An execution in Bangladesh
What is happening in Bangladesh signals clearly that the people of that nation have not forgotten what happened.
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla was charged with involvement in the death of some 350 civilians, including academics, doctors, teachers, lawyers and others. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
The execution in Bangladesh on the evening of December 12, of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Abdul Quader Molla, for war crimes has struck waves across the subcontinent. The thing to be noted here is that a punishment that comes after such a long interval raises its own questions, but more significant than these are the assertions being made from legal experts and human rights activists that the trial was not as impartial as it should have been. This, of course, is something that needs to be looked into, especially with other leaders of the same party facing trial for similar offences. At home, too, we should be thinking about history
and about whether we have faced up to the whole truth.
Molla was charged with involvement in the death of some 350 civilians, including academics, doctors, teachers, lawyers and others. However, if justice is to be done truly, it is important that all the facts be established beyond doubt. The staying of the execution twice, the final time just hours before the JI leader was due to be hanged, brings up questions about how the judges looked at things. This should not have happened. But as the controversy picks up steam, perhaps the events unfolding now in Dhaka will force us to look a little harder at what happened in the past. What is happening in Bangladesh signals clearly that the people of that nation, born amidst bloodshed, have not forgotten what happened. We should not be trying to shove things under the carpet and must assess the need for wrongs, pinpointed in the hope that this will prevent mistakes made once from being repeated.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2013.
and about whether we have faced up to the whole truth.
Molla was charged with involvement in the death of some 350 civilians, including academics, doctors, teachers, lawyers and others. However, if justice is to be done truly, it is important that all the facts be established beyond doubt. The staying of the execution twice, the final time just hours before the JI leader was due to be hanged, brings up questions about how the judges looked at things. This should not have happened. But as the controversy picks up steam, perhaps the events unfolding now in Dhaka will force us to look a little harder at what happened in the past. What is happening in Bangladesh signals clearly that the people of that nation, born amidst bloodshed, have not forgotten what happened. We should not be trying to shove things under the carpet and must assess the need for wrongs, pinpointed in the hope that this will prevent mistakes made once from being repeated.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2013.