The government has asked the Amnesty International (AI) to seek a formal apology for its highly objectionable pronouncement over pro-independence forces saying that the government and the people of Bangladesh demanded an immediate retraction of this statement, UNB Reported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a protest note to the Amnesty International on its October 27 press statement, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam told UNB on Tuesday.
The government, in its protest note citing three particular elements in AI’s position, said the AI in its October 27 statement, had gone beyond its usual stand, and caused widespread outrage by suggesting that the ‘pro-independence forces’ in Bangladesh be also implicated for committing ‘serious crimes’.
“This egregious comment is just a brazen insult to the valued freedom fighters and martyrs of Bangladesh’s Liberation War and significance of Bangladesh’s Liberation War and its aftermath,” the protest note sent to the AI headquarters in London reads.
This is exactly the kind of misleading propaganda run by those who opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, continue to work against Bangladesh’s sovereignty and independence, and remain on the side of those convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide, the protest note mentioned.
It said the Amnesty International opposes the death penalty and thus condemns any process – no matter how legal or transparent – that arrives at such a verdict. “Even then, it raises its concerns over the death penalty only on a selective basis, especially for convicts with finance and international clout.”
The government statement mentioned that there is thus no reason to consider the Amnesty International as an unbiased arbiter of the judicial process. “Any claims it makes, such as calling the International crimes court of Bangladesh flawed, must be viewed through that lens, and treated with skepticism.“
Throughout the statement in question, the Amnesty International makes sweeping comments about the alleged miscarriage of justice or lack of fair trial standards, the government says.
“Without going into any specificity, the repetition of the same allegations without substance has only exposed the organization’s entrenched bias in favour of the convicts, and its ulterior motive in serving the latter’s interest which has failed to draw the attention of the wider international audience.”
The only argument put forward about the perceived “haste” does not hold since the trial proceedings have moved through its subsequent stages in adherence to all standard judicial norms and procedures, the protest note reads.
“It’s unacceptable that the Amnesty International assumes the prerogative to make value judgments about an independent judiciary and its conduct in a manner that reeks of utmost irresponsibility, unaccountability, and condescension.”
It said the Amnesty International has joined a selected few, especially the defendants and their political sympathizers, to project the convicts as ‘opposition leaders’.
“This is an easy and cheap ploy to give the trials a political favors. Even a casual reading of the trial proceedings and verdicts would make it obvious that the political affiliation of the convicts had never been an issue in these cases.”
It said the courts had almost religiously taken into consideration the crimes committed by the defendants at the time of the War in 1971, and nothing beyond.
“The fact that most of the defendants happen to be members of different opposing political parties is a mere coincidence as far as the trials are concerned. Even then, the fact that some ruling party or coalition members are also standing trials is conveniently glossed over by Amnesty International. “
The Amnesty International issued the statement to reiterate its principled position against the death penalty, and in the process, question the trials and appeals in the cases against two individuals convicted of committing crimes against humanity and genocide during Bangladesh’s War of Liberation in 1971.
As the two particular cases referred to in Amnesty International’s statement remain sub-judice, the government would refrain from making any specific comments in relation to them.
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury has been found guilty of nine out of 23 charges, including abduction, torture and the killing of some 200 civilians in collaboration with the occupying Pakistan army, the government says.
Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujaheed has been found guilty of four of out seven charges, including murder, the protest note mentioned.
He, the protest note reads, actively collaborated with the Pakistan Army and held command position of Al Badr, a ruthless death and torture squad modeled on Hitler’s SS. He was found to have led the wholesale slaughter of Bangladesh’s leading intellectuals in the last days of the War.
“It’s a sad reality that the perpetrators of the crimes of mass atrocity during Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971 were allowed to gain political and economic strength over the years and make systematic attempts to change the narratives about their past.”
It said they unleashed their full force to create an environment of terror and violence to destabilise the country and foil the trials, resort to selective murders and attacks on witnesses and campaigners of the trials, and run an international campaign through certain quarters (though rapidly declining in number) to undermine the trials.
“The government and people of Bangladesh consider it unfortunate that the Amnesty International has enlisted itself with those quarters,” it said.
The government says the AI has moved away from the stand of an impartial observer and commentator, and has made a choice to repeat the arguments of the defendants as well as the local and international detractors who have a vested interest in disrupting the trials.
