Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire | feeds from sacw.net | @sacw
Home > General > Bangladesh Pakistan spat over the excecution of the 1971 War criminal Abdul (...)

Bangladesh Pakistan spat over the excecution of the 1971 War criminal Abdul Quader Molla : Sensible commentary

17 December 2013

print version of this article print version

Daily Times (Pakistan), December 18, 2013

EDITORIAL: Crying foul

Chaudhry Nisar is one person in the government who is enormously upset over the hanging of Abdul Qadir Molla and has pleaded with the Bangladesh government to desist from opening up old wounds and inculcate a spirit of forgiveness, especially towards the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. He chastised his colleagues in the National Assembly, especially the PPP, for not supporting the resolution condemning Molla’s hanging. In the same breath that the minister was asking Bangladesh to let bygones be bygones, he acknowledged that we have not learnt anything from the Fall of Dacca 42 years ago. Whatever Chaudhry Nisar meant by that, it is true that we have never seriously discussed what mistakes were made then and have been condemned therefore to repeat them. He asked the house to analyze and weigh the successes and failures the country has accumulated since the parting of the ways with East Pakistan. Imran Khan, while supporting the resolution, has asked the government to declassify the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report. MQM wanted other issues, such as the extradition of Biharis stranded in Bangladesh, added to the resolution. The resolution, saying that Molla was hanged for his loyalty to Pakistan, was adopted with the house divided over it. This reflects the gnawing feeling within about the inhuman and shameful treatment we meted out to the Bengalis. Having reduced them to a virtual colony to fulfill the development needs of West Pakistan, the Eastern wing had been deprived of a life worthy of decency and political participation. Molla and his like are being persecuted not for battling for Pakistan but for their activism to instigate massacre and genocidal killing of the Bengali intelligentsia and citizens. Forty two years after these events, we still lack the moral strength to face the truth. It is ridiculous that we should be waxing indignant to condemn Bangladesh without so much as a nod in the direction of our own responsibility and culpability. This lends weight to the argument of the PPP that we should not interfere in the internal affairs of Bangladesh, on principle and for our hollow ‘morality’. Even if the government finds it hard to bring into the open the Hamoodur Rehman report, it could at least apologize for the atrocities of 1971 instead of feeding the rage over the hanging of someone who had been found guilty of the mass murder of our Bengali brothers and sisters.

Molla was not a hero, but Chaudhry Nisar and the Jamaat-i-Islami seem bent upon proving him one. Bringing the resolution into the National Assembly and then dissecting it threadbare was wrong. Similarly our penchant for blaming India for aiding the secession of East Pakistan is a convenient way to shut our eyes and close the door on our unacceptable deeds. The facts would not disappear by such gimmicks. The only appropriate way forward is to own up to the atrocities that the state committed against its own people in East Pakistan. Pakistan’s relative political stability is a recent phenomenon. We have 66 years of tumultuous history dotted with disharmony between the Centre and the provinces, barring Punjab. We turned our heroes into villains. Those who were the flagbearers of Jinnah’s ideology grew disenchanted with this state because the power that be considered them second class citizens. We did this to Sindh, to Balochistan and to East Pakistan. Even today our blame game stops at India. So much for the desire to learn from history. The Fall of Dacca, as we commemorated the failure of our military crackdown December 16, was turned more melancholy due to Molla’s hanging. The two issues were linked and raised to the same intensity, which shows our lack of acumen. Groping in the dark, we cling to anything marked Pakistani, be it religion or even the mistakes of our own making, without critically going beyond the surface of things.

o o o

Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh), December 18

How dare they?

Editorial

Not only is the minister patently wrong, he is completely out of line to mention Bangladesh’s lack of magnanimity, while his country has yet to find the courage to issue an apology for the atrocities of 1971

It is beyond us to understand what business the Pakistani interior minister and the Pakistani National Assembly have commenting on the domestic affairs of sovereign Bangladesh.

It’s also much more than just a little offensive that Pakistan’s National Assembly chose Bangladesh’s Victory Day this week to pass a resolution expressing concern over the execution of the convicted war criminal, Abdul Quader Molla.

The resolution was moved by a Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami member and adopted by majority vote, stating: “This House expresses deep concern on the hanging of a veteran politician of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh for supporting Pakistan in 1971.â€

The National Assembly, in echoing a statement by Pakistan’s interior minister, has overstepped the bounds of reasonable comment in suggesting Molla was hanged for supporting Pakistan. Not only is the minister patently wrong, he is completely out of line to mention Bangladesh’s lack of magnanimity, while his country has yet to find the courage to issue an apology for the atrocities of 1971.

