Bangladesh urges international community to declare brutal acts of Pak Army as genocide

Dhaka, Mar 26: Bangladesh observed the 'Genocide Day' in memory of the three million people killed by Pakistani Army on the unarmed Bengalis on the black night of March 25 in 1971 under the infamous "Operation Searchlight". It also observed a 'one-minute blackout'. The 'blackout' was observed for one minute from 9:00 pm to 9:01 pm across the country. No lighting was allowed at all the government, semi-government, autonomous organisations, and private buildings and installations at the time.

 

 

Apart from the blackout, Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League has urged the international community to recognize the brutal massacres done by the Pakistani army on unarmed civilians in 1971 as a 'genocide'. The “appeal for justice” was made in a post, shared from an Awami League verified account on Facebook. It also published a video of the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

"In 1971, the Pakistan Army massacred the people of then East Pakistan just because they wanted to have a better life. Bengalis wanted to be heard, to be recognised as equal to the West Pakistani rulers. Instead, they were killed mercilessly in their sleep," the post read.

 

It said that on 25th March, Yahya Khan's underling Tikka Khan mobilized death squads to initiate 'Operation Searchlight'. They killed 7000 Bengalis in a single night. From that day till the end of the Liberation War 1971, Pakistani soldiers raped more than 200,000 women and killed more than 3 million people. This massive genocide displaced 30-40 million Bengalis. More than 10 million people took refuge in India. 

 

 

The Hamoodur Rahman Commission's report is the most critical piece of evidence of the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide. This report found the Pakistani military deployed in East Pakistan guilty of widespread atrocities, serious acts of human rights violations, other abuses of power. The then PM of Pakistan ZA Bhutto ordered to burn every copy of this report.

 

"These heinous crimes are yet to be universally recognised as genocide. Not recognising the events of 1971 as genocide will not just be severe injustice done to the memories of the victims of genocide, it will be an injustice done to history itself," it added.