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Download PDF The sector commanders of the Liberation War yesterday strongly demanded that the caretaker government form a special tribunal for trying the war criminals before facing the wrath of the people.
The commanders also vowed to wage another battle like the war of independence against the war criminals and urged the freedom fighters to draw up lists of the war criminals in their localities for trial.
They were addressing a reunion function at the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), organised on the occasion of the Victory Day.
“I want to ask the present government to please try the war criminals before time passes, otherwise you will have to face the wrath of the people if they become furious over the issue,” Commander of Sector 5, Lt Gen (retd) Mir Shawkat Ali, Bir Uttam said.
Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khondoker, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Liberation War, said the trial of those who killed tens of thousands of freedom fighters and people in general, raped thousands of women and resorted to arson and lootings, must have to be taken place on the soil of this country. He urged all freedom fighters and pro-liberation war forces to help accomplish the task.
DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka said that they all have to be united for bringing the war criminals to justice, otherwise the history of the country would move towards a wrong direction.
The DCC has named many city roads after freedom fighters in a bid to honour them, the mayor observed.
Several thousand freedom fighters attended the function amid festivity along with the sector and sub-sector commanders.
The DCC has been organising the function on the Victory Day for the last few years so that the freedom fighters of Dhaka come close to each other.
Addressing the function, Lt Gen (retd) Harun-ar-Rashid, coordinator of the sector commanders’ forum, observed that the present government’s distinction as a non-partisan and neutral caretaker government becomes blurred at times, when it does not take any action against those who make audacious comments against the country, its Liberation War, independence and the constitution.
“We want to know why the state is silent when they (Jamaat leaders) say that there had not been any Liberation War, rather it was a mere civil war and that there is no war criminals in the country,” an angry Harun said.
“If we cannot be united then one day the war criminals will try us for ‘dividing Pakistan,’” he said suggesting the freedom fighters to drum up support for the demand of war criminals’ trial among the people in their localities.
Commander of Sector 7 Kazi Nuruzzaman Bir Uttam observed that the war criminals could be brought to book if only the freedom fighters could come to power, as no previous governments had tried them.
He suggested the freedom fighters to join politics for attaining this goal.
The freedom fighters present, however, became angry and chanted slogans against Nuruzzaman as the commander did not make any direct demand for the trial of the war criminals. The resulting chaos subsided after a few minutes when other veteran freedom fighters intervened.
Lt Gen (retd) Mir Shawkat Ali urged the freedom fighters to be united on the question of Liberation War and trial of war criminals.
Jamaat-e-Islami, who had misinterpreted the religion, Al Quran and Hadith, is not only the war criminal but “religion criminal” as well, he observed.
Commander of Sector 4, Maj Gen (retd) CR Datta observed that if the present caretaker government does not try the war criminals, they might have to appear in the dock too.
Urging all field level freedom fighters to be united on this issue, he said the government would be forced to try the war criminals if they are united.
Maj Gen (retd) KM Shafiullah, commander of Sector 3, said that time has now come to be organised like in 1971, as he said that they had been disorganised for the last 36 years.
He said they would bring the war criminals to trial one way or another for protecting their existence. Also a former army chief, Shafiullah said the government, not any individual, would have to take the responsibility of trying the war criminals.
The present government should initiate the process of bringing the war criminals to justice so that the next elected government can follow it.
Sub-sector commanders Maj Gen (retd) Inuddin and Col (retd) HMA Gaffer Chowdhury, freedom fighter Mohammad Anwar Hossain, among others spoke at the programme followed by a cultural programme.
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