Trial of war criminals
We cannot take the words of the LGRD minister so lightly. He has explicitly expressed that the government is facing pressure both at home and abroad not to try the war criminals. He said this on 18 August while speaking at a function organized by Jongibad Birodhi Mancha (a platform against communalism and militancy).
Although he has not mentioned the identities of those pressure groups both at home and abroad, it is not difficult for the people of Bangladesh to guess who they may be. The obstructionists at home are quite known faces to the public. Many of them are publicly voicing their negative attitudes, some are members of criminal groups who are lobbying at home and abroad, some are beneficiaries of the services rendered by the war criminals who helped bring them and keep them in power as long as possible.
If we close our eyes and deliberate it is also not very hard to recognise who may be those "foreign pressure groups". We know very well who were our friends in need, which foreign powers directly helped the anti-liberation forces during the war of liberation with money and material, who did not recognise Bangladesh long after its birth.
Syed Ashraful Islam has urged the media, intellectuals and the people of Bangladesh in general, irrespective of party affiliation, to mobilize public support in favour of this long awaited "trial of war criminals". We have heard, Germany, UN, EU and other democratic powers have already expressed their willingness to help Bangladesh with information and other logistic support to try the war criminals. The present government should not step back from the trial under any pressure. The nation needs the unity among the entire population of this country.
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