Genocide by Pakistani military most heinous in history: Momen

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said Bangladesh genocide committed in 1971 by the Pakistani military is one of the most heinous crimes in human history and regretted that the Bangladesh genocide is yet to be recognised by the international community to the extent the genocide warrants.

“We do not know of another instance of such barbarism of such intensity and mayhem,” Momen said while speaking at a virtual seminar as the chief guest.

The Foreign Minister said on 25 March 1971 the Pakistan junta undertook the cruel and enormous mayhem of innocent civilian people of Bangladesh in order to suppress the nation’s democratic aspirations by sheer force of fear and terror.

He informed that Bangladesh declared 25 March as the Genocide Day and Bangladesh is working for getting the date recognized as the International Genocide Day by all the countries in the world.

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momenn said 1971 has been the most significant year in the history of Bangladesh.

In one hand, Bangladesh achieved her independence in this very year, on the other hand, the nation experienced the ugliest chapter of brutality, atrocities, indiscriminate killing, raping, looting, and arson to achieve independence, he said, adding that the world witnessed genocide within three decades of the Second World War.

The High Commission for Bangladesh in Canada and the Bangabandhu Centre for Bangladesh Studies (BCBS) in Canada, Liberation War Museum, Bangladesh, Genocide Studies Centre, University of Dhaka, Refugees Resilience Centre and Rotary Club Canada jointly organized the day-long seminar on remembering and recognition of the case of Bangladesh Genocide on 1971 at the Human Rights Museum, Winipeg, Canada on September 21.

High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Canada and the Chief Patron of the BCBS in Canada Dr Khalilur Rahman and Dr Kawser Ahmed, Chief Coordinator of the BCBS, Canada, delivered introductory remarks.

Dr Gregory Stanton of Genocide Watch delivered the keynote speech.

David C Newman, Rotarian and Peace-Builder and Canadian Patron of the BCBS, Dr. James Waller, Cohen Professor of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies of Keene State College, New Hampshire, USA, Dr. Adam Muller, Professor and Director of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manitoba, spoke at the seminar.

In addition, Dr John Adam of University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada, gave a verbal illustration of the Bangladesh Genocide which pictures the heinous crimes committed in Bangladesh in 1971.

Joining virtually, Mofidul Hoque, Trustee, Liberation War Museum of Bangladesh, and Director of Centre for the Study of Genocide and Justice explained the case of genocide in Bangladesh in 1971.

His statement was followed by presentations by post-genocide generation researchers.

Professor Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, Director of Center for Genocide Studies, University of Dhaka, presented a paper delineating the Bangladesh genocide.