BHC Canberra receives BD Student Memorandum
Date 13 February 2013
To
The High Commissioner
Bangladesh High Commission, Canberra, Australia.
Sub: Expressing solidarity with Shahbag Mass Movement and their demands
Sir
We, a group of Bangladeshi people studying in Canberra, are drawing your attention to the recent mass movement with the capital punishment for Abdul Quader Mollah and all other accused war criminals of 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.
The Liberation War of Bangladesh (East Pakistan at that time) started on 26 March 1971, and after 9 months long armed battle, on 16 December, 1971 we became an independent nation. Atrocious and dreadful crimes were committed during the 9 month long war. More than 3 million innocent people were killed, nearly a quarter of a million women were raped, and over 10 million people were forced to take refuge in a neighbouring country. In this period, a group of anti Liberation paramilitary forces generally known as “Rajakars” was created that aided the Pakistan Army against the Liberation Army. These “Rajakars” along with other anti liberation paramilitary forces “Al-Badr” and “Al-Shams” committed the most heinous crimes of history such as mass killing, looting and raping, and helped the Pakistan Army to locate the intellectuals of Bangladesh and slaughtered them at night.
Due to many reasons including political, these war criminals quite well-known to the society were not prosecuted. Recently, a trial process has started against the main war criminals and verdicts have been heard against two of them. However, it appears from the reports of many of the Bangladeshi newspapers and television news (in the recent time) that justice has not been done.
Currently, spontaneous protests and mass movement of youth gathered at the “Shabag” (an intersection in the heart of capital city Dhaka, Bangladesh) demanding capital punishment for all convicted war criminals is going on. From the conscience, everyone who knows the real history is supporting this youth movement against the war criminals. We believe the trial process has waited more than 40 years the souls of 3 million people who died during the war have waited long enough for justice. We believe it is the time and we want justice and by no means it should be compromised.
We, a group of Bangladeshi students in Canberra, Australia, are supporting this great cause initiated by the young generation of Bangladesh and standing in solidarity with people in Shahbag area. We also believe that capital punishment is the appropriate verdict for committing such atrocious massacres.
Yours Faithfully
Bangladeshi Students in Canberra, Australia
More Photos at https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/media/set/?set=oa.465622616824729&type=1
