An outcry of dissatisfaction resonated among many across Bangladesh following the judgment against Ghulam Azam, the 90 year old former head of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh.
He was found guilty of conspiracy, incitement, planning, abetment and failure to prevent murder during the Liberation War and was sentenced to 90 years in jail.
Despite his proven guilt which is punishable by death, Azam was handed a “softer” sentence due to his age and ailing health.
Many in Bangladesh, particularly from the young generation, cannot stand the idea of a Bangladeshi court showing “leniency” towards one who played such an active role in 1971, by closely collaborating with the heinous Pakistani army and promoting the atrocious activities of Razakars against their own people. They want nothing short of a death sentence for Azam.
Being part of the new generation, I must admit I am content but not exuberant about the verdict. Finally, the Bangladeshi justice system has branded Azam as a war criminal.
He was found guilty of all charges brought against him for his involvement in war crimes of 1971. We have finally done, as a nation, what was supposed to be done a long time ago.
Many ask me why did this trial matter to me even though I was born well after the Liberation War and was never directly affected through personal loss in 1971.
The answer is very simple - I am a Bangladeshi. My language and culture made me a Bengali but the war in 1971 made me a Bangladeshi.
What happened in 1971 is weaved in the fabric of our collective memory as a nation. The trauma from oppression, treachery, lives lost and women violated in 1971 is a national one that is passed from generation to generation. One does not need to have suffered a personal loss to feel violated by the war crimes and criminals of 1971.
Hence, these trials were an opportunity to seek closure as a nation to heal ourselves from the trauma of 1971. Seeing one of the principal perpetrators convicted for his crimes gives me some closure as a Bangladeshi.
Yet, many are not satisfied. They want to see more. They want to see Azam hanged to death. Others find such demands illogical and uncalled for. Justice was delivered and he was convicted of all charges. That should be the end of things and we should move on as a nation they are saying.
I think these people do not really get the severity of the collective national trauma borne by passionate and emotional Bangladeshis.
Countless lives were lost and numerous women were violated. Villages were burnt to ashes and people persecuted for seeking freedom from oppression. Worse still, many criminals roamed freely on this soil for decades, unpunished. The anger is very natural if not rational.
This was not an ordinary trial - it was a chance for a nation to set things right - to heal from the national trauma and guilt.
But now, many will have to live with the fact that Azam walked out of trial with a softer verdict than the proven charges deserve. They will fear this shows our weakness as a nation.
I am not talking about Gonojagoron Mancha or political organisations; I am talking about thousands of ordinary Bangladeshis expressing their dissatisfaction. Let's put this in bare words - they wanted to see him receive the highest possible punishment and not merely convicted. This is not medieval or sick, it is a natural human reaction.
However, as law abiding citizens, we should nevertheless all respect the verdict. Regardless of whether his sentence will actually be carried out or not, Ghulam Azam will die on this soil as a convicted heinous war criminal. Let that be his poetic justice and our "victory" as a nation.
To paraphrase the famous Qur’anic verse 5:32, killing one innocent is like killing the whole of humanity – Azam and his collaborators helped to gather and create a para-military force which murdered many in a misguided attempt to delay the onset of our birth as a country.
So, let him die as a convict in the nation whose formation he opposed so vehemently.
