Archive for March, 2008

Bangladesh Genocide Archive Online: An Appeal

Our heartfelt congratulations to everyone involved in this mammoth initiative. A solid contribution indeed; one of the decisive early steps that would take us a long way towards justice for 1971. As said, it is a “continuing and collaborative” project. So in the end it is up to all of us to make sure that this archive excels. Let us all support this initiative with everything we have. Let us all make sure that this archive becomes the first point of credible reference for any research on 1971 genocide in Bangladesh. Let us fill every page of this site with stories of courage and sacrifice of our martyrs and freedom fighters. Let us fill the pages with evidence of war crimes and with details of the criminals who perpetrated them against our nation. This is a sacred burden for our generation we all must share with pride, dignity and resolve.

Here is the link: http://www.genocidebangladesh.org

If you are reading this post and is outraged enough by the war crimes that have been perpetrated against our people 37 years ago, if you are one of them who always felt frustrated for not being able to do anything about it–here is your chance to do something:

• Circulate the link to everyone you know;
• If you own a website or a blog, then please create a link on your site pointing to the archive;
• Find materials on 1971, on atrocities, on war crimes and send them to the archive administrators for consideration. Do not just assume that the archive administrators might have the materials already.

We do not know whether we would see the war criminals tried in our lifetime, but we surely can try to make this website one of the highest ranking ones on Bangladesh. We surely can do something to ensure that the evidences of misdeeds dangle on the face of all the Razakars and their offsprings whenever they Google the word “Bangladesh”.

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A tribute to the victims of the Bangladesh 1971 genocide

If you are wondering why I was not blogging last couple of month as frequently as before, I confess now I was engaged in a mammoth project.

It all started after the much discussed denial - Jamaat-e-Islami’s leader Ali Ahsan Muzahid’s statement that “Jamaat did not work against the Liberation War in 1971 and there are no war criminals in the country.” Soon other apologists joined the procession of denials terming the war of liberation as a civil war. Even scholars like Sharmila Bose tried to deny a lot of thing with faulty research.

Some fellow bloggers notably Mashuqur Rahman and Tasneem Khalil stressed that we need a proper archive to tackle these issues. Since I was reading and compiling a list of all available content on liberation war since long, I came forward to gather contents for an archive. I started work in December 2007 and it was a learning experience for me to study and revisit our glorious history of liberation.

I have listed in this archive the International newspaper clippings, events, documentations, audio, video, images, media reports and eyewitness accounts of the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh all with workable links to judge the truth for yourself. I have compiled views of Pakistanis, Indians, US Government with articles, documents and provided many rare known facts. I am not an historian nor I am here to distort the history. But I hope this archive will help the seekers of truth. For an example you can refute Jamaat’s statement from the facts in this page (in Bangla) alone.

As I wrote in the about section of the Bangladesh Genocide Archive:

“The plot is so huge that no one person can tell the story. Many books were written, video footage was taken and words are passed from generation to generation. But due to lack of information in one place and platform many truth were distorted. The struggle for Bangladesh’s liberation and the efforts of the Pakistani army to cull the resistance resulted in one of the worst genocide in the World history. This was interpreted in many different ways. To many Bengalis it was a struggle for liberation, to many Pakistanis a armed rebel to be quashed, to the US govt. Pakistan’s internal affair. However it was in the US the peace loving people arranged the first ever aid concert for the people of Bangladesh.

Politicians tried to bank on these in the past and will be doing this in the future. The new generation is baffled as text books were rewritten to instill superiority of the visionaries of the political governments over rivals. People are forgetting that it was a mass effort and prompting to disrespect the catalysts and the father of nation, who was the inspiration.

That is why this site is born.”

Actually its a repository of all the information available online listed in one place. From here you will be able to navigate to the original contents in their original locations. I will try to include all valid viewpoints with authenticated sources and let the readers/viewers be the judge.

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Saudia Airlines plane were evacuated unhurt

[Dhaka Correspondent]

All the 326 passengers and the crew of a Saudia Airlines plane were evacuated unhurt as an engine of the Boeing airliner caught fire shortly after it landed in Dhaka Tuesday, civil aviation officials said. 

‘The third engine in the right wing of the plane catches fire soon after it landed in the Zia International Airport,’ said Shakeb Iqbal Khan Majlish, chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.  

An official of the Saudia Airlines also confirmed that a fire broke out in an engine of the Boeing 747 aircraft, which carried passengers from Medina city of Saudi Arabia and landed in Dhaka at around 2:10pm. 

Shakeb said all the 326 people including three children, 16 cabin crews and three cockpit crews of the flight SBA 810 were rescued from the plane through emergency exits without any injuries. 

‘Our air traffic control tower noticed smoke in the right wing of the plane soon after it touched the runway and informed the captain of the aircraft about it,’ said the CAAB chief. 

The captain informed that he had shut off the troubled engine. 

Following advice from the control tower, the captain later shut off all the four engines, he added. 

A fire-fighters’ team stationed at the airport and a team of Air Force doused the fire immediately and rescued the passengers safely. 

Shakeb said the CAAB had formed a four-member committee headed by its director (flight safety) Kamrul Islam to investigate the cause of the fire within seven working days.

Genocide, 1971

They claim it never happened: one of the worst nightmares of human history. They claim monsters never existed: those who feasted on their own brother’s blood. Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Shah Abdul Hannan and their comrades in Oxford or the Bangladesh Election Commission have their agendas to propagate revisionist rubbish: “No genocide,” “No war,” “No war criminal” from 1971. Digging through archives, Mashuqur Rahman compiled a video presentation on Bangladesh, 1971: genocide, rapes, war crimes, war criminals. As Shada Kalo puts it, our agenda: “I will not forget. I will not let you forget.”

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NBC News 1/7/1972: Dhaka University massacre. Video of Pakistani soldiers executing students, professors and workers at Dhaka University on March 26, 1971.

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CBS News 2/2/1972: Evidence of mass graves and widespread killing in Khulna. Approximately 100,000 people were killed in Khulna.

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NBC News 2/20/1972: Rape victims. Genocidal rapes of Bangladeshi women and girls during the Bangladesh Liberation War. The report interviews pregnant girls held at Pakistani army barracks and repeatedly raped. Some of the girls are as young as 13.

Political parties critical of Fakhruddin Ahmed’s statement on Al Jazeera Television

[An E-Bangladesh Reports]

The major political parties, including Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party were critical of chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed’s statement about the jurisdiction of the proposed Truth Commission regarding the top two politicians, Sheikh Hasina of Awami League and Khaleda Zia of BNP.

Awami League, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Communist Party of Bangladesh and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal also raised question if there is any necessity of forming the commission at all. 

Fakhruddin Ahmed said in an interview, aired Saturday on Al Jazeera Television, that former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia would not be able to seek pardon from the proposed Truth Commission.

‘There is no necessity of forming the Truth Commission here,’ acting Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said Sunday. ‘It [commission] is like a “Kangaroo court” formed in a few countries to control special situations. Here in Bangladesh, political and social situations do not require such commission.’  

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