'Symbolic' trial set for war criminals in Bangladesh

Dhaka: A senior minister has said the government plans to stage a "symbolic" trial exposing only the leaders of the 1971 war criminals to justice. Earlier reports said the trial was expected to be launched by later this month.

"The trial of war criminals doesn't mean the trials of thousands of people. It will be symbolic and those who led the massacre in 1971 will be tried," a newspaper quoted him as saying clarifying the government's stance on the much hyped issue.

Unrest

Syed Ashraful Islam, also the general-secretary of the ruling Awami League of Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina, said it would be of no use to create "unrest everywhere in the country".

The minister's comments came as deputy leader of parliament and senior Awami League leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury recently told a party rally that the trial was expected to be launched later this month while she urged party units at grassroots level to send the names and addresses of the alleged 1971 war criminals to the Prime Minister's Office.

Islam's comments sparked sharp protests among the groups waging a campaign for the exposure of the 1971 Bengali speaking collaborators of the atrocities as they said it was contrary to earlier government policy.

Coordinator of the Sector Commanders Forum, the grouping of 1971 Liberation War veterans, and former army chief retired general Harun-ar-Rashid in a statement said Islam's comments did not reflect the government's final policy on the issue.

‘No right'

"It is the War Criminal Tribunal which will decide on how many people will be tried for war crimes," he said.

Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, another group to wage the protracted campaign, said Islam did not have the "right to comment like this".

"Such comments will make the trial of war criminals a farce," acting president of the Committee Shahriar Kabir said.

But Islam referred to the examples of war criminals trials held abroad.