Pakistani war criminals of 1971 still free

On December 16, 2012, a brave heart 'Nirbhaya' was raped and mutilated by four men in a moving bus in Delhi. This incident shook the conscience of the citizens. On the same date in 1971, Bangladesh was liberated from the Pakistan army's occupation after a struggle of nine months, in which 30 lakh innocent Bangalees were killed, 4 lakh women were raped and one crore refugees took shelter in India. More than 70 thousand war babies were born. Unfortunately, unlike Nirbhaya's case, the 1971 rape victims did not receive much global sympathy or compassion. Instead, they were seen by the society as a symbol of 'social pollution' and shame. Most of the families of rape victims refused to accept them and only a few were able to return to their families or old homes. Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave the rape survivors the title of birangona (heroine). But this titled served as a reminder that these women were now deemed socially unacceptable as they were 'dishonoured.'  The term birangona became associated with barangona (prostitute). The official strategy of marrying the women off and encouraging them to be seen as war heroines failed, as few men came forward to accept them as brides. And those who volunteered to marry them expected the government to provide them large sums of money as a kind of dowry. Those women who did marry were usually mistreated, and majority of men, abandoned them after taking their money.

    On February 18, 1972, the government formed the Bangladesh Women's Rehabilitation Board to help the rape victims. Many of them were pregnant. Many women felt a sense of relief for the abortion programme, as they did not have to bear a child conceived from rape. However, others had to go the full term. Many of them, understandably, felt a surge of animosity towards the child they were forced to carry. Several international agencies, such as Mother Teresa's 'Sisters of Charity' helped the victims through an adoption programme. However, not all women wanted their child taken away. In such cases, babies were forcibly removed and sent for adoption. Such was the emotional trauma of the rape victims. Most of them are looked down upon even till this date by others in Bangladesh. After 44 years of the liberation of Bangladesh, they still carry the stigma and reel under emotional agony.

     In April 1971, I was detailed to assist the civilian authorities in administering the refugee camps set for Bangladeshis in West Bengal, Assam and Tripura where I met a large number of such victims. I also met many victims of the 1971 genocide during this time. The stories of their trauma haunt me to this day. During the war, on December  7, 1971 I visited a hospital in Thakurgaon after we liberated it from the occupying forces. I met two girls who were apparently kept as sex slaves in a bunker by a Pakistani Major. When he saw the Indian Army preparing for assault on his sub-unit, he forced these girls to walk through the mine field laid in front of his defended locality. They begged for mercy but he threatened to shoot them if they didn't act as per his orders. Out of fear of being shot, they walked through the mine field. One of them blew her leg and the other injured her backbone in an anti-personnel mine blast. They were writhing in pain and crying as they narrated their tale.

There is very little information available about the children born out of rape; we have little knowledge about those who were adopted by people from other countries. In recent years, the humanitarian community has shown interest in integrating children born out of sexual violence during conflict through post-conflict humanitarian efforts, migration policies and refugee-settlement programmes. A well-known human rights activist, Bina D'costa, sent an appeal to several adoption agencies, Bangla websites and newspapers to talk about the war babies. The following e-mail was sent by one website owner: "I had a lousy dad, who just insulted me … I tried to commit suicide four years ago … I often wonder why I am here in Canada, adopted by parents who divorced three months after I was adopted … I hated being a kid, and I am angry at Bangladesh for not taking care of me when I needed it most. I don't have any roots and that makes me cry. So that is why I am trying to learn more about where I was born."

     After the liberation of Bangladesh, a list of war criminals was prepared and 200 of them were identified for trial as per the UN General Assembly resolutions on war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. But following the recognition of Bangladesh by Pakistan, then president of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, visited Dhaka and appealed to the people of Bangladesh to forgive and forget the mistakes of the past in order to promote reconciliation. In turn, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared that he wanted his people to forget the past and make a fresh start and agreed for repatriation of 200 war criminals who were in Indian POW camps.

    It was one of the biggest travesties of justice. The agonies and atrocities suffered by millions of innocent people, particularly rape victims and war babies who continue to suffer, were compromised to bring in peace and tranquillity in the sub-continent. Ironically, neither the peace nor tranquillity has prevailed nor has reconciliation taken place. Pakistan continues with its old policies with a new strategy of terrorism. It is an irony that in the modern world such heinous crimes have gone unpunished. While the Nazis were punished for WWII crimes, till as late as 2010, the Pakistani war criminals were allowed to enjoy their retired life in luxury, financed from their loot from Bangladesh in 1971. The Chinese and Korean sex slaves kept by the Japanese during World War II have been adequately compensated but Pakistan has not even fulfilled this basic humanitarian obligation. Even after 44 years of the Liberation War, I feel repulsed. I appeal to the world to start the process of bringing the perpetrators of carnage, arson and rapes of 1971 to justice under international laws, and put pressure on the Pakistani administration to recognise and provide adequate compensation to rehabilitate rape victims who are in their 60s and 70s.

The writer is a retired Brigadier General of the Indian Army. He participated in the Liberation War of Bangladesh.