Scenes from 1971 LIBERATION WAR MUSEUM PHOTO ARCHIVE
Julian Francis
Publish : 10 Dec 2021, 12:20 PMUpdate : 10 Dec 2021, 12:20 PM
For someone who witnessed the birth of Bangladesh, it is painful and difficult to understand that there are some who still deny that any genocide took place. Whenever someone tells me this or I read this, I become very angry and incredulous.
I remember families of Bangladeshis -- Hindus and Muslims -- coming in a traumatized state across the border to access some of the over 900 refugee camps. Men, women and children of all ages, struck dumb by the horror of seeing some of their loved ones murdered before they managed to escape.
Heard at a hospital at Krishnanagar, West Bengal:
“I am Ismatar. One night after I went to bed, I heard shouts and screaming, and when I went to see what was happening, the Punjabi soldiers were there. My four sisters were lying dead on the floor, and I saw that they had killed my mother. While I was there they shot my brother – he was a bachelor of science. Then a soldier saw me and stabbed me with his knife. I fell to the floor and played dead.”
As a result of the genocide in 1971, I regularly still have nightmares. I cannot forget seeing 10 children fight for one chapati. I cannot forget the child queuing for milk, vomiting, collapsing, and dying of cholera. I cannot forget the woman lying in the mud, groaning and giving birth.
And near Dhaka in Gazipur district on May 14, 1971 we received a report:
“In many houses, they just lined up all family members, and machine-gunned them. They looted ornaments and cash. They were followed by the Biharis, who continued the looting, and set fire to every house and to all the harvested grain. An estimated 600 persons were killed, and about 600 homes destroyed.”
Newsweek’s Tony Clifton, a recipient of the “Friends of Liberation War Honour” from the government of Bangladesh, wrote:
“The refugees stand patiently, calf deep in stagnant water, eager to tell me their stories so I can tell others. I collect a notebook of horror-rape and murder and kidnapping. They tell me how they saw their children stabbed, their husbands or brothers executed, their wives collapse with fatigue or sickness. The stories are all new, and all the same.”
In 1971, the refugees from Bangladesh wanted to return to their homes. Now, 50 years after the emergence of Bangladesh, the persecuted Rohingya people from Myanmar do not want to return to their homes without guarantees. They have been systematically attacked, tortured, and suffered humiliating discrimination on a regular basis since independence from the British in 1948.
There is a record of over 20 such genocidal armed “clearance operations” since that year. Why would they want to return “home” to Rakhine State without assurances? They know the situation and they will not consider going back until they have internationally-guaranteed assurances.
In late 2017, as a member of a Bangladesh “Citizens’ Commission for Investigating Genocide and Terrorism in Burma,” I visited the Kutapulong and Balukhali refugee camps at Teknaf. We were collecting evidence that could be used in any submission to the International Criminal Court and we interviewed a number of refugees who had recently arrived in Cox’s Bazar. From what we learned then and what continues to be reported four years later, genocidal killing is still going on.
Although the Rohingya from Rakhine have no status, many of the Rohingya with whom we talked said they would go back to their homes in Rakhine State if they were convinced it would be safe, their land was restored to them, and they were given citizenship. However, one old woman told me that this was the third time she had escaped persecution and certain death and come to Bangladesh as a refugee, and that this time she would refuse to go back.
It will, indeed, be very difficult to persuade many Rohingya to return to Rakhine State until all aspects of their human rights are restored. We still have a lot of work to do. The international community has ignored the problems of the Rohingyas for far too long.
Julian Francis has been associated with relief and development activities of Bangladesh since the War of Liberation.
I still have nightmares
For someone who witnessed the birth of Bangladesh, it is painful and difficult to understand that there are some who still deny that any genocide took place. Whenever someone tells me this or I read this, I become very angry and incredulous.
I remember families of Bangladeshis -- Hindus and Muslims -- coming in a traumatized state across the border to access some of the over 900 refugee camps. Men, women and children of all ages, struck dumb by the horror of seeing some of their loved ones murdered before they managed to escape.
Heard at a hospital at Krishnanagar, West Bengal:
“I am Ismatar. One night after I went to bed, I heard shouts and screaming, and when I went to see what was happening, the Punjabi soldiers were there. My four sisters were lying dead on the floor, and I saw that they had killed my mother. While I was there they shot my brother – he was a bachelor of science. Then a soldier saw me and stabbed me with his knife. I fell to the floor and played dead.”
As a result of the genocide in 1971, I regularly still have nightmares. I cannot forget seeing 10 children fight for one chapati. I cannot forget the child queuing for milk, vomiting, collapsing, and dying of cholera. I cannot forget the woman lying in the mud, groaning and giving birth.
And near Dhaka in Gazipur district on May 14, 1971 we received a report:
“In many houses, they just lined up all family members, and machine-gunned them. They looted ornaments and cash. They were followed by the Biharis, who continued the looting, and set fire to every house and to all the harvested grain. An estimated 600 persons were killed, and about 600 homes destroyed.”
Newsweek’s Tony Clifton, a recipient of the “Friends of Liberation War Honour” from the government of Bangladesh, wrote:
“The refugees stand patiently, calf deep in stagnant water, eager to tell me their stories so I can tell others. I collect a notebook of horror-rape and murder and kidnapping. They tell me how they saw their children stabbed, their husbands or brothers executed, their wives collapse with fatigue or sickness. The stories are all new, and all the same.”
In 1971, the refugees from Bangladesh wanted to return to their homes. Now, 50 years after the emergence of Bangladesh, the persecuted Rohingya people from Myanmar do not want to return to their homes without guarantees. They have been systematically attacked, tortured, and suffered humiliating discrimination on a regular basis since independence from the British in 1948.
There is a record of over 20 such genocidal armed “clearance operations” since that year. Why would they want to return “home” to Rakhine State without assurances? They know the situation and they will not consider going back until they have internationally-guaranteed assurances.
In late 2017, as a member of a Bangladesh “Citizens’ Commission for Investigating Genocide and Terrorism in Burma,” I visited the Kutapulong and Balukhali refugee camps at Teknaf. We were collecting evidence that could be used in any submission to the International Criminal Court and we interviewed a number of refugees who had recently arrived in Cox’s Bazar. From what we learned then and what continues to be reported four years later, genocidal killing is still going on.
Although the Rohingya from Rakhine have no status, many of the Rohingya with whom we talked said they would go back to their homes in Rakhine State if they were convinced it would be safe, their land was restored to them, and they were given citizenship. However, one old woman told me that this was the third time she had escaped persecution and certain death and come to Bangladesh as a refugee, and that this time she would refuse to go back.
It will, indeed, be very difficult to persuade many Rohingya to return to Rakhine State until all aspects of their human rights are restored. We still have a lot of work to do. The international community has ignored the problems of the Rohingyas for far too long.
Julian Francis has been associated with relief and development activities of Bangladesh since the War of Liberation.
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