In the annals of history, some events leave such unforgettable impressions that they impact the nation through generations. The Bangladesh Genocide, a 20th-century occurrence, is a harrowing instance of inhumanity and portrays the determination of a nation fighting to rebuild its identity. After almost half a century, guided by a strong desire for global acceptance, Bangladesh embarked on a path of healing and remembering.
Bangladesh celebrated its 51 years of independence this year. Though there have been numerous achievements and milestones on Bangladesh’s side, it is still struggling to get global recognition for the atrocities, war crimes, and genocides committed on the night of March 25, 1971, on the order of the then-Pakistan Government. Since the world’s attention was frequently diverted to other issues, the Bangladesh Genocide was forgotten, submerged by geopolitical matters, and eclipsed by other global crises. Over the years, the call for acknowledgment of the genocide has turned from a plea to a form of statecraft that proves Bangladesh has come a long way since its inception.
Operation Searchlight and Relevance to Genocide
After the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan was born as a nation of two chunks of land separated by over 1000 miles of Indian territory. Their geographic isolation reflected the economic and political division between West and East Pakistan. As West Pakistan was the center point of Pakistani politics, economy, and social development, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was economically and socially exploited despite having more abundant natural resources and a more diverse population. While responsible for producing 59 percent of the nation’s exports, it only got 25% of industrial investments and 30% of imports. “Urdu” was declared the official language despite less than 10% of East Pakistanis having a working knowledge of it. Hence, the language movement of 1952 was launched by the then East Pakistani Bengalis.
Due to occurrences like these, the West Pakistan authorities considered Bengali Muslims “inferior and impure” as they were akin to “Indian” Bengali in terms of language, culture, and secularism and were skeptical about East Pakistanis, especially Bengali Muslims’ allegiance to their government, and frequently ignored their interests. Interestingly, the lack of trust was a mutual feeling between East and West Pakistan. Yahya Khan delayed the first Assembly Meeting and instead instituted Marshal Law, after the shocking win by the Awami Muslim League in the 1970 national election. While a series of dialogues between Yahya Khan and East Pakistan Leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was in process, operation Searchlight was instituted by Yahya Khan. The operation was designed to arrest activists, academics, and soldiers as part of a larger effort to uphold authoritarian Pakistani rule over the self-determination-minded Bangladeshis. After the initiation of this operation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and convicted to House arrest in Pakistan, the Pakistani Army killed innocent Bengali civilians, and almost 80000 Pakistani soldiers infiltrated East Pakistan for several months. With the launch of Operation Searchlight, the genocide in Bangladesh was initiated.
Why should this nine-month-long massacre be regarded as genocide and crimes against humanity rather than any war casualties? According to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Genocide is a combination of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group which includes — killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting physical harm, intended birth prevention and forcibly transferring children. No genocide can occur without the deliberate targeting of the victims — not at random — and the intent to destroy or harm. The Pakistani army murdered, and caused bodily and mental harm in cases of rape, arson, and migration, intending to destroy an ethnic group (Bengali), especially a religious group (Hindu Community) — all these acts fulfilled the criteria for the Genocide — proving the Bangladeshi war crimes an act of genocide, under UN CPPCG Article 2(a).
Recognizing the Genocide
The world knows what happened in Bangladesh in 1971 as several journalists and diplomats confirmed the aristocracies carried out by the Pakistani army on the then Government’s order. Even though Bangladesh gained its independence 51 years ago, Pakistan, the perpetrator of the genocide, the United Nations, and the world have not officially acknowledged it. It is high time for everyone to recognize the Bangladeshi Genocide at least for the moral irresponsibility.
The number of individuals massacred in then-East Pakistan between March and December 1971 by Pakistani forces (the regular army and collaborators) greatly outnumber those who perished in the three genocides recognized by the UN. In Cambodian Genocide, about 1.5 to two million were killed at the hands of the murderous Khmer Rouge over four years (1975 and 1979). Between April and August 1994, during the Rwandan civil war, between 500,000 and 650,000 Tutsis were murdered by Hutus. Moreover, the death toll from the Balkan genocide never exceeded six figures. Whereas, the 1971 atrocities were not limited to random killing but to targeted murder of intellectuals, journalists, sexual violence, and arson. Almost 3 million people were massacred regardless of age, religion, and gender, 10 Million refugees sought asylum and at least 200,000 to 400,000 Bengali women were raped in nine months by the Pakistani army and the local supporters of the Pakistani Government.
After the liberation war, Bangladesh had to overcome new struggles to establish itself in the global community and be vocal about its sufferings at the same time. Bangladesh could not prosecute over 82,000 surrendered Pakistani soldiers, including the accused 195 war criminals as it was yet to be a member of the UN and the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Bangladesh was initially denied UN membership because Pakistan used its alliance with China to exercise a veto in the UN Security Council. Bangladesh’s separation from Muslim-majority Pakistan was not taken well by other Muslim nations. As a newly formed country, Bangladesh has to evaluate the cost of these geopolitical interests of involved states and the intricacies of the cold war era against the urgency of getting global recognition as an independent country, obtaining UN membership, and access to foreign aid. These geopolitical pressures and cost-benefit considerations kept Bangladesh to internationalize the genocide perpetrated by the Pakistani army and its auxiliary forces. Bangladesh witnessed one of the world’s greatest series of human rights violations – genocide by many but mostly undocumented. There are many academic, investigative research, and media portrayals of the Bangladesh liberation war but very fewer of the Bangladesh genocide, which is another reason for the unrecognition and negligence of Dhaka’s claim of Genocide in 1971.
Since the 1990s, along with various civic groups the Bangladesh government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is continuing its earnest efforts to gain worldwide acknowledgment for Bangladesh’s genocide. The government has made efforts to document the genocide, preserve the testimonies of survivors, and raise awareness internationally about the events that transpired. The initiatives may have begun with a quest for acknowledgment and justice for atrocities committed in Bangladesh. Yet, under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resolute leadership, the campaign for genocide recognition has become part of Hasina’s statecraft.
Bangladesh Genocide Diplomacy
Genocide diplomacy refers to a strategic approach used by certain states or political entities to influence the recognition of genocidal acts committed against them or by their government or allied regimes. It involves using diplomatic maneuvers, public relations operations, pressure-creating, lobbying, and various forms of denial to undermine allegations of genocide and avoid accountability for such heinous crimes.
In the case of the Bangladesh genocide, the Awami League government supported the setup of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) – a war crime tribunal in Bangladesh to investigate and prosecute the suspects for committing and supporting genocidal crimes by the Pakistani army in 1971. In 2017, the Bangladeshi parliament adopted 25 March as “Genocide Day”. Several groups, including Genocide Watch, the Lemkin Center for Genocide Prevention, and the Bangladesh Support Group (BASUG), acknowledged the heinous crimes of 1971. Harry van Bommel, the human rights activist, visited Bangladesh with a five-member European delegation on behalf of the European Bangladesh Forum (EBF) to gather unmediated information on the 1971 Pakistani Genocide. Sheikh Hasina has also urged all international communities, including the United Nations, to commemorate International Genocide Day on March 25 instead of December 9 this year. At first, it may seem unreasonable for Bangladesh to ask but, it may also seem a strategic step to persuade the global face of Liberalism and Multilatersim- the United Nations to recognize the Bangladesh Genocide.
Bangladesh Genocide and Pakistan
The key objective of Bangladesh’s quest for recognition is to preserve the victims’ memory, establish historical truth and prevent future horrific human rights violations. To protect its dignity and its claim against India for splitting from Pakistan, Dhaka has been denied recognition and an apology by the Pakistani government for atrocities it has committed in East Pakistan. Recognizing atrocities would alter Pakistan’s identity and void the grand strategy that has shaped the country’s political beliefs-the Two Nations Theory. Though Pakistan alleges that the conflict was a civil war caused by political instability, rather than a premeditated campaign of violence and mass deaths, some Pakistani Journalists and former diplomats acknowledged the genocide.
The Pakistani administration has refused to acknowledge that what most affects Pakistan’s international reputation is not an international acknowledgment of the Bangladesh genocide, but rather the country’s refusal to confront its history.
The Bangladesh Genocide is a significant instance of mass violence and human rights violations in the 20th century. The world community acknowledges the atrocities and calls for recognition. Bangladesh seeks justice, healing, and preventing future crimes, despite challenges such as geopolitical difficulties and perpetrator denial. The global community must heed the pleas of other nations to preserve the victims’ memories for future generations.
[Photo by Raghu Rai / Creative Commons]
Modhurima Khan is a lead specialist at the Secretariat of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
