Bangladesh steps up campaign to declare March 25 as International Genocide Day

Bangladesh has once again called for recognition of March 25 as the International Genocide Day by the international community. The country’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that Bangladesh is working towards it.

“The Genocide of Bangladesh committed in 1971 by the Pakistani military is one of the most heinous crimes in human history … we do not know of another instance of such barbarism of such intensity and mayhem,” the Daily Start quoted the minister as saying. The statement was made through a video message at an international seminar titled, “Remember and Recognize: The Case of Bangladesh Genocide of 1971”, organised at the Human Rights Museum, Winnipeg in Canada on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, Bangladesh Liberation War Minister AKM Mozammel Haque too asked all those who believe in the spirit of the liberation war to unite for the recognition of 1971 Liberation War as genocide.

He said though the ghastly episode took place 51 years ago, the United Nations has not yet recognised it as a genocide.

Bangladesh has repeatedly tried to persuade the United Nations to declare the 1971 Liberation War as genocide.

The Sheikh Hasina government, however, in 2017 declared March 25 as the National Genocide Day.

In the 9-month-long war of liberation against Pakistan about three million innocent people were killed and more than 200,000 women were violated.

The ghastly episode started at the midnight of 25 March 1971 when the Pakistan army cordoned Peelkhana, the headquarters of the East Pakistan Rifles (EPR), Rajarbagh police barracks, and the Ansar headquarters at Khilgaon. About 8,000 to 12,000 people were killed every day—the highest in any genocide history.

Also read: Bangladesh minister for fresh campaign to designate Pak atrocities as genocide