1. Most people in BD, including me, had wanted to eliminate the war criminals just after the war when the iron was hot. That's what the French nation had done after WW II. However, Indians had prevented this. They protected the surrendering Pakistanis which included some local collaborators. Indians went to the extent of allowing these people to carry personal weapons.The sudden bonhomie between Pakistanis and North Indians just after an all ravaging war. disgusted us.
2. Fighting for a cause or a nation you believe in is an honorable thing. But indulging in atrocities is an inexcusable crime. Many Bengali officers and soldiers had fought for Pakistan in the West as well as in the East. Politicians or civil servants serving for Pakistan they believed in did not commit any crime. But those that took part in mass killings, rapes, burning, etc deserved summery punishment.
3. We had selected 195 PA officers to face trial for what they did in BD. The trials were to follow Nuremberg and Tokyo models.For this purpose relevant international agencies were contacted and instructions were issued to appointed prosecutors and BD military officers. Their prison cells were prepared. I myself was involved in the process from Army HQ. Late Attorney Genl Aminul Huq was also in the team. A DIG War Crimes Tribunal was set up in an abandoned hose near the lake at the end of RD # 3/4, DRA. Again India frustrated our efforts by refusing to hand over these POWs to us - and by eventually allowing them to go back home.
4. If in terms of the Hamudoor Rahman Commission, Pakistan had proceeded to cooperate with BD in holding joint and separate trials of those that were responsible for the break-up of Pakistan, and those that had personally carried out or ordered killings,etc, then today both Pakistan and BD might have been close friends, and more importantly, there would have been social peace in each nation.
5. SAQA, Mujahid, Ghulam Azam and the whole lot were war criminals, except slain Qader Molla and Maulna Sayedee. These two frightens BAL/SHW for their popularity and organizational skill. Now consider the fols carefully:
a.None of the judges have been fair. All are BAL appointed.
b. The Hindu Chief Justice is openly communal and well-known on this account. Lawyers say he has been appointed to please Delhi and local Hindu vote bank. Under normal circumstances he would be the next Chief Adviser (ie, head of govt) under the caretaker/interim govt holding elections. Thereafter only Allah SWT can protect us from what may have been planned by Delhi.
c. There has been serious criticism in the reference, setting up, appointments of judges and prosecutors and the conduct of the trials.An International Tribunal did not allow deference lawyers from abroad. It was a shameful spectacle.
d. Not a single accused could be convicted with sufficient proof required in the Evidence Act.
e. Had it been a sincere effort under a Sharia Court then of course these guys could have been beheaded legally. But under the constrains of the Common English Law, none could be found guilty.
4. Obviously BAL/SHW is playing politics here and playing music to their supporting lobby in Delhi. Through these sham trials the BD society is being polarized and further isolated from its Umbilical Chord, the Ummah. Otherwise getting them killed in encounters would not have bothered many.
