Bangladeshi Americans recall horror of 1971 genocide, demand apology from Pakistan

In a massive car rally and protest outside the Pakistani Embassy in Washington DC on Thursday, a US-based Bangladeshi organization demanded an apology from Pakistan for the 1971 genocide named ‘Operation Searchlight’.

The Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) observed ‘Genocide Day’ recalling the horror of one of the worst genocides in modern history committed by the Pakistani occupation army against the people of Bangladesh on the night of March 25, 1971, and afterwards.

At the protest, voices underscored the Global Magnitsky Act and how the US should impose sanctions and confiscate assets of those responsible for the genocide and are freely living in the United States.

Protestors also raised flags, held placards and chanted slogans against Pakistan.

During the protest outside the Pakistani embassy, Priya Saha, Executive Director (HRCBM) and organiser, said that in addition to the apology, the protestors also demand from Pakistan the extradition of 195 Pakistani war criminals.

“We demand that Pakistan holds a trial for raping and killing thousands of women and children in 1971,” Saha added.

Sheila Jackson Lee, the Democratic Congresswoman who co-chairs the Congressional Pakistan Caucus, in her remarks in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday said that March 25 officially marks the beginning of the genocide in Bangladesh.

“It has been 50 years since the genocide in Bangladesh, and the survivors and their descendants are still fighting for recognition; they are still fighting for an apology from Pakistan, as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh (Sheikh Hasina) formerly asked her Pakistani counterpart (Imran Khan) as recently as January of 2021; and they are still fighting for justice and for closure,” Lee said in her address.

Standing in solidarity with the Bangladeshi diaspora was Zafar Sahito founder of Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement, an exiled leader of Sindh now living in the United States.

“Pakistan is doing the same atrocities and political persecution of the historical Sindhi nation. I think it’s the moral duty of the Bangladeshi nation and all civilised nations to support our cause of national freedom from theocratic Pakistan. I appeal to India to also support us as you helped Bangladesh in 1971,” Sahito said.

On March 25, 1971, at midnight under the name Operation Searchlight, seen by many as the first step in the Bengali genocide, the Pakistan army allegedly killed about 100,000 Bengalis in a single night. They targeted academics and scholars, specifically murdering many university students and professors.