By IANS
Dhaka : Global human rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI) has asked Bangladesh’s caretaker government to try its “war criminals” – those accused of collaborating with the Pakistan government during the liberation war in 1971.
“We want the present government to initiate some process. The future democratic government will have to take the issue forward. But some steps regarding that should be taken at this moment,” Irene Khan, AI secretary general, told media here Saturday.
Khan is leading a special AI delegation to Bangladesh to discuss human rights issues with the government, political parties and civil society.
The AI delegation will meet senior members of the caretaker government including Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and Law Adviser Mainul Hosein.
The schedule for meeting Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed is yet to be fixed, The Daily Star said.
AI and ‘Manusher Jonno Foundation’ (MJF), a Bangladeshi body probing the role of those who killed unarmed civilians during the freedom movement, jointly organised the seminar on ‘Campaign for Human Dignity’.
The six-day AI mission, which began Saturday, will focus on rule of law with special attention to institutional changes needed for protection and promotion of human rights, The Daily Star said.
Political analysts said Khan’s visit gives a sharp turn to a delicate issue before Bangladesh.
A demand to de-recognise those accused of war crimes has been building up before the Election Commission. The principal targets are Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and several Islamist parties that polled nearly four percent of the votes in the 2001 elections, had 18 lawmakers and three ministers in the government of Begum Khaleda Zia.
The present government, after initially approving of the move, has since said that it is not one of its priority tasks.
The demand has also got enmeshed with the clamour among the political parties for early elections, which the government has said it will hold only this year-end.
Khan stressed the need for an independent judiciary, police reform, action to address maltreatment and torture, a strong national human rights commission and freedom of information legislation.
In her speech at the seminar and statements before the media, the AI chief also touched upon different rights-related issues including the current state of emergency imposed on Jan 11 last year.
But she drew a line between the form of government and the allegations of human rights violations.
“A state of emergency and human rights violation are not the same. We’ll ask the government to lift restrictions on freedom of expression with special emphasis on freedom of media, protection of rights workers, and freedom for those working for poverty, environment and women rights issues to organise people.”
To push the demand for war criminals’ trial, Irene’s visit will include meetings with the government to share AI’s experience in Latin America, Cambodia and Africa on trial of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Asked whether the AI would pursue the trial of war criminals in international arena in case the government does not initiate the process, Irene said, “Amnesty International doesn’t lodge such cases directly, but other organisations do… If they (war criminals) go to other countries, they can be arrested and cases can be lodged against them.”
Irene noted that the history of Bangladesh “is turbulent, full of injustices. But the current situation brings her hope.”
“To my own feeling, this is a window of opportunity to initiate institutional reform that can turn the trend this country has suffered from.”
The culture of impunity “which goes back to 1971” is almost an institutional problem now, she said, “Therefore, you need institutional change.”