The Pakistan Foreign Office has stated that the country is “deeply disturbed” by the executions of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general who were both charged with 1971 war crimes. Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid were hanged together in Dhaka.
The war of 1971 continues to set fire to Bangladesh today, yet, the current situation is not that of justice but of opportunism and brutality.
Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party say the trials were politically motivated. Legal analysts and Human Rights Watch have said that the evidence of the prosecution was hardly up to mark to result in a conviction. The tribunal allowed the prosecution to call 41 witnesses, while Chowdhury’s defense was limited to four witnesses. Mujahid was sentenced to death for instigating his subordinates to commit abuses, although no subordinates testified or were identified. Prior to this, two Jamaat leaders were executed, one in December 2013 and another in April this year.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has denied the allegations, but the whole situation seems manipulated so as to get rid of strong opponents. Awami League, the governing party in Bangladesh under Hasina’s leadership is known to have a fascist bent. This development will only polarise Bangladeshi politics, and create more dissent and more enemies for the Awami League.
Any party to a war of secession is either loyal to the status quo and disloyal to the new state, or vice versa. Everyone is a traitor, and open to prosecution. The court has been called the ‘’Chameleon Court’’. If power changes, this very same court will take action against Hasina and her fellow leaders, and the cycle will continue.
Bangladesh is tearing at the seams and Hasina has no control over the situation. All she can do is ensure her power, but even that is hardly permanent. This will make her more enemies than friends. At least she has India in her corner, which is good for her, but will bring no benefit to the masses.
Hours before the ruling on Wednesday, an Italian priest was wounded in the latest assault on a foreigner in Bangladesh. Daesh militants claimed responsibility for that attack and the murders of two other foreigners in recent months. The government rejected Daesh’s claim and blamed the growing violence in Bangladesh on “domestic political opponents linked to religious parties”. Between “war crimes” and refusing to acknowledge radicalisation due to repression, Bangladesh is a nation in denial.