Examining the definitions of genocide in the context of 1971

Genocide is a heinous crime that includes intentional killing of a racial, ethnic, religious or national group of people. The common meaning of 'genocide' is the systematic destruction of all or a significant part of a racial, ethnic, religious, political or national group. It is generally considered as one of the worst crimes committed by any ruling authority against its citizens or those it controls. Similarly the term 'war crimes' denotes a crime committed in wartime violating the accepted rules and customs of war, such as genocide, ill-treatment of prisoners of war, etc. In this case, genocide can be termed as a form of war crimes if it is committed during war. It does not necessarily mean that genocide is committed in war time only; it may be committed in peace time also.
The word 'genocide' was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer who emigrated to the USA in 1941, from the rooted words genos and -cide ('geno' for a group of people and 'cide' for killing.
Lemkin defined genocide in his masterpiece Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (1943) as follows: "Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."
When Lemkin proposed a treaty against genocide to the United Nations in 1945, he defined it as follows: "The crime of genocide should be recognised therein as a conspiracy to exterminate national, religious or racial groups. The overt acts of such a conspiracy may consist of attacks against life, liberty or property of members of such groups merely because of their affiliation with such groups. The formulation of the crime may be as follows:
"Whoever, while participating in a conspiracy to destroy a national, racial or religious group, undertakes an attack against life, liberty or property of members of such groups is guilty of the crime of genocide."
According to the Canadian professor Adam Jones, the term 'genocide' means the actualisation of the intent, however successfully carried out, to murder by whatever means any national, ethnic, racial, religious, political, social, gender or economic group in its totality.
The Genocide Convention adopted by the UN in Paris in 1948 defines 'genocide' without the precursors and persecution that Lemkin noted in his definitions.  The Convention defines 'genocide' as any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
No doubt, the massacres in Bangladesh during 1971 fall within these definitions that include an indiscriminate killing of civilians, including women and children and the poorest and weakest members of the community; the attempt to exterminate or drive out of the country a large part of the Hindu population; the arrest, torture and killing of Awami League activists, students, professionals and businessmen and other potential leaders among the Bengalis; the raping of women; the destruction of villages and towns; the looting of property etc. The atrocities committed against the Bengalis had a feature of "a systematic policy of rape," with the intent to dominate and humiliate them. Women were taken by force from their houses and raped repeatedly either individually or in groups. They were also raped even in the presence of their families. About 15,000 disarmed people were killed between March 25 and 26 in Dhaka City alone.  To annihilate the intellectuals, Bengali collaborators (Al-Badr and Al-Shams) were recruited by the Pakistani Army. They carried out the plan of the West Pakistani leadership to kill the intellectuals and professionals with the intent to cripple the Bengali nation intellectually.
If the Bangladesh massacre is analysed on the basis of the acceptable definition of genocide, the atrocities can be called genocide from the point of view of the Bengalee nation as the victim group. It is clear that there was the intent to destroy the Bengalis as a nation, at least in part. To achieve this end, the perpetrators killed and tortured people and raped women, causing serious mental and/or bodily harm. Considering the Hindus as the primary victim group, the massacre in Bangladesh can also be called genocide. The Hindus were a minority group, the destruction of which was intended by the perpetrators. Taking the 200,000 cases of rape and 25,000 forced pregnancies into account during the nine months of atrocities in Bangladesh, it can surely be called genocide against the Bengali nation as a whole on the basis of the incidents of rape alone.
If we analyse the massacre of Bangladesh which was committed in 1971, we will find all definitions of genocide are applicable here. Jack Nusan Porter, a leading member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, has observed that genocide is deliberate destruction, in whole or in part, by a government or its agents, of a racial, sexual, religious, tribal or political minority. It can involve not only mass murder, but also starvation, forced deportation, and political, economic and biological subjugation.
The International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 has correctly defined 'genocide' as any act committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, religious or political group. For example, killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group will be treated as genocide.
The people of Bangladesh recall the genocidal killing of 1971 with horror and grief. The memory of the genocide perpetrated by the Pakistani army and its local collaborators continues to haunt the memory of Bangalees.
The writer is Lecturer, Department of Law, Daffodil International University.
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