War criminals' trial won't be a victor's justice: FM
The Daily Star - Details NewsForeign Minister Dