Opinion Before history repeats itself

The trial of individuals charged with crimes against humanity in Bangladesh during the Liberation War of 1971 has made speedy progress. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has taken a battering lately. Its inept handling of important issues is seen to reflect the corruption and incompetence of ministers. The one issue where the government has stayed on course,however,is the trial of politicians who are alleged to have collaborated with the Pakistan occupation army in 1971. The same politicians became part of General Ziaur Rahman’s government in the 1970s.

Among those on trial are leading figures of the Jamaat-e-Islami,including party veteran Ghulam Azam,and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury,son of a speaker in the pre-1971 Pakistan National Assembly. Chowdhury,his brothers and father actively opposed the war of liberation. Over the decades,they have been charged with murdering Awami League activists and Hindus in the port city of Chittagong. Chowdhury and two of the other Jamaat leaders on trial have served as ministers.

Two tribunals have been constituted to try the accused. The government initially came under a good deal of criticism,especially from abroad,for what has been called a lack of transparency and proper procedure in conducting the trial. However,it appears to have tided over the worst. The trial proceedings,so far,have maintained transparency,although questions remain about the credibility of some witnesses produced by the prosecution. In certain instances,witnesses have been unable to recall specific details of what they experienced or saw in 1971. In other instances,such as the testimony of the respected academic,Anisuzzaman,at the trial of Chowdhury,the evidence was largely based on what the witness had heard from others in 1971.

For all the gravity attached to the trials,quite a few moments of humour have punctuated the proceedings. In one instance,a witness who claims to have been put through physical torture by Chowdhury and his goons in 1971,often found himself locked in argument with Chowdhury’s defence counsel. The witness’s cool and subtly critical attitude towards the lawyer’s line of questioning brought relief in an otherwise sombre courtroom scene. Chowdhury,notorious for his tantrums over banal issues in court,was ordered into silence last week by the judges. They warned him that if such behaviour continued,he would be removed from the trial chamber.

Delawar Hossain Sayeedee,another Jamaat politician,is also on trial. Both Chowdhury and Sayeedee face a number of charges regarding their collaboration with the Pakistan occupation army in 1971. Two other Jamaat politicians,Matiur Rahman Nizami and Abdul Quader Mollah,have also been indicted,separately,by the war crimes tribunal. Nizami,who is chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami,faces as many as 16 charges for his role in 1971,while Mollah faces six charges. Nizami’s trial will commence on July 1. Mollah will be in the dock on June 20. The charges against the Jamaat leaders,all of whom were youthful supporters of the Pakistan cause in 1971 and were engaged in subverting the war of liberation,cite their role in the formation of organisations such as Al-Badr and Al-Shams,which became notorious for kidnapping and killing leading Bengali intellectuals on the eve of Bangladesh’s independence.

A pretty legitimate fear among those who would like the collaborators to be properly tried and punished is that in the14 months which remain before the general elections,the Awami League government might not be able to see the trials through to the end. Given the government’s growing unpopularity,the worry is that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party might return to power (assuming,of course,that the current debate over the feasibility of a caretaker government is resolved before the elections) and swiftly release the detained men,all of whom are politically linked to it. There is,of course,a precedent for that in Bangladesh. In 1996,Sheikh Hasina’s first government initiated the trial of those who assassinated her father,Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,Bangladesh’s founder. When the BNP returned to power after the 2001 elections,the trial was put in cold storage and did not recommence until Sheikh Hasina assumed office for a second time in January 2009.

The ruling Awami League will certainly not want to see history repeated. Which is why it appears determined to have the war crimes trial drawn to a successful end. Whether it can reach that goal is,of course,a different matter.

The writer is executive editor,‘The Daily Star’,Dhaka,express@expressindia.com