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Preliminary reports of the BDR mutiny and massacre of 25/2 point towards outside involvement, namely Pakistan's ISI working out of the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka to sabotage the judicial process in Bangladesh which is going to investigate and prosecute former Pakistani military personnel along with their local Bangladeshi collaborators in relation to the genocide in East Pakistan in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War (Case that may even be referred to the International Criminal Court of Justice at the Hague).
If true this is indeed very serious, very serious indeed.
Obviously the parallel military and civilian investigations need to proceed at their own pace, and interim reports published from time to time to keep the public informed of developments. When the reports are finished copies should be circulated to all SAARC member countries, and especially India and Pakistan.
If there is a general consensus that Pakistan's military through the ISI was involved, and there is sufficient apprehension that other attempts might be made by the same people using their local contacts again, then perhaps for pure self interest reasons, the present government should think about:
(1) Closing the Pakistan High Commission in Bangladesh, including Consulates, indefinitely.
(2) Closely monitoring all institutions in Bangladesh which have close linkages with Pakistan.
(3) Review ALL military and security linkages that officially and unofficially exist between Pakistan and Bangladesh, ranging from exchange programs to arms transfers.......I know for a fact the Pakistanis dump a lot of their obsolete arms into Bangladesh as good will gestures, followed by advice and training.
This is a very very serious matter, especially in light of what Pakistan has done in Bangladesh before, in the countries history. That such elements of Pakistan should not be lightly let off, without being fully exposed to especially the whole of South Asia, and held to account. That Bangladesh should cease once and for to be a staging post for Pakistani military operations, within Bangladesh and against India, in especially the North East and ULFA. We need detailed reports of the who and how of the ISI in Bangladesh, and the same with their local Bangladeshi contacts.
I don't want to get into a numbers game. Officially it is stated 3 million Bangladeshis were killed by the actions of the Pakistan army in 1971, and perhaps 500,000 women raped. Whilst other Bangladeshis state that the real figure is much lower in the hundreds of thousands, and a good deal of the killing was done between pro and anti Pakistani Bangladeshi forces. Never the less, Bangladesh as a self respecting country must as duty to the nation, fully investigate that episode officially as a government, and opportion blame where it is due, and try the people who committed genocide in East Pakistan......we are talking of a only a few chauds from Pakistan working with their local chauds in East Pakistan. This is not about Pakistanis verse Bangladeshis.
