An unrepentant Jamaat

The Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty awarded to Matiur Rahman Nizami by International Crimes Tribunal-1 in 2014. The verdicts of the courts are based on evidence but Jamaat's reaction to it is reprehensible and unacceptable. By calling a hartal to protest the death sentence, Jamaat is, in fact, choosing to stand by its heinous role, of that of the local collaborator of the Pakistani killing machine, during the Liberation War. That the party has demonstrated its opposition to the ruling of the highest court of the land in itself amounts to contempt of court. 

Nizami's role as the chief of Al-Badr, the notorious militia that has the blood of hundreds of Bengalis including prominent teachers, intellectuals and scholars on its hands, has been proven in the highest court of the land. It is, therefore, only appropriate that Jamaat accepts the verdict and offers a genuine apology to the nation for its atrocious war crimes in 1971.

The long arm of the law has finally reached Nizami. It is high time the party reconciled with the truth and accepted responsibility for what it had done in 1971. The trials of war criminals open the window to heal wounds that have been festering for the last forty-four years and offer an opportunity to move forward accepting the basic tenets on which the War of Liberation was fought -- the fundamental principles and values on which this nation is built. 

The sooner Jamaat comes to terms with this fact the better for them, and the country.