Guest Post: Williams & Mansoor–Bangladesh’s War Crimes Tribunal Isn’t About Justice
[Dr. Paul R. Williams is the Rebecca I. Grazier Professor of Law and International Relations at American University and the co-founder and President of the Public International Law & Policy Group and Roushani Mansoor is a former Fulbright-Clinton Fellow who worked in Dhaka, Bangladesh as a Special Legal Assistant for the Ministry of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs (on issues unrelated to the Tribunal). She is currently a Law Fellow at the Public International Law & Policy Group.]
Cheers met the first verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh, which sentenced Abul Kalam Azad to death in absentia. Less than a month later, shouts of “ami, tumi, Bangalee, Bangalee” – meaning “me, you, Bengali, Bengali” – echoed in the streets of Dhaka in reply to another, less popular Tribunal verdict. The Tribunal had handed down a life sentence to Abdul Qader Molla, a punishment many Bangladeshis felt did not match the severity of Qader Molla’s crimes. The Tribunal, mandated to try alleged war criminals from the 1971 Liberation War, aimed to bring closure to Bangladesh’s bloody birth. These moments were not just responses to justice served, but demonstrated a transformation in the Bangladeshi national identity – a transformation in which the Tribunal, as a mechanism of justice, is playing a crucial part.
The Liberation War pitted Bengali Freedom Fighters against the Pakistani Army and local collaborators from anti-liberation groups. These collaborators aided the Pakistani Army, executing attacks and massacring villagers. The nine-month war secured independence for Bangladesh, but at a huge cost. Estimates range from 300,000 to 3,000,000 killed often in gruesome ways; countless more were tortured. Over 200,000 women were subject to rape, and as many as 10 million fled their homes towards India to escape the violence. Over forty years later, the Tribunal operates as a domestic exercise of justice aimed at trying atrocities committed during the war. It strives to erase the attitude of impunity and deliver justice – however delayed – to victims and victims’ families still healing from horrific conflict.
The Liberation War fought for the independence of Bangladesh, and a brand new Bangladeshi national identity was born out of this conflict, largely grounded in this struggle. The generations who lived through the Liberation War had to fight and sacrifice for their national identity but they earned the right to call themselves Bangladeshi. Generations born after the war are certain they are Bangladeshi – it is their birthright. These generations, however, are struggling with the meaning of being Bangladeshi. They are undergoing their own fight for a national identity, one that is predominately based on a war they did not witness.
The one war-related relic these generations have to hold onto is the Tribunal. As a legacy of that liberation struggle, the Tribunal has been intrinsically intertwined with the Bangladeshi national identity. Demand for the creation of the Tribunal began immediately after the Liberation War, and legislation creating the Tribunal was passed in 1973. Subsequent natural disasters, political assassinations, and military coups in Bangladesh prevented the government from actually constituting the Tribunal. However, popular support for the Tribunal did not waver. The hope for a Tribunal was given new life during the 2008 elections where the Awami League campaigned on the promise that if elected, it would constitute the Tribunal during its term. Winning an absolute majority in Parliament, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to constitute the Tribunal and bring closure to the bloody birth of Bangladesh after over 40 years of waiting.