‘Operated rape camp, abducted and murdered Hindu Professors, burnt Hindu villages’:Bangladesh SC acquits ‘Razakar’ Azharul Islam, who was earlier handed death penalty for 1971 genocide
On Tuesday (27th May), the Supreme Court of Bangladesh acquitted a Jamaat-e-Islami terrorist named ATM Azharul Islam, who was previously handed the death penalty for crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
ATM Azharul Islam was arrested in 2012. He was found guilty of killing 1,256 people, abducting 17, and raping 13 women in cahoots with the Pakistani army.
The Jamaat-e-Islami terrorist was also involved in genocide, detention, torture, grievous injury, looting, and arson. He was convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in December 2014.
ATM Azharul Islam was sentenced to death on 3 counts and imprisonment on 2 counts of crime against humanity. His death penalty was upheld by Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in October 2019.
However in February this year, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh allowed Azharul to file fresh appeal to challenge the guilty verdict.
The same Appellate Division, which earlier upheld the conviction and death sentence has acquitted the Jamaat-e-Islami terrorist on Tuesday (27th May). This will ensure the release of ATM Azharul Islam.
His counsel Gazi MH Tamim remarked, “Since this case came to appeal stage from a review, there is no higher court in Bangladesh or any international forum beyond this.”
Under the watch of Muhammad Yunus and a successful regime change operaiton in Bangladesh, hardened criminals and terrorists have been allowed a free pass.
Crimes committed ATM Azharul Islam in 1971
The crimes committed by ATM Azharul Islam coincided with the ‘Operation Searchlight’, launched by the Pakistan army between 26th March 1971 and 25th May 1971.
His crimes were concentrated in the Rangpur Division of Bangladesh and extended well until the end of the Bangladesh Liberation War (26th March 1971 to 16th December 1971).
According to the International Crimes Tribunal investigation, ATM Azharul Islam attacked Moksedpur village on 16th April 1971. He was involved in killing unarmed civilians, plundering homes and setting them ablaze. He was accompanied by Pakistani army and other Jamaat-e-Islami terrorists.
A day later (17th April 1971), ATM Azharul Islam carried out attacks sytemetically in Hindu-dominated villages and killing over 1200 people near Jharuarbeel. He was involved in abudction, arson, murder and large scale genocide.
He alongside Pakistani forces raided the Rangpur Carmichael College along with Pakistani forces, abducted 4 Hindu Professors and 1 of their wives. All 5 victims were brutally murdered. The incident occured on 30th April 1971.
ATM Azharul Islam ran a ‘rape camp’ in Rangpur between March and December 1971, where he abducted, confined, tortured and repeatedly raped his victims (particularly one M.K.).
He was also involved in assault, abduction and torture (causing permanent diability) of the brother of a youth who chanted ‘Joy Bangla’ between Novemeber and December 1971.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of his complicity in crimes against humanity, the terrorist ATM Azharul Islam has been freed. In 1971, he was the President (Rangpur Division) of Islami Chhatra Sangha.
Remembering Operation Searchlight of 1971
The story began in 1970. In the General elections held on December 7 that year, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the Awami League secured a huge majority (167 seats) in the provincial legislature in East Pakistan. With constant interference in the affairs of East Pakistan by its Islamic counterpart, Rahman had begun demanding for greater regional autonomy.
This was just within 13 years of the Partition of the Indian subcontinent, when Muslims sought for a separate country of their own. Although united by the common Faith, the resentment between the West and East Pakistan towards each other continued to grow. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who won the most seats in West Pakistan in 1970 elections, was opposed to the demands of Rahman. He had threatened to boycott the Assembly and sought for the dissolution of the provincial legislature in East Pakistan, if PPP was not included in the government.
Miffed over the denial of power and autonomy to East Pakistan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called civil disobedience movement, on March 7, 1971. Bhutto feared civil war and President Yahya Khan, therefore, declared martial law and ordered the arrest of Rahman and other leaders.
In order to contain the civil and political unrest, the Pakistan army launched Operation Searchlight on March 26, 1971. Rahman, disillusioned by the high-handedness of West Pakistan, had already called for independence from West Pakistan.
The Pakistani soldiers launched their attack on the Bengali population in Rajararbagh and Peelkhana area. They put Mujibur Rahman behind bars and ambushed the Dhaka university, resulting in the death of 9 teachers and 200 students in Iqbal Hal. Similarly, the Pakistan army continued with its barbaric attacks on civilians in Old Dhaka, Tejgaon, Indira Road, Mirpur, Kalabagan and other places.
On the same night, several people in Chittagong were shot dead by the army personnel. National newspapers, including, Daily Ittefaq, the Daily Sangbad were shut down and their offices were set ablaze, resulting in the death of several media personnel. Mass graves were dug out and hastily bulldozed. An estimated 700 people were burnt to death in Dhaka. Similarly, they set fire to the houses of slum dwellers, fired bullets at those running away to save their lives, razed a Kali Mandir and also destroyed the Central Shaheed Minar.
It is believed that around 10,000-35,000 Bengalis were killed by the Pakistan army under the Operation Searchlight while the death toll to increased to over 3 lacs in the months to follow. “Thanks to God that Pakistan could have been saved,” Bhutto had famously remarked. The genocide against the Bengali population intensified. In the months to follow, around 4 lac Bengali women were raped by the Pakistan army while a majority of the victims being Hindus.
The situation worsened, forcing neighbouring India to step in to prevent the further continuation of genocide. In 14 days, Pakistani forces under AK Niazi signed the Instrument of surrender and thus a new nation of Bangladesh was born. While Bangaldesh has tried and hanged several war criminals, Pakistan continues to dispute the 1971 genocide, far from being apologetic about the heinous crimes.
Muhammad Yunus tired to appease Islamic extremists
Bangladesh witnessed a drastic rise in Islamism after Yunus came to power. He first revoked the ban on the radical Islamist outfit ‘Jamaat-e-Islami.’
Thereafter, he released the leader of the radical outfit ‘Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)’ Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmani.
At the same time, Muhammad Yunus downplayed the targeted attacks on the Hindu community by violent Muslim mobs. He has gone on record from lamenting about attacks on Hindus to saying that the claims of atrocities are ‘exaggerated‘.
In that way, the controversial US asset was able to placate Islamic extremists. Given that Awami Legaue was against Islamism, the interim government first banned its student wing ‘Chhatra League,’ and then the parent party.
Under the watch of Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh saw a drastic rise in vigilante Muslim mobs, which unleashed violence under the pretext of protecting the tenets of Islam.
These mobs were largely unorganised and called themselves ‘Tawhidi Janata (meaning Revolutionary People).’ They came under the spotlight over acts of vandalism and harassment of people.
The Yunus regime introduced new textbooks for primary and secondary students, which falsely claimed that the first declaration of independence of Bangladesh was made by Ziaur Rehman (a favourite icon of Muslim hardliners in Bangladesh).
The interim government also appointed a Hizb ut-Tahrir terrorist named Mohammad Azaz as the administrator for the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).
The situation had become so grim that Bangladeshi ambassador to Morocco Mohammad Harun Al Rashid was forced to slam the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in a scathing Facebook post in March this year.
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