Thursday, February 28, 2013

Justice for Genocide in Bangladesh

The full article can be found here:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/27/world/asia/bangladesh-protests/index.html?hpt=wo_t2

During now Bangladesh's fight for independence from Pakistan in 1971, a genocide was perpetrated by the Pakistani army and anti-independence political groups, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 1-3 million people.

The article is about the renewed push for justice for these crimes through a huge apolitical protest that has remained peaceful so far.

But I'm not confident that the movement will stay this way. They call for justice, but it's not what they want. They want vengeance. When the tribunal handed down a life sentence to Abdul Quader Mollah through proper judicial proceedings, there was outrage that he was to be kept alive and demonstrations were held calling for his hanging. The government is siding with the protesters for now, and this event prompted the Bangladesh parliament to propose an amendment to the law that created the tribunal to allow for parliament to appeal the court's decisions.

If the government continues to bend to the protesters' will, it will be an uncivilized witch hunt under the guise of proper legal proceedings with potential retaliation from Jamaat, the political party responsible for the violence in the 70's and the target of much of the "justice." However, if the government were to ignore the crowd, they may take justice into their own hands and violence may result. 

Either way, the protest may threaten stability in the country.

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