The Legacy of the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide

The battle for justice of 1971 remains unresolved. What once seemed settled—a certainty, the fate of the war criminal ATM Azhar, whose execution appeared inevitable—now lies once again in the murky waters of doubt.

A conclusion that once rang out with finality now trembles, uncertain, unsettling the very foundations of truth.

The shadows of 1971 cling to the present, their mournful echo reverberating through time. A cruel reminder of the horrors visited upon a nation rent by violence; its earth soaked with the blood of innocents. The agony of the 1971 genocide endures, etched in the collective heart of Bangladesh, an unyielding scar upon history that refuses to fade into silence.

In the dark hours of March 25, 1971, under the grim command of Gen General Yahya Khan, the West Pakistani forces unleashed "Operation Searchlight"—a campaign of terror designed to crush the rising cry for independence in the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). This marked the birth of one of the 20th century’s most barbarous genocides. The massacre that followed claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Bengali civilians, inflicted countless rapes, tortures, and disappearances—all perpetrated by the Pakistani military and their local collaborators: the Al-Badr, Al-Shams, Razakars, and Jamaat-e-Islami militias.

In the wake of these horrors, the newborn nation of Bangladesh embarked on the long and treacherous path to justice. In 2009, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) was established to unearth and prosecute those responsible for the brutalities of 1971. Among those indicted was ATM Azharul Islam, a prominent leader of Jamaat-e-Islami and a key figure in the Al-Badr militia. In 2019, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh upheld his death sentence, convicted for war crimes—his heinous deeds, including the orchestrated execution of over 1,400 Bengali civilians, leaving a dark and enduring stain upon the nation’s history.

Yet, on February 25, 2025, a shocking and unexpected decision by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court called into question the case of Azhar, along with other convicted war criminals. This sudden shift casts a shadow over the long-awaited justice that had seemed within reach. The decision, some allege, has been influenced by political forces, with accusations that the current government—often accused of being under the sway of right-wing Islamist factions—has pressured the judiciary to alter its course. This new development threatens to undo the long-sought justice that survivors and families of the martyrs have so earnestly yearned for.

Azhar’s complicity in the genocide is beyond dispute. He was not a mere bystander, but a central figure in the Al-Badr militia, responsible for some of the most unspeakable crimes of the war. Under his leadership, the Al-Badr carried out mass killings, rapes, and the abduction and torture of countless Bengali civilians. More than 1,400 innocent lives were extinguished at the hands of his militia, leaving behind a legacy of pain and anguish that haunts the nation to this day.

After Bangladesh’s hard-won independence, the government took the bold step of banning Jamaat-e-Islami, acknowledging the party’s complicity in the 1971 genocide. Yet, following the assassination of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the military coup of 1975, the ban was lifted, and Jamaat-e-Islami was permitted to reenter political life under the reprobate military dictator Gen Ziaur Rahman. This marked the beginning of the party’s resurgence, despite its grim association with the bloodshed of 1971.

In 2025, Azhar continues his audacious bid to escape justice, now presenting himself as a pious man of faith, attempting to cloak his monstrous crimes under the guise of religion. His portrayal as a martyr—a man of righteousness—dishonors the memory of the millions of lives lost in 1971. His actions, carried out under the banner of Islam, stand in stark contradiction to the true values of the faith. Those who invoked Islam to justify their genocidal acts desecrated its very soul, perverting its symbols to shield their cruelty. Islam, a religion of peace, compassion, and justice, was used as a shield by these men to perpetrate barbarism.

The atrocities committed by the Pakistani military and their local collaborators in 1971 were not isolated acts of violence, but part of a coordinated and systematic campaign to erase the Bengali people and their rightful aspiration for independence. The perpetrators of these crimes—Azhar among them—must be held to account for their actions. The long delay in bringing these war criminals to justice has prolonged the suffering of survivors and the families of the martyrs, compounding their anguish with a lack of closure and the continued impunity of the guilty.

The legal process has been agonizingly slow, dragging on for decades before reaching any resolution. A more decisive approach would have spared the nation further pain and delivered justice to the victims’ families more swiftly. Yet, despite these delays, the steadfast commitment to justice shown by Bangladesh’s legal system remains a silver lining. The world watches, however, to see if this commitment will endure, or whether present political pressures—exerted by a government besieged by the very forces who supported the mass murderers of 1971—will undermine the pursuit of accountability.

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) itself now seems entirely compromised by the Jamaat-e-Islami perpetrators of 1971 genocide, alongside their progeny, successors, and allies who have infiltrated the judiciary and prosecution. What, then, can the families of the victims hope for from the ICT? The very process meant to deliver justice has been hijacked by these malevolent forces, casting doubt upon the integrity of the proceedings.

The ICT was established in 2009 with the explicit purpose of investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the 1971 atrocities. The Awami League, victorious in the 2008 elections, pledged to pursue the prosecution of war criminals, yet a bitter irony persists. More than fifty fabricated murder cases have been filed against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other AL leaders in the ICT, while the overwhelming majority of the murders—98%—were orchestrated by Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliates, whose actions were both precise and cruel. I bore witness to these atrocities firsthand, and the deceitful nature of Jamaat-e-Islami is painfully evident.

The world is watching to see whether this spirit of justice will continue, or whether present political considerations will interfere with the pursuit of accountability as the Yunus-Waker led puppet government in Bangladesh installed by CIA-ISI and their local direful collaborators have been besieged by the Jamaat-e-Islami mass-murderers of 1971, their present scions, their present successors and their present paraphernalia.

The crimes of 1971 are not mere relics of history—they are crimes against humanity. Those who carried them out, including Azhar, must be held accountable for the immense suffering they caused. Their actions have scarred the collective memory of the Bengali people, and the punishment for their crimes must match the enormity of their deeds. There can be no leniency in the face of such brutality.

In light of recent developments, the review petition filed by Azhar and his fellow war criminals must be swiftly dismissed. These men, who stood alongside Golam Azam—the chief architect of the genocide—must not be allowed to escape the justice they so richly deserve. The gallows, not the courtroom, is their rightful place. After their executions, they should not be granted the dignity of a proper burial, as they showed no such respect to the bodies of their victims. Let their remains be denied the dignity they denied so many others in 1971.

This is the very least we can do to offer a measure of solace to the families of the martyrs, who have endured far too much pain. The time for justice is now. We must not let these criminals slip away unpunished, for to do so would dishonor the memory of the millions lost in 1971.

The struggle for justice is far from over. The legacy of the 1971 genocide continues to haunt the nation, and the pursuit of accountability must be carried through to its bitter end. The martyrs of 1971 deserve nothing less.

Sent- In by Anwar A. Khan

Bio: The writer, a frontline Freedom Fighter in the 1971 war for Bangladesh’s independence, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is an independent political analyst focused on politics, human-centered figures, and current international affairs.

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