It’s also disappointing that Pakistani Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan said QuaderMolla was innocent. A trial has taken place in accordance with the law of the land and punishment duly enacted, therefore whether Molla was innocent or not is not for Imran Khan to say.

The ICT process has been the object of much discussion both inside Bangladesh and internationally. Overseas politicians are free to express their concerns and to profess objections to the death penalty, but if would have been better if they had the dignity to refrain from inflammatory comments. They would do well to listen to the PPP leader Abdul Sattar Bachani who said: “The execution of Molla was an internal matter of Bangladesh and Pakistan should not interfere in the internal matters of an independent and sovereign country.â€

o o o

LUBP (Pakistan)

Editorial: Pakistan’s Deobandis’ insane arrogance over a Bengali rapist-mass murderer’s hanging

posted by Taj | December 14, 2013 | In Editorial

Judging by the reaction of Pakistan’s Deobandi politicians and journalists over Abdul Quader Molla’s hanging, one should not be blamed if one thought that in Bangladesh an innocent man of God has been lynched by a mob.

On 13 December 2013, Abdul Quader Molla, a top leader of Jamaat-e-Islami was hanged for raping Bengali women and mass killing Bengali men and children. The unspeakable horror Abdul Quader Molla wreaked on his innocent victims was that they wanted to live as free human beings in their own homeland. But Abdul Quader Molla wanted them to continue to be slaves of the corrupt generals of then West Pakistan. We will not go into the details of what Jamaat-e-Islami did to the people of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, because it is all available on the Internet. What we would like to note is the sheer insane and arrogant reaction by the Deobandis and Takfiri-Deobandis in Pakistan to the hanging of a super terrorist who was also a third-rate human being.

Led by Pakistan’s pro-Taliban Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan, the Takfiri-Deobandis not only condemned the hanging, but also justified the rape of thousands of Bengali women and mass killing of Bengali men, women and children. Chaudhry Nisar Khan spoke for his government when he termed the hanging unfortunate and a tragic step. “There was no doubt that Molla was hanged because of his loyalty and solidarity with Pakistan in 1971. . . . Every Pakistani is saddened and grieved over his death. . . . It would have been better if the Bangladeshi government had shown farsightedness‚ large heartedness and magnanimity instead of opening old wounds. (Read: http://tribune.com.pk/story/645071/nisar-expresses-grief-concern-over-bangladesh-jamaat-leaders-execution/)

Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and pro-Deobandi cleric, Munawar Hassan, decried his Bangladeshi comrade’s execution as deplorable. In a stement published in Pakistani newspapers, Munawar Hasan said: “Molla embraced martyrdom with a smile on his face. His unflinching spirit is commendable. His execution at the hands of a “slanted†war tribunal is nothing but a mockery of justice†. Going forward, JI Ameer also picked apart the government of Pakistan for being ‘criminally silent’ over Molla’s unjust hanging. He added that Molla indeed became a victim of patriotism. (Read: http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-130104-Mollas-execution:-JI-to-stage-Pakistan-wide-protests-today)

Similar statements were issued by leaders of banned Deobandi outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, currently operating as ASWJ) and other Deobandi clerics, politicians and media persons of Pakistan.

Just for record, here is a brief snapshot of crimes of the rapist-murderer who is being eulogized by Deobandi clerics and politicians in Pakistan

“They banged her two-year-old brother against the floor until he died, her two sisters were slaughtered, another was raped, and her pregnant mother was shot dead. She lay hidden beneath a cot, transfixed, numb with fear, watching these ghastly scenes being enacted before her eyes. She struggled in vain to not shout but gave in to the horrific incident and let her pain come out loud. Then, it was her turn, to be brutally raped. In the evening of Mar 26, 1971, Jamaat-e Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla and several other Biharis forced into the residence of Hajrat Ali Laskar in Mirpur. Ali was shot at, his pregnant wife and her two daughters aged 7 and 9 years were slaughtered.†(Read: http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/09/19/momena-seals-mollas-fate)

