PAKISTAN’S 1971 GENOCIDE IN BANGLADESH REMAINS A PERMANENT STAIN ON THE NARRATIVE OF THE MODERN ERA

When Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar recently stood in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 23-24 August 2025, and proclaimed that the "unresolved issues of 1971 had been solved twice," the wound that has festered in the hearts of Bangladeshis for over five decades was once again violently reopened. Even more egregious was his haughty suggestion that Bangladesh should "cleanse its heart." This statement, both callous and politically tone-deaf, disregards the vast moral, legal, and historical weight of Pakistan’s crimes in 1971. It was not just an affront to diplomatic etiquette—it was a brazen act of historical revisionism.

What makes such remarks intolerable is that they were made not by an ordinary citizen, but by a senior representative of a state responsible for one of the gravest genocides of the 20th century—a genocide in which over three million Bangladeshis were killed, over 300,000 women raped, and countless others subjected to inhuman torture and persecution. Ishaq Dar’s arrogance is not merely personal—it reflects Pakistan’s persistent institutional denial of its past atrocities.

This raises a fundamental question: Can crimes against humanity ever be resolved by silence, evasion, or casual remarks in a press conference?

A Genocide the World Cannot Afford to Forget

“To forget a Holocaust is to kill twice.” —Elie Wiesel

The Historical and Moral Imperative

The Liberation War of 1971 was not simply a political conflict; it was a systematic campaign of annihilation waged by the Pakistani military and its local collaborators, particularly Jamaat-e-Islami and its militant offshoots such as Al-Badr. The massacres, rapes, and mass displacements that occurred during those nine harrowing months were crimes not only against Bangladesh’s people but against the conscience of humanity.

I speak not merely as a citizen, but as a witness. I saw with my own eyes the mutilated bodies, the grieving mothers, the blood-soaked soil of a land struggling for freedom. These were not casualties of war; they were deliberate victims of a genocidal machine that sought to erase the very idea of a sovereign Bangladesh.

And yet, after all these years, the architects of that genocide have not faced justice.

Two Illusions of Closure: 1974 and 2002

“He who does not condemn evil, commands it to be done.”—Leonardo da Vinci

Mr. Dar’s claim that the issues of 1971 were resolved “twice” refers to two specific events:

Let us examine both, dispassionately and legally.

The 1974 Tripartite Agreement, signed between India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, was a geopolitical compromise designed to address the immediate post-war humanitarian crisis—primarily the exchange of Pakistani prisoners of brutal soldiers and repatriation of Bengali civilians from Pakistan to Bangladesh. Nowhere in the agreement did Pakistan accept responsibility for genocide or war crimes of 1971. No formal apology was issued. No trials were held for the 195 Pakistani military officers identified as war criminals. Bangladesh, under extraordinary international pressure, suspended its plans for prosecution. But this was not justice—it was realpolitik.

The 2002 visit of President Gen Musharraf to Dhaka offered another illusion of contrition. His use of the word "regret" was a textbook example of diplomatic hedging. “Regret” is not “apology.” Regret implies sorrow without culpability; apology demands accountability. A sincere apology for genocide must be unambiguous, state-sanctioned, and backed by concrete steps towards reparations and education. Musharraf’s statement, while diplomatically cordial, was legally and morally toothless.

Moreover, neither of these actions fulfills the criteria laid out by international law for accountability following mass atrocities.

What International Law Demands

“Justice is what love looks like in public.” —Cornel West

Under the 2001 Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts—drafted by the International Law Commission (ILC)—states that have committed internationally wrongful acts, including genocide and crimes against humanity, are obligated to make full reparations. These may take the form of:

Pakistan has fulfilled none of these obligations.

Similarly, the United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation (2005) emphasizes the victim’s right to truth, justice, reparation, and a guarantee of non-recurrence. Pakistan's denialism and glorification of war criminals are a flagrant violation of these principles.

The Unresolved Issues

While Pakistan claims resolution, three core demands of Bangladesh remain outstanding:

These are not sentimental demands—they are legal, moral, and humanitarian imperatives.

Political Complicity and Moral Abdication

What deepens the injury is the complicity—or at least the passivity—of certain political actors in Bangladesh. The current de facto regime, installed under murky and controversial circumstances in August 2024, has welcomed Pakistani delegations with alarming eagerness. Figures such as Dr. Yunus, and the unelected advisors around him, have not only failed to press Pakistan on historical accountability—they have collaborated with those very forces who once stood against our independence.

This is more than an abdication of duty. It is a betrayal of the martyrs, the mothers, and the millions who suffered to bring this nation into being.

Learning from Global Precedents

If Pakistan needs a guide, it needs only look to Germany, which after World War II issued repeated, explicit apologies for the Holocaust, paid reparations to Israel and Jewish survivors, and criminalized Holocaust denial. Germany’s moral leadership is now universally recognized.

Or the case of Britain, where Prime Minister David Cameron, decades after the Bloody Sunday massacre in Northern Ireland, offered a heartfelt and formal apology in Parliament after a full inquiry—acknowledging the killings as "unjustified and unjustifiable."

Justice is not a relic of the past—it is the foundation of reconciliation.

A Path Forward: Truth, Acknowledgment, Apology

On Moral Cowardice and Political Collusion

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, preserve their neutrality.” —Dante Alighieri

What makes this moment even more tragic is the silence—or worse, the complicity—of certain political actors within Bangladesh itself. The current unelected regime, born in the shadows of August 2024, has displayed neither the will nor the moral clarity to demand justice from Pakistan.

Rather, it has rolled out the red carpet for Pakistani emissaries and pandered to revisionist narratives. Individuals like Dr. Muhammad Yunus, and his appointed foreign advisors, have not only failed the memory of our martyrs—they have enabled their betrayers.

Forgiveness Must Be Earned

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude. But before forgiveness, there must be confession and repentance.” —Martin Luther King Jr.

A Truth That Will Not Be Buried

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” —Edmund Burke

History cannot be buried by treaties, blurred by time, or erased by indifference. The bones in our mass graves still whisper the truth. The weeping of the Biranganas still echoes through our streets. The memory of the martyred poets, students, children, and farmers still cries out—not for vengeance, but for justice.

Until Pakistan acknowledges its crimes in full—without pretense, without evasion—the stain of 1971 will remain not only on its conscience but on the conscience of the world.

And we, the people of Bangladesh, will never forget. We will not cleanse our hearts of memory. We will not silence our history. We will not stop demanding the justice that was denied to our dead.

Because justice is not revenge.
It is remembrance with consequences.

Terminus Point: The Bloodstained Legacy of 1971: Pakistan’s Crimes in Bangladesh and the Unfinished Reckoning of History

Pakistan must finally realize that it is not Bangladesh that must cleanse its heart—but the vilest Pakistan that must cleanse its conscience.

The ghosts of 1971 will not rest until justice is done. The bones in the mass graves, the tears of the Biranganas, the cries of orphaned children—they do not fade with time. They demand recognition. They demand responsibility. And above all, they demand justice.

Until Pakistan addresses this legacy with honesty, humility, and action, no peace it offers can be trusted, no hand it extends will feel clean, and no friendship it proposes will be meaningful.

History is not a burden to be buried; it is a truth to be faced. And only by confronting that truth can nations hope to heal.

By: Anwar A. Khan

Anwar A. Khan, was a frontline freedom fighter in 1971, is now a senior citizen of Bangladesh, writes about politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs.

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