Genocide Day must be recognised

Today, March 25, declared by our parliament last year, as Genocide Day, is a day of remembrance and introspection. We remember with grief, the innocent lives that were snatched away through a planned, cold blooded design by an occupying force that aimed at wiping out in one sweep of terror, a significant part of the Bengali population, especially its intelligentsia. Which is why the occupying Pakistani army targeted students and teachers of Dhaka University along with Bengali members in the East Pakistan Rifles and police as well as thousands of common people. Hindu Bengalis were especially sought out as part of a plan based on racism and bigotry.

"Operation Searchlight", therefore, has become symbolic of the lowest level that humans can stoop to, when possessed by the lust for power. Sadly, despite all the overwhelming evidence, the footage of the killings, the huge exposure by international media during 1971, the mass graves and eye witness accounts, the genocide on Bangladeshi soil in the 1971 War of Liberation, has still not been recognised as such by the UN. Shockingly, the prime accused—the Pakistani government, has still not officially given its apology to a nation of people who have witnessed unbelievable brutality that included mass murder, rape and torture. In fact Pakistan continues to deny that such atrocities even occurred, going as far as showing solidarity for war criminals of 71 and even passing resolutions to protest the carrying out of death sentences of war criminals. It is unfortunate that while many of its own citizens have voiced their condemnation of the genocide of 1971, the Pakistani establishment has chosen to live in the past—through denial of its culpability and support of those who helped in committing the war crimes.

Thus although the present government has provided some solace for the families of the martyrs through the successful holding of the war crimes trials, the people of this country are still haunted by the memory of the terror and mayhem inflicted on them and loss of so many precious lives. Recognition of that loss by the international community, trial of those members of the Pakistani Army who had committed these crimes and an official apology by the state that had ordered its army to carry them out are the least that we, Bangladeshis, deserve.

For the world March 25 should be a day of introspection as it signifies the ugliness of state aggression based on racism and greed—something that we humans continue to repeat, over and over again.