Genocide in 1971: US congressmen move to give it recognition

GBNEWS24DESK//

Two US lawmakers introduced a historic bipartisan resolution at the House of Representatives urging recognition of the genocide committed by the Pakistan Armed Forces against Bangalis in 1971.

They called on Congress to condemn the atrocities and Pakistan to apologise to the people of Bangladesh for its role in the genocide, and prosecute, in accordance with international law, any perpetrators who are still living.

Republican Congressman Steve Chabot, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, and co-chair of the Bangladesh Caucus, and Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna introduced the resolution on Friday.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque commended the congressmen.

Belgium-based International Crimes Strategy Forum’s board member Ahmed Ziauddin termed the resolution historic and said it will have practical consequences globally as the US has its own law defining its role once any such resolution is passed.

Congressman Steve Chabot said millions of people were killed [in 1971] in what is now Bangladesh and many of them were Hindu.

“And it was, in my opinion, a genocide just like other genocides – like the Holocaust – happened. And there were others that have occurred, and this was one that, thus far, hasn’t really been declared by definition. And we are working on this now,” he said in a statement issued by the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM).

“The Bangladesh Genocide of 1971 must not be forgotten… We must not let the years erase the memory of the millions who were massacred. Recognizing the genocide strengthens the historical record, educates our fellow Americans, and lets would-be perpetrators know such crimes will not be tolerated or forgotten,” said Chabot.

The resolution described how the West Pakistani elites deprived the Banglalis of economic, social, and political rights, treating them as a lesser people.

It also mentioned General Yahya Khan’s order to the top military brass to kill the Bangalis on March 25, 1971.

The resolution also mentioned Bangladesh government’s estimate that three million people were killed and 200,000 women raped.

It sought that the US reaffirms its commitment to promote peace, stability and intercommunal harmony in the Indo-Pacific region, and the right of all people living in the region, regardless of national, racial, ethnic or religious background, to enjoy the benefits of democratic institutions, rule of law, freedom of religion and economic opportunity.

Ahmed Ziauddin said the resolution rightly pointed out the historical facts.

Aroma Dutta, MP, whose grandfather Dhirendra Nath Datta and uncle Dilip Datta were killed by the Pakistan Armed Forces in 1971, said, she wants the killers to be punished for murdering innocent people, including the elderly, young women, and children.

“My family and I have still not recovered from the trauma and suffering. I, along with other family members of the martyrs, demand recognition of this genocide in which millions were raped and killed,” she said in the statement.