Distinguished Pakistanis laud war crimes trial
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Several distinguished Pakistanis welcomed initiatives to try 1971 war criminals as the nation observe with grief the Intellectuals Martyred Day today recalling the slaughtering of leading intelligentsia by Pakistani troops and their Bengali-speaking collaborators ahead of their eventual defeat, reports BSS.
"I strongly condemn war crimes and genocide whether it is done by an army, ethnic, religious or ideological entity," leading Pakistani politician and civil society activist Advocate Zafar Malik, who was a member of the International Tribunal constituted by NIRMUL Committee earlier to try the cases of war crimes, told BSS in an interview.
Malik, a senior leader of Pakistan's National Awami Party (NAP) added: "I am sure that the present Bangladesh government has the resolve and the will to try the war criminals."
His comments came as a renewed campaign was apparently being waged in Pakistan to expose the "1971 war criminals" inside the then army leadership of their own country with noted researcher Nizhat Sayeed now devoting herself in identifying the culprits responsible for the murders and rapes of unarmed Bengalis and Bengali women during the war time.
"I have written a charge sheet in my book against Pakistan Army Generals for their role in 1971," Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, who earned repute particularly for his interview of Osama Bin Laden, said in another interview.
The then West Pakistani divisional commissioner of Dhaka in 1971 Alamdar Raja, who later joined the law profession on his retirement after returning to Pakistan, filed a writ with a Pakistani High Court seeking to redress the Pakistani atrocities "on their own people (East Pakistanis) during the war".
"I don't expect the writ to yield much . . . but I thought it was moral responsibility to file the case in view of what I saw during my stay in your country at that time," Raja told BSS earlier during a Dhaka visit.
Air Marshal Asghar Khan, Mir Ghous Baksh Bizenjo, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Rai Shahadat Khan Kharal, (a member of the National Assembly belonging to Pakistan People's Party), Malik Shamim Ashraf, Ahmed Salim and Professor Amin Moughal were among many others who angered the then junta.
"The Martial Law government instituted cases against those who wrote poetry, distributed pamphlets and campaigned. A number of cases were made against social and political activists. I, as a lawyer was defending cases against my colleagues in the Martial Law Courts," Malik said.
Elderly Pakistani rights activist and former left leaning politician Nasim Akhter Malik believed the Pakistani troops’ "defeat was obvious" as "the ways Pakistani army used to snub Bengali nation were so humiliating that even every child became freedom fighter".
"I strongly condemn war crimes and genocide whether it is done by an army, ethnic, religious or ideological entity," leading Pakistani politician and civil society activist Advocate Zafar Malik, who was a member of the International Tribunal constituted by NIRMUL Committee earlier to try the cases of war crimes, told BSS in an interview.
Malik, a senior leader of Pakistan's National Awami Party (NAP) added: "I am sure that the present Bangladesh government has the resolve and the will to try the war criminals."
His comments came as a renewed campaign was apparently being waged in Pakistan to expose the "1971 war criminals" inside the then army leadership of their own country with noted researcher Nizhat Sayeed now devoting herself in identifying the culprits responsible for the murders and rapes of unarmed Bengalis and Bengali women during the war time.
"I have written a charge sheet in my book against Pakistan Army Generals for their role in 1971," Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, who earned repute particularly for his interview of Osama Bin Laden, said in another interview.
The then West Pakistani divisional commissioner of Dhaka in 1971 Alamdar Raja, who later joined the law profession on his retirement after returning to Pakistan, filed a writ with a Pakistani High Court seeking to redress the Pakistani atrocities "on their own people (East Pakistanis) during the war".
"I don't expect the writ to yield much . . . but I thought it was moral responsibility to file the case in view of what I saw during my stay in your country at that time," Raja told BSS earlier during a Dhaka visit.
Air Marshal Asghar Khan, Mir Ghous Baksh Bizenjo, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Rai Shahadat Khan Kharal, (a member of the National Assembly belonging to Pakistan People's Party), Malik Shamim Ashraf, Ahmed Salim and Professor Amin Moughal were among many others who angered the then junta.
"The Martial Law government instituted cases against those who wrote poetry, distributed pamphlets and campaigned. A number of cases were made against social and political activists. I, as a lawyer was defending cases against my colleagues in the Martial Law Courts," Malik said.
Elderly Pakistani rights activist and former left leaning politician Nasim Akhter Malik believed the Pakistani troops’ "defeat was obvious" as "the ways Pakistani army used to snub Bengali nation were so humiliating that even every child became freedom fighter".