Bangladesh Hangings: Islamabad Takes on Dhaka Diplomatically

Islamabad and Dhaka are at loggerheads over the recent executions of the 1971 war criminals, reports Subir Bhaumik

Bangladeshi activists who have been campaigning for capital punishment for war criminals demonstrate outside the Supreme Court ahead of an anticipated verdict in Dhaka, Bangladesh, November 18, 2015. (Photo: AP)

A spat over the executions of two war criminals in Bangladesh has boiled over into a high voltage diplomatic confrontation between Islamabad and Dhaka. It started with five Pakistani public figures holding top positions in 1971 coming forward to defend war criminal, Salauddin Quader Chaudhury after he was sentenced to death for ‘crimes against humanity’ during the 1971 Liberation War.

The Supreme Court’s appellate division turned down the request but this was seen as ‘ a desperate attempt’ by Pakistan to save Salauddin Quader and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mujahid, also facing a death sentence.

In this July 17, 2013, file photo, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid waves from a police vehicle as he is brought to court in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Photo: AP)

When both Salauddin Quader and Mujahid were finally hanged, Pakistan’s government reacted strongly. Islamabad’s official statement not only termed the executions as ‘deeply disturbing’ but found the trials ‘totally flawed’.

The Diplomatic War

The Bangladesh foreign ministry summoned the Pakistani envoy in Dhaka and handed over a strong protest note. It not only blamed Islamabad for ‘interference in Bangladesh’s internal affairs’ but pointed to the Pakistani protest as ‘an indirect admission of its role in the 1971 brutalities.’

Then the Pakistan foreign ministry summoned Bangladesh’s acting high commissioner and informed him that “the government of Pakistan rejected the baseless and unfounded assertions of the Bangladesh government.”

Salauddin Quader, son of Pakistan’s National Assembly speaker Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, was said to be personally responsible for many atrocities, including the murder of a Hindu owner of a top ayurvedic chain.

Pakistan-Bangladesh At Loggerheads

• Pakistan’s government reacts strongly to war executions, terming it as ‘deeply disturbing’
  
• Pakistani activist Asma Jahangir says, Islamabad’s reaction over executions in Bangladesh only proved that Chaudhury and Mujahid were Pakistan’s agents
  
• Hasina’s government has been fuming for a while over ‘evidence’ that the ISI is behind funding many Islamist radicals in Bangladesh
  

Those Who Were Executed

A six-time MP from Chittagong, Salauddin served as a minister under military dictator Lt Gen HM Ershad and later joined the BNP to serve as a parliamentary advisor to Khaleda Zia.

Mujahid led the notorious Al-Badr militia in 1971, which abducted and executed intellectuals during the war. He became a minister during the 2001-06 BNP-Jamaat coalition government.

What upset Hasina’s government the most was a ‘certificate’ Chaudhury had produced in court from the Punjab University, Lahore, that said he spent much of his time with them in West Pakistan during the liberation war.

In this November 21, 2015 photo, a Bangladeshi activist waves the national flag as he celebrates outside the Central Jail where two war criminals were executed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Photo: AP)

Ultimately that did not help Chaudhury get away but left many in Dhaka upset. Even Pakistan’s top rights activist Asma Jahangir said Islamabad’s reaction over their executions in Bangladesh only proved that Chaudhury and Mujahid were Pakistan’s agents.

Dhaka protested what it described as Pakistan’s “openly taking the side” of the war criminals.

Supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami, a Pakistani religion-based political party, shout slogans as they protest the Bangladesh government’s execution of its leaders, in Lahore, Pakistan, November 29, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

Pakistan Hits Back

Following this note, the acting high commissioner of Bangladesh was again summoned by the Pakistan foreign ministry, rejecting the ‘insinuation of complicity in committing crimes or war atrocities.’

Its note was positively provocative. “It is regrettable that attempts have been made by Bangladesh to malign Pakistan, despite our ardent desire to develop brotherly relations.”

“Bangladesh does not seem to respect these sentiments. The 1974 tripartite agreement is the bedrock of relations between the two countries…as part of the agreement, the government of Bangladesh had “decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency.”

Supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami, a Pakistani religion-based political party, shout slogans as they protest the Bangladesh government’s execution of its leaders in Lahore, Pakistan, November 29, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

But then the note said something even more preposterous.

“The hearts of the people of Pakistan beat in unison with the people of Bangladesh. It is important for the two countries not to forget the role played by their people in the struggle for the establishment of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the South Asian sub-continent.”

This provoked furious reactions in Dhaka. Former Bangladesh army chief Lt General K M Shafiullah asked Prime Minister Hasina to immediately sever all diplomatic ties with Pakistan.

The Ganajagaran Mancha, which led the Shabagh demonstration in 2013 demanding death for all war criminals, said Dhaka has no reason to maintain diplomatic relations with Pakistan.

“The ISI supports Islamist radicals who kill our writers and bloggers and publishers. So why should we maintain any relation with them,” said Mancha’s spokesperson Imran H Sarkar.

Suspected Role of ISI

Another pro-liberation group Ekatorrer Ghatak o Dalal Nirmul Committee jumped into the fray. “We must warn Pakistan to mind its own business and accept the truth of history,” said the committee’s convenor Shahriar Kabir. Hasina’s government has been fuming for a while over ‘evidence’ that the ISI is behind funding many Islamist radicals who seek to topple her secular regime.

In February this year, Dhaka forced Islamabad withdraw an ISI case officer Mohammad Mazhar Khan. Khan, an attaché in the Pakistan high commission in Dhaka, was involved in financing terrorists and bringing in forged currencies, a Bangladesh intelligence official told the Quint.

An activist shouts slogans as he holds one side of a huge Bangladeshi flag in a rally, celebrating the execution of two opposition leaders in Dhaka, Bangladesh, November 22, 2015. (Photo: AP)

“He used to bring in huge quantity of forged currency and finance radical groups like Hizb ut-Tahir, Ansarullah Bangla Team and Jamaat-e-Islami,” the Bangladesh intelligence official said but was not willing to be named.

In 2000, during Hasina’s first term in power, Bangladesh had declared a Pakistani diplomat persona non grata and asked him to leave Dhaka immediately.

The Deputy High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Irfanur Rehman Raza, was withdrawn by the Pakistani Government on 30 November after his comments on the Bangladesh liberation war triggered a storm of protest in Dhaka. Raza had sought to play down the casualties during the Liberation War and said “Bengalis have a habit of exaggerating.”

That was the first time a foreign diplomat had been declared an unwanted person by Bangladesh.

(The writer, a veteran BBC correspondent, is author of two highly acclaimed books on Northeast India – “Insurgent Crossfire” and “Troubled Periphery”.)