My class has never shamed the victims of 1971. We not compromised by blind loyalty to any political party due to heritage, privilege, special interest or conditioning. My class is non partisan and has only just started to find its voice.
My class welcomes the War Crimes Tribunals. We hope it moves with better pace and that its verdicts can give comfort to the victims of genocide of 1971. We all must move beyond the issues that have divided us so horribly for so long and the satisfactory conduct of the WCT is a prerequisite for this.
My class is not responsible for an under resourced WCT nor the decades of delay. We are not responsible for the fogs and mists that have been created by AL and BNP. Nor is my class responsible for the appalling lack of media interest in the proceedings of the WCT.
But though Farida stands up for the victims of genocide she also represents the class of intellectuals which does nothing to fight against the status quo of our national politics. Normally, there is nothing wrong with this. But the condition of our country is so appalling, so horrific, that we can demand that this class too must rise to the challenges of the day. Even if that intellectual has the best of reasons to support that party – for example that party will hold the WCT.
The terms that Farida complains about are terms used by me specifically for her subset of intellectuals. My terms have nothing to do with standing against war victims (how absurd!) and everything to do with standing against her class of partisan intellectual (AL or BNP).
Anything that annoys this class is free caviar to me. Standing up to the partisan intellectual in
And as long as they won't, Sharmila Bose may as well get up their noble noses.
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Farida Majid <farida_majid@...> wrote:
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> http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/306-10/6055-war-crimes-fugitive-mladic-arrested-in-serbia
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> . . . . . . . . . .
> Serbia's war crimes office said in a statement that the arrest represents "the fulfillment of justice."
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> "The victims and their families have long waited for this moment," it said in a statement. "Serbia has fulfilled its moral obligation toward the victims and their families."
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> Comments:
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> In the case of Bangladesh genocide of 1971, the perpetrators roam free, and had even been rewarded by various govt. positions of power. If nowadays victims of 1971 and their family members were to speak of fulfillment of justice, they will be hooted into silence by a class of people. Victims will be shamed into being whimperers, capable of doing nothing but singing a few emotional songs. They will be called spies of India. Repeated attempts to hold a War Crimes Tribunal and try the well-known accused collaborators of Pakistani Army have been aborted due to political manipulations.
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> It is internationally acknowledged that the genocide committed in Bangladesh was one of the worst genocides since World War II outstripping Rwanda (800,000) and probably surpassing even Indonesia (1 million to 1.3 million in 1965-66).
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> Recently there has been a book written that is aimed at "busting the myth of Bangladesh War of 1971." The author of this book, Sarmila Bose (an American of Indian-Bengali origin), claims that accounts of the crimes against humanity have been widely exaggerated by the "dominant narrative" and a mythologised history.
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> Certain class of Bangladeshis feel 'morally obliged' to support Sarmila Bose and her 1971-Myth-busting campaign! It is not comprehensible what obligation that might be.
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> Hope of fulfillment of justice is therefore still distant for the 1971 genocide victims and their family members in Bangladesh even though there is now, 40 years after the events, an International Crimes Tribunal set in motion in Dhaka.
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> Farida Majid
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