Editor's Desk

Crimes of the Bangladeshi regime

Editor

Sha'ban 25, 14372016-06-01

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Hasina Wajed, the Bangladeshi prime minister, is on a witch- hunt. She is executing political rivals after putting them through kangaroo trials. She is dredging up old hatreds that will cost her dearly as well.

Bangladesh is not a very important country. Its teeming masses are huddled in a remote corner of the globe but that does not absolve the regime from adhering to the norms of civilized behavior. Yet its insignificance may have given Hasina Wajed, its prime minister, the opportunity to perpetrate horrible crimes against innocent people through kangaroo trials.

Its latest crime was the hanging of 73-year-old Motiur Rahman Nizami, leader of the Jama‘at-e Islami Party. The regime accused him of participating in the killing of people in the 1971 revolt against the central government when Bangladesh, then called East Pakistan, was still part of Pakistan. That is a sad period in Pakistani history but through a tripartite agreement between Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, it was specifically agreed that the past would be buried and no witch-hunt would take place. In return, Pakistan recognized Bangladesh as a sovereign state.

It was Mujibur Rahman, father of the current Bangladeshi prime minister, who signed the 1974 agreement. Wajed is motivated by raw hatred and revenge blinding her to the elementary requirements of justice. She may not get away with such crimes. If she persists, there is a strong possibility that she might be targeted for elimination. She would only have herself to blame.

Of course, the poor people of Bangladesh would end up paying the price. Greedy hate-filled rulers care less for the well being of the people than for their personal self-interest.

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