Bangladesh war criminals can’t escape
The conviction of Ghulam Azam for crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation War is a watershed moment in the history of Bangladesh. The 91-year-old is the former emir of the Jamaat-e-Islami in East Pakistan and he led the Islamist resistance against the Bengali nationalist movement. He created and directed local militias — the Al Badr, the Al Sham and the Razakars — which collaborated with the Pakistani Army and perpetrated the genocide of the Bengali people; at least three million were killed and many more rendered homeless. With the international war crimes tribunal finally holding him accountable for atrocities he committed more than four decades ago, there is now a sense of closure for the millions who suffered at the hands of his marauding Islamist militias.
Azam is the fifth among eight Jamaati leaders indicted on war crimes charges to be convicted, but his trial had been the most high-profile. Not only was he the face of the Islamists during 1971, in the decades since then he has also rebranded himself as a mainstream politician, a religious scholar and more recently, a spiritual leader. But the image makeover notwithstanding, Azam and his cohorts never accepted the secular, democratic credentials upon which Bangladesh today stands. This is most evident in the violent street protests that Azam's supporters have resorted to in the past few days. His conviction, therefore, is also a victory for the future of Bangladesh which today is threatened by the likes of the Hefazat movement and its Talibanised vision of the country.
But Bangladesh's quest for justice is not over yet. There is a possibility that the 90 year-long prison sentence handed to Azam may be turned on appeal, especially if in the meantime the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, a longtime ally of the Jamaat-e-Islami, comes to power. The general election is scheduled for next year, and already the Awami league Government has run into rough weather over Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's refusal to hand over power to a caretaker Government before Bangladesh goes to poll. Also, the ruling party has performed poorly in the recently-held mayoral election — an important indicator of the uphill journey that lies ahead of Ms Hasina, who is also battling corruption charges and a certain amount of anti-incumbency sentiment. In this situation, the ongoing war crimes trial, which her Government initiated three years ago, could prove to be a game-changer.
This is a trial that the people of Bangladesh have long demanded and there is no doubt that it has won her a fistful of political brownie points. Now, if the Government is unable to take the trial to its logical conclusion — for many, that means nothing less than the execution of convicted Jamaati leaders — then it will fuel popular unrest. However, if those sentenced to death are actually hanged, the Jamaatis will wreak havoc, possibly prompting a brutal state crackdown that may push Bangladesh into a cycle of violence. Complicating matters further is the harsh criticism that the war crimes tribunal has received for not upholding international standards of jurisprudence and instead being a tool for political retribution. But none of this must cause the Awami league Government to shy away from ensuring that war criminals get the punishment they deserve, although it must proceed with caution.