India pledges support for Bangladesh war crimes tribunal

Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution condemning execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders


News Desk September 10, 2016
Jamaat-e-Islami party leader, Mir Quasem Ali waves his hand as he enters a van at the International Crimes Tribunal court in Dhaka on November 2, 2014. PHOTO: AFP

India on Friday declared full support for Bangladesh’s judicial process to address the 1971 war crimes, Hindustan Times reported.

“India has been supportive of a judicial process under the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of Bangladesh to address the pending issue of justice for war crimes committed during the movement for the independence of Bangladesh in 1971”, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

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Swarup said the judicial process was Bangladesh's internal matter and that "the process to bring the perpetrators of war crimes to justice has wide popular support in Bangladesh.”

Pakistan’s National Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution condemning the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali. The resolution also described the execution of Jamaat leaders as contrary to the tripartite agreement signed by Pakistan, India and Bangladesh in 1974.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it was ‘deeply saddened’ by Ali’s execution, describing the proceedings of the war tribunal as ‘flawed’.

On Sunday, Pakistan’s acting high commissioner, Samina Mehtab, was summoned to the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry where Additional Foreign Secretary Kamrul Ahsan lodged a formal protest.

“By repeatedly taking the side of those Bangladesh nationals who are convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide, Pakistan has once again acknowledged its direct involvement and complicity with the mass atrocity crimes committed during 1971 war,” Bangladesh said in a statement.

Pakistan 'deeply saddened' over Dhaka's execution of Jamaat leader

“Pakistan is deeply saddened over the execution of Mir Quasem Ali for the alleged crimes committed before December 1971, through a flawed judicial process,” said a statement issued by Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria.

Ali was executed after being convicted by a controversial war crimes tribunal for offences committed during the 1971 independence conflict with Pakistan.

The 63-year-old was hanged at the Kashimpur high security jail in Gazipur, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Dhaka, amid stepped-up security outside the prison and in the capital.

Pakistan said the act of suppressing the opposition, through flawed trials is completely against the spirit of democracy.

“Ever since the beginning of the trials, several international organisations, human rights groups and international legal figures have raised objections to the court proceedings, especially regarding fairness and transparency as well as harassment of lawyers and witnesses representing the accused.

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Urging Bangladesh to uphold its commitment, as per the Tripartite Agreement of 1974, wherein it “decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency”, the spokesperson said recriminations for political gains are counter-productive.

“Pakistan believes that matters should be addressed with a forward looking approach in the noble spirit of reconciliation,” it said.

COMMENTS (3)

sach bhol | 7 years ago | Reply Pakistan, which was the main culprit in the mass genocide (3 million dead) and mass rapes (a quarter million women) of the 1971 carnage committed against Bengalis, should seek accountability from the perpetrators of this barbarism. An excellent book researched and released by a Princeton professor Gary Bass in 2015 reveals the atrocities and savagery of the Pakistanis during that infamous episode. The book is called the “Blood Telegram” which won many literary awards and which, in the words of human rights experts, is an “eye opener behind the sordid curtains of Pakistan’s history”.
G. Din | 7 years ago | Reply Perhaps they should indict Pakistani generals in absentia for their bestiality in massacring the entire faculty of Dhaka University.
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