The Liberation War of Bangladesh ended on December 16, 1971. Nearly 45 years later, on September 3, Bangladesh completed trial of the top-rung of the home-grown masterminds, who aided Pakistani Army in the Liberation War that saw 30 lakh killed, many more raped and a crore, migrating to India.

Mir Quasem, a millionaire and a moneybag behind the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, was hanged to death, a little before midnight on Saturday, for killing and torturing many in the port city of Chittagong.

He was the sixth to be executed since 2013, and fifth top functionary of Jamaat to walk to the gallows for war crimes.

A former minister and one of the most senior members of BNP was also executed. Another accused convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh is absconding. Two died in prison and one is jailed for life. In terms of financial clout, Quasem was the most powerful among the entire lot. He was one of the top shareholders of Islami Bank, and was running a huge empire of business houses, schools, colleges, hospitals and media outlets through various trusts.

Faith in judiciary “Considering his clout, we were apprehensive if justice would prevail. But, it did. And that opens a new chapter in the history of Bangladesh. It will revive the lost faith in the legal justice delivery system, feels Golam Mortoza, editor of “Shaptahik” and a popular face in television ‘talk-shows’ in Bangladesh.

According to him, some early hitches and glitches apart, the tribunal functioned efficiently offering ample scope to the accused to defend themselves. “If you compare with Nuremberg Trial or Tokyo Trial, we have probably fared better in many ways,” he says.

What is most important, the Bangladeshi government decided to back the trial ignoring serious international pressure.

For obvious reasons, Pakistan was against the trial and described the accused as “innocent”. The Liberation was fought against Pakistan. NATO member Turkey openly opposed the move.

There was no public criticism from Saudi Arabia, but Mortoza says trial initiated by the Sheikh Hasina government in 2009, coincided with Saudi clampdown on issue of job permits to Bangladeshis, impacting earning potential.

“The killing of the first Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 - barely three-and-a-half years of Independence - followed by rehabilitation of the pro-Pakistani fundamentalist forces by the military ruler Late Ziaur Rahman, ended all hope of the trial,” says Abul Kashem a professor of international relations in Rajshshi University in Bangladesh.

Election manifesto The political context changed so badly in the intermittent period that even Hasina, daughter of Rahman, didn’t raise the issue on her first term in power 1996. But, it featured in her election manifesto while coming to power in 2009.

Kashem, who had lost his elder brother in the war, says: “Not many expected her to deliver. There was pressure from the US, Europe and the Arab world to stop it. Fundamentalist forces, who wields huge clout upped the ante.”

Now that it is done, he feels the sacrifice of the family is vindicated. “It is the second biggest event in the history of Bangladesh after the Liberation War and, only Hasina could dare it,” he said.

Secular democracy Kashem wants the pressure to sustain on fundamentalist forces to build a secular democracy as was promised by the father of the nation Mujibur Rahman.

“Dead bodies strewn across paddy fields or people running for life to India were a scar in my childhood memory. I thank Hasina for the healing touch. The task ahead is to make the change lasting,” he said.

Related Topics