Dhaka seeks fresh motion in UK Parliament for genocide recognition
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There is strong documentary and eyewitness evidence that genocide was committed on Bangladesh soil in 1971, Bangladesh high commissioner to UK says
High Commissioner of Bangladesh to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem on Monday for a fresh motion in the British Parliament recognizing the 1971 genocide.
She recalled an early-day motion adopted in the UK Parliament in June 1971, on “stopping the genocide in East Bengal and recognizing Bangladesh.”
She was speaking at a commemorative event in the UK Parliament on Bangladesh Genocide Day hosted by the Bangladesh High Commission in London.
“There is strong documentary and eyewitness evidence that genocide was committed on Bangladesh soil in 1971, yet the world has failed to recognize it,” she said.
Senior British parliamentarians, eminent academics, legal experts, freedom fighters and community leaders participated in the commemorative events titled “Remembering the Bangladesh Genocide 1971: The Road to International Recognition.”
The high commissioner cited several international media reports on the Bangali genocide, including Anthony Mascarenhas's lead article in the Sunday Times headlined "Genocide" and similar reports on mass atrocities by The Telegraph and BBC that had shocked the world and prompted global leaders to act.
“Sir Peter Shore, MP, who was chair of the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee in 1971, moved a motion in the UK Parliament condemning atrocities committed in erstwhile East Pakistan, followed by another motion, moved by Action Bangladesh and supported by over 233 cross-party members, calling for the end of genocide in East Bengal and the recognition of Bangladesh”.
The high commissioner commended a US Congress resolution led by Congressman Ro Khanna and Congressman Steve Chabot, which she said needs to be emulated in the British Parliament.
She called upon British-Bangladeshi politicians, academia, professionals and community leaders to create greater awareness of the Bangladesh genocide amongst British political, humanitarian and think-tank circles.
Speaking on the occasion, UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy for Bangladesh and Vice Chair of the APPG on Bangladesh Tom Hunt MP said: “The atrocities that occurred in Bangladesh in 1971 during the War of Liberation was an unforgettable event.”
He said he will work with the Bangladesh High Commission and the diaspora towards creating awareness about the 1971 genocide and introducing a new motion in the UK Parliament to recognize it.
Lord Rami Ranger, patron of Conservative Friends of India and the cohost of the event, expressed his support for getting its international recognition.
British Asian Conservative Link Chairman Lord Suri urged UK policymakers to bring a fresh motion in parliament in favour of international recognition of the genocide in Bangladesh during the nine-month War of Liberation in 1971.
Mohammad Shahabuddin, professor of international law and human rights at the University of Birmingham, said the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh by the Pakistan army fulfils all criteria to be recognized by the UN.
Val Harding, a Swadhinata Trust trustee who served as a nurse in a refugee camp in Kolkata during the 1971 War of Liberation, recalled seeing thousands of traumatized and distressed people who sought refuge in India after fleeing atrocities committed by the Pakistani invading army and their local collaborators.
Professor Nazia M Habib of Cambridge University, daughter of a freedom fighter, remembered how her father witnessed the intellectual killing at Dhaka University in 1971 and demanded justice for the victims.
Her suggestion was to make systematic efforts, collect more evidence and collaborate with diplomats and lawyers to obtain UN recognition for the Bengali genocide.
Organizer of Bangladesh Liberation War Overseas Freedom Movement in the UK Sultan Mahmud Sharif, freedom fighter and Study Circle Chair Syed Mozammel Ali, Patron of Oxfam UK Azizur Rahman, President of Sommmilito Sangskrtik Jote UK Golam Mostafa and Director of the Swadhinata Trust Ansar Ahmad Ullah also spoke on the occasion.
One minute of silence was observed to commemorate the “black night” of March 25, 1971.