Several human rights activists, war heroes and academics have questioned what they called a “disinformation campaign” against Bangladesh by two international organisations – exerting pressure on the UN to stop including Bangladeshi security force members in peacekeeping missions.
They also referred to the earlier stance of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International against the country’s war crimes trials – “acting like defenders of Jamaat who committed crimes against humanity in 1971.”
They urged the UN not to rely solely on the organisations, but rather verify with multiple credible sources before drawing any conclusion.
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In the run up to the recent visit of United Nations Under-Secretary General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix and UN Under-Secretary General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance Catherine Pollard, HRW and Amnesty raised demands for “enhanced screening” of Bangladeshi peacekeepers.
Tweets from Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) verified account and Basherkella – a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami Twitter account – referring to Bangladeshi peacekeepers, that includes members of the country’s armed forces, in UN missions and calling for Lacroix to publicly voice concerns over “abuses by government security forces” during his visit to Bangladesh drew criticism from netizens, including AL activists and supporters.
A tweet from the verified, official account of BNP read: “Killers should not be peacekeepers.”
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“How could international rights bodies be so motivated and guided by certain political philosophies to demand that the United Nations take punitive measures against the largest contributor of troops to peacekeeping missions?” – asked Prof Mizanur Rahman, former chairman of National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh.
“Not only is Bangladesh one of the largest contributors of troops, but so far around 150 Bangladeshi peacekeepers have sacrificed their lives to ensure peace around the world,” he observed.
Referring to HRW’s position on Bangladesh’s war crimes trials, Prof Rahman mentioned a November, 2014 statement released by HRW that called for immediately halting the death sentence against Muhammad Kamaruzzman, a Jamaat-e-Islami leader convicted of war crimes during the Liberation War.
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Kamaruzzman was awarded capital punishment for “advising members of Al-Badr and Razakar forces on July 25, 1971 to commit a large-scale massacre in association with Pakistani troops in Sohagpur village of Nalitabari upazila in Sherpur… The collaborators murdered 164 unarmed civilians, 44 of whom have been named, and raped many women. So many men were killed in the attack that later on Sohagpur became known as Bidhoba Palli (village of widows).” [Source: The Daily Star]
On the other hand, Amnesty International, in October, 2014, released a statement saying, “Death penalty will not bring justice for crimes during independence war.”
In October, 2015, the rights body went as far as to say, “Serious crimes were also committed by pro-independence forces, but no one has been investigated or brought to justice for them.”
“Would anyone question the war crimes trials against the Nazis and their collaborators?” – Prof Rahman asked.
Earlier, in an interview with India Today, renowned human rights activist and lawyer Sultana Kamal had said, “I am of the opinion that HRW and Amnesty International’s role regarding the trial of war criminals was not fair. Also, they are not being vocal against war crimes committed in 1971.”