Aaron Prisk 10/6/13 Criminal Justice Bangladesh War Crimes War has been a natural state of man kinds

irrational mind for thousands of years. Opposing forces clashing together arm to arm looking for a victor and a looser, but what happens when one changes the "game" for personal benefit? What happens to those who commit crimes on the battlefields and decades go by with offenders walking free? Are they just forgotten through time, or does karma come back to bite them in the butt and bring justice to those who deserve every little bit of it? In 1971 Bangladesh was fighting for independence, it was to be known as the Bangladesh liberation war. This nine month war between Bangladesh and Pakistan ended with innocent people, families, and entire villages ransacked and burned to the ground. Women were raped and left unheard, young able-bodied men killed. Lastly with the Pakistani army losing ground they made Operation Searchlight and killed as millions of Bengali as to crush the forces trying to take independence. When doing this they killed hundreds of Hindus and kafirs were also killed in what was to ultimately be known as genocide. Even while the war was relatively short the death toll was extremely high as up to 200,000 or more lives claimed. Since the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971, forty unsettling years have passed. Victims have been looked aside, while most of the offenders have long fled or died off. It's not till recently have efforts been made to commit people of war crimes from so long ago. Of these people are Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdul Quader Mollah.

Salauddin Quader Chowdhury who is now sixty four has been convicted of nine out of twenty three charges for war crimes. Mr. Chowdhury has been convicted of genocide to Hindus, crimes against humanity, complicity genocide, arson and deportation, looting, and convicted for leading Pakistani troops to his victims. Previous to these accusations Chowdhury has been a member of parliament for thirty seven years and is from a wellconnected political family. He is also a senior member and lawmaker for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) which was founded in 1978 and is a mainstream center right political party, but he is now of two members of that party sentence to death by hanging. Abdul Quader Mollah who is a senior leader and assistant security-general of Jamaat-e-Islami which is a Muslim religious and political party in Pakistan founded in 1941 is also convicted of war crimes. He is of seven Islamists how have been convicted and sentenced to death. He has been convicted on five counts including rape and the massacre of Mirpur, which game him the nickname "Butcher." Both parties say the trials are politically motivated and a way to destroy the resisting opposition. With the political parties at stake violence has erupted on the streets. Police have had to fire rubber bullets at civilians to stop the riots but there is fear of more violence to come due to more sentences that might occur. With all the violence and political conflict at hand military intervention might be the way out for a more peaceful resolution.

While only a small minority actually want the trials to take place, the rest of the population are more concerned about the political results and uncertainty that will come from the trials. As elections are coming closer uncertainty of what to come with it is on everybody's mind. Debates between political parties are making elections seem nearly impossible. One group wants it simple as is in the constitution while BNP is declaring a caretaker government with threats of boycotting elections. If the elections don't take place then chaos will hit the streets and more uncertainty is to come. It seems that war crimes in Bangladesh are very shaky. With unrest in the people and violence on the streets it's unknown how the trials will end. Only the coming days will tell if the sentences will go through and if the parties will be able to compromise with each other. As for the minority we can only hope that true justice is served even if it has been long overdue.

Sited page thediplomat.com/the-pulse/2013/08/27/political-uncertainty-looms-in-bangladesh/ wwww.asiananews.it/news-en/Abdul-Quader-Mollah,-the-'butcher'-of-Mirpur,sentenced-to-death-29032.html www.latimes/world/worldnow/la-wn-bangladesh-war-crimes-sentence20131001,0,7011158.story