Bangladesh envoy calls for motion at UK parliament recognising 1971 genocide

The Bangladesh High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Saida Muna Tasneem has called for a fresh motion in the British parliament to recognise the 1971 genocide, recalling the motion “stopping the genocide in East Bengal and recognising Bangladesh” adopted at the parliament in June 1971.

“There is a strong documentary and eyewitness evidence that genocide was committed on Bangladesh soil in 1971, yet the world has failed to recognise it,” she said in her welcome address at a high-profile commemorative event at the British Parliament on Bangladesh Genocide Day 2024 hosted by the Bangladesh High Commission in London yesterday.

According to a message received in Dhaka today, senior British parliamentarians, eminent academics, legal experts, freedom fighters, and community leaders participated in the commemorative events titled “Remembering the Bangladesh Genocide 1971: The Road to International Recognition”.

Tasneem cited several international media reports on the “Bengali Genocide”, including Anthony Mascarenhas’s lead article in The Sunday Times headlined “Genocide” and similar reports by The Telegraph and BBC on mass atrocities that shocked the world and prompted global leaders to act.

The high commissioner commended the US Congress resolution led by Congressman Ro Khanna and Congressman Steve Chabot, which needs to be emulated in the British parliament.

Professor of International Law and Human Rights of the University of Birmingham Mohammad Shahabuddin, said the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh by the Pakistan army fulfilled all criteria to be recognised by the UN.

A minute’s silence was observed at the event to commemorate the ‘Black Night’ of 25 March 1971.