The Jang Media Group’s daily The News titled its report on the hanging as “BD JI leader buried amid violence†. The “violence†in Bengadesh it reported was this: “In Dhaka, Jamaat-e-Islami activists torched at least four cars and a motorcycle near the country’s main railway station, said Shahzadi Sultana, a fire main railway station, said Shahzadi Sultana, a fire official. Several homemade bombs were detonated during the attack, Somoy TV reported.†(Read: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-27263-BD-JI-leader-buried-amid-violence)

In Dhaka, a city of 20 million people, “at least four car and a motorcycle†is violence for a pro-Taliban publication like The News! But The News was not alone in sensationalizing the non-event of the pro-Jamaat-e-Islami ‘violence’. Urdu daily Jang, a sister publication of The News, did the same. It reported that protest rallies were staged all over Pakistan, as if a Pakistani had been killed! Jang informed its readers that the entire country of Bangladesh was rocked by protests resulting in a number of killings. The ‘high’ number of protesters killed, by Jang’s own admission, is six! (Read: http://jang.com.pk/jang/dec2013-daily/14-12-2013/main.htm)

Similarly, the far-right Nawa-e-Waqt came up with front-page coverage of the death of the Jamaat-e-Islami rapist-mass murderer. Like The News and Jang, it cited that all over Pakistan, people protested the killing and offered funeral prayers for the man (Read: http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk/E-Paper/Lahore/2013-12-14/page-1/detail-20). In its editorial Nawa-e-Waqt wrote, “This is not what happens in civilized societies†(Read: http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk/editorials/14-Dec-2013/265362). What about the rape and murder of hundreds of thousands of Bengali men and women? Certainly that was a hallmark of a civilized army and its Deobandi-Salafi supporters.

But it were the Deobandis columnists who truly cried foul in support of the rapist-mass murderer. For instance, Ajmal Niazi, a right-wing columnist and conspiracy theorist, claimed an Indian conspiracy behind the hanging. Holding Hasina Wajid responsible for the hanging and calling her a stupid woman, he dubbed the hanging “a shameless affair†. He went on raving and demanding, “Pakistan must not sit silent over the hanging and act. Otherwise it will cowardice on our part†(Read: http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk/columns/14-Dec-2013/265545)

Another columnist, Nawaz Raza, said, “The death of Abdul Quader saddened Pakistani politicians. In the National Assembly and the Senate, legislators were a picture of gloom and sadness over the cruel act of the Bangladesh government’s hanging of the man who fought for the existence of Pakistan†(Read: http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk/columns/14-Dec-2013/265396).

But it was two infamous Takfiri-Deobandi journalists who shed tons of crocodile’s tears. Oraya Maqbool Jan, the most infamous Takfiri-Deobandi journalist, wrote a column on Abdul Qader Mulla’s hanging which can be considered a landmark in the history of journalistic absurdity. It is a must-read column which is comprised of voodoo history, alchemy, and necromancy. Only a separate editorial, indeed a research paper, can deal with. But we would cite just one claim he makes, “On account of Pakistan’s having been hijacked by certain elements, not many eyes in the country have shed tears on the hanging. Those eyes which are not shedding tears on the death of those who sided with the Pakistan army, will not shed tears for those who have supported the Pakistan army in Baluchistan and Swat†(Read: http://dunya.com.pk/index.php/author/orya-maqbool-jaan/2013-12-14/5342/26526939#.UqxJi_QW1Wl).

Another Deobandi columnist, Khalid Masood Khan, used extremely flowery Urdu to mourn the hanging of Abdul Quader calling it “a heart-rending death of the man who was hanged by a kangaroo court for being a support of the Pakistan army and the Two Nation Theory†(Read: http://dunya.com.pk/index.php/author/khalid-masood-khan/2013-12-14/5346/77423249#.UqxOr_QW1Wl)

Scores of examples can be given showing how Pakistan’s Deobandis have reacted to the hanging of a mass murderer. The point is: No Takfiri-Deobandi has said a word about the hundreds of thousands of innocent Bengalis killed for their ‘crime’ which was their just and legitimate demand to live as free people. Pakistan’s National Assembly led by Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, an ally of Sipa-e-Sahaba (ASWJ) and the Taliban (TTP), offered prayers for the rapist-mass murderer. It is the same Takfiri-Deobandi mindset which has allowed the massacres of Shias, Sunni Barelvis, Ahmadis and Christians in Pakistan. This mindset has no respect for human rights and people’s right to self-determination. The only evil the Takfiri-Deobandis see is the opponent who happens to have a different view than theirs.

- See more at: http://lubpak.com/archives/296433