when Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight, a brutal campaign intended to deter Bangladeshis from seeking independence.

The killings and subsequent military campaign that allegedly included mass killings, rape and torture served to create a groundswell of public support for the pro-independence movement.

Sayedee has been held in detention along with four other war crime suspects from Jamaat and two from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The BNP and Jamaat have dismissed the tribunal as a government “show trial”.

The New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch has said rules being used by the tribunal to prosecute war crime suspects fall short of international standards.
Bangladeshi war crimes court to open | World | DAWN.COM

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

how convenient that they manage to arrest and/or villify all the opposition --from religious parties to Khaleda Zia herself (Khaleda Zia faces corruption case - Arab News)


this is nothing less than a bastardization of democracy, by the pro indian-puppets in Dhaka. I wish the best to Bengali brothers/sisters and hope they will re-take their country from these saffron-coloured losers.

maybe they should open a war crime tribunal against hindustan, which kills innocent Bengalis everyday near the border

 

[yousaf goebbels]

i dont think bengladesh got anything out of 1971.....your economy is stable but its of no use..india can invade you under 24 hours..just what iraq did to kuwait......Pakistan on the other hand only became stronger after 1971....we started nuclear program.missile program...bought F-16's still consider indians as our slaves 1000 years on...india dont dare to voilate our airspac even after mumbai inside job.....looks like bengladesh never actually wanted to stay with Pakistan or was sincere with it..you renamed you name to bengladesh when infact you could have kept the name East Pakistan just like north and south korea...
i agree west Pakistani politicians messed up and mishandled big time...but bangladeshi youth could have looked at a larger picture...if bhutto wasnt willing to except your win in elections.you could have ignored him and continued on seeking justice from courts...5,10 years things could have been different.....now look india and burma both are eating your international waters...you hardly have 10 to 15 high tech planes........what wrong did Quaid e Azam and Iqbal did to you...do u teach your schools kids they they are the real founders of your piece of land and not mujeeb.

 

[Battle Axe]

Accountability is good as long as followed by introspection.

 

[Skies]

Why Mujeeb's league has headache about the so-called war criminals of 40 years ago omitting the border criminals of today's?
What type of pride do they feel about independence of 71 being slave of Bharat in 2011?
Irony, eyewash, hypocrisy and deception.
We are now of two types. Some follow Hasina's league, some do not.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

well, thats how democracy works...but the leaders should ensure that the rights and safety of the people are ensured today 2011.

 

[yousaf goebbels]

well, thats how democracy works...but the leaders should ensure that the rights and safety of the people are ensured today 2011.

sir they cant ensure safety.....they will never match india's military.....india is waiting for bangladesh to develop....once its economocally sound...india will invade it..i can assure you and invite burma to take one small chunk from it too..india has already captured bangladeshi international water..this was india;s planning since 1971 and bengladeshi brothers fell for their trap....damn .....

 

[saleen_s7]

Awami League itself consists of a few well known war criminals. And they have to bought to justice under any scenario. Does anyone remember a simpler time when Awami League and Jamaati Islam collaborated together against the BNP? Jahanara Imam has been extremely sceptical of Sheikh Hasina's role with Ghulam Azam, which some of the Awami League supporters dismissed as wholly political reasons and not idealogical. The exact same thing can be said these so called International War Trials.

 

[kobiraaz]

i dont think bengladesh got anything out of 1971.....your economy is stable but its of no use..india can invade you under 24 hours..just what iraq did to kuwait......Pakistan on the other hand only became stronger after 1971....we started nuclear program.missile program...bought F-16's still consider indians as our slaves 1000 years on...india dont dare to voilate our airspac even after mumbai inside job.....looks like bengladesh never actually wanted to stay with Pakistan or was sincere with it..you renamed you name to bengladesh when infact you could have kept the name East Pakistan just like north and south korea...
i agree west Pakistani politicians messed up and mishandled big time...but bangladeshi youth could have looked at a larger picture...if bhutto wasnt willing to except your win in elections.you could have ignored him and continued on seeking justice from courts...5,10 years things could have been different.....now look india and burma both are eating your international waters...you hardly have 10 to 15 high tech planes........what wrong did Quaid e Azam and Iqbal did to you...do u teach your schools kids they they are the real founders of your piece of land and not mujeeb.

Actually we don't need excess military strength right now.Compare any other countries with Bangladesh. It is a small country with high poverty and we do not get military aid. still we have 200000 well trained strong force. Our country is not suitable for tank warfare still we got 800 tanks, 1500 apc. We have better navy than many countries. count ten militarily strong muslim nations you will get Bangladesh there. It has done very well from a big Zero. Just 40 years passed. We are blessed that we do not have any Enemy. India is neither a friend nor an enemy. It is normal for her to try to increase its influence in its smaller neighbors. But Bangladesh has done well. Very well. it has counter-balanced India by making closer ties with China. They will never invade Bangladesh. Actually they cant. 1975 was the best time for them to invade Bangladesh when Mujib was killed. But they didn't. They know it very well BD is not Sikkim. and for Myanmar the Illegal Janta will never dare to do anything against Bangladesh who has friends everywhere from east to west internationally. So military is not our headache. Believe me, when i say to my friends about new procurement of Bangladesh Military the response is always negative from them. 99% of them want to use the money on non military development. this is very big difference between pakistanis and Bangladeshis. we are not in any arms race. I think you got my point.

i dont think bengladesh got anything out of 1971

we got freedom. Now there is no one in my country who thinks i am a second class citizen because of my darker skin and a second class muslim as i speak Bangla..

what wrong did Quaid e Azam and Iqbal did to you...do u teach your schools kids they they are the real founders of your piece of land and not mujeeb

no actually. Iqbal and Jinnah are normally ignored in our school history classes. we only read about Abul Kashem Fazlul Hoque and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Sir Salimullah

 

[kobiraaz]

Awami League itself consists of a few well known war criminals. And they have to bought to justice under any scenario. Does anyone remember a simpler time when Awami League and Jamaati Islam collaborated together against the BNP? Jahanara Imam has been extremely sceptical of Sheikh Hasina's role with Ghulam Azam, which some of the Awami League supporters dismissed as wholly political reasons and not idealogical. The exact same thing can be said these so called International War Trials.

Awamileague is a parasite. Kill it before it kills the country.

Personally i support war crimes trial and as it will purify Jamat. . . . .

 

[saleen_s7]

i dont think bengladesh got anything out of 1971.....your economy is stable but its of no use..india can invade you under 24 hours..just what iraq did to kuwait......Pakistan on the other hand only became stronger after 1971....we started nuclear program.missile program...bought F-16's still consider indians as our slaves 1000 years on...india dont dare to voilate our airspac even after mumbai inside job.....looks like bengladesh never actually wanted to stay with Pakistan or was sincere with it..you renamed you name to bengladesh when infact you could have kept the name East Pakistan just like north and south korea...
i agree west Pakistani politicians messed up and mishandled big time...but bangladeshi youth could have looked at a larger picture...if bhutto wasnt willing to except your win in elections.you could have ignored him and continued on seeking justice from courts...5,10 years things could have been different.....now look india and burma both are eating your international waters...you hardly have 10 to 15 high tech planes........what wrong did Quaid e Azam and Iqbal did to you...do u teach your schools kids they they are the real founders of your piece of land and not mujeeb.

Iraq invaded Kuwait and went back home gaining literally nothing. The same country which supported US to occupy Iraq on 2003. The biggest mistake Saddam ever made was to invade Kuwait, a lesson for many imperialist countries, which think it can get away with invading using aggression. The relationship between India and Bangladesh is not very favourable to many Bangladeshi citizens, but your suggestions and forecasts at the present moment seems laughable. And given India's current competition in the region, it would not be of India's best interest to invade its so called "friendly" neighbour.
And I think the major problem with your analysis is, there is no general set of requirements to establish as a successful country or not. Having a nuclear power may seem important for strategic interests but the opportunity cost is by far the worse. Germany is one of the most powerful nations in the EU, whose giving up its nuclear power pants by 2022. Would you consider Germany as a failure?