United Nations, Mar 30 (PTI) An exhibition telling the tragic and disturbing stories of the genocide committed by the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh in 1971 has been held for the first time at the UN headquarters here.
The three-day long exhibition, titled ‘Remembering the victims of 1971 genocide in Bangladesh’ is organised by the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN and the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka.
The exhibition will display images and stories of the 1971 genocide in the United Nations Headquarters for the “first time in history”, a press release issued by the Bangladesh Mission said.
Organised in collaboration with the Liberation War Museum to commemorate National Genocide Day on March 25, the exhibition was inaugurated by Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Ambassador Masud Bin Momen.
Ambassadors, UN officials and the Bangladeshi diaspora, including the family members of the freedom fighters and the martyrs were present at the opening.
“This is a historic step in our efforts to garner international recognition of the horrendous genocide that was committed by the occupation army and their collaborators against our people in 1971,” the press release quoted Momen as saying.
Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN, Ambassador Muhmmad A Muhith said, “We need more efforts to share the stories of our great Liberation War and the genocide among an international audience.” “This will not only help us secure the much-needed recognition of the 1971 genocide but also in raising awareness on the need to prevent genocide and other atrocity crimes,” Muhith added.
The exhibition displays 27 photos of the genocide with corresponding historical narratives provided by the Liberation War Museum from its collection.
It also includes photos with details like the number of refugees in different camps in India at the time, the widespread violence against women, intellectual killings, and newspaper articles on the tragedy. It also highlights the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh.
“Genocide of 1971 in Bangladesh, one of the most brutal atrocity crimes that occurred in the post-World War II period, unfortunately, became a forgotten genocide for the world,” an exhibit read. “It is time to bring Bangladesh Genocide back in the global focus, to recognise the crimes committed and learn lessons from that to say ‘Never Again’,” it added.
The 1971 war began after the sudden crackdown by Pakistani troops in Bangladesh, erstwhile East Pakistan, at midnight on March 25 and ended on December 16 as Pakistan conceded defeat and unconditionally surrendered in Dhaka to the allied forces, comprising Bengali freedom fighters and the Indian Army.
In December 2020, as the United Nations marked International Day of Victims of Genocide, India called for homage to be paid to the three million people killed and hundreds of thousands of women raped by the Pakistan Army and religious militias in the 1971 Liberation War.
India’s then Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador T S Tirumurti, said in a tweet, “UN International Day of Victims of Genocide on 9 Dec. Let’s pay homage to 3 million killed and 200,000 or more women raped in erstwhile East Pakistan by the Pakistan army & religious militias in 1971 in the most horrific episode in human history. Never again.” During her address to the UN General Assembly in September 2017, Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, said Pakistan’s army launched a “heinous” military operation in 1971 that triggered a “genocide” during the liberation war, killing three million innocent people.
“In the 1971 war of liberation, we endured an extreme form of genocide. In the nine-month-long war of liberation against Pakistan, three million innocent people were killed and more than 2,00,000 women were violated,” Hasina said.
“The Pakistan military launched the heinous ‘Operation Searchlight’ on 25 March, which was the beginning of the 1971 genocide,” she said.
It included “targeted elimination of individuals on the grounds of religion, race and political belief,” Hasina said, adding that the intellectuals were killed “brutally”. PTI YAS GRS GRS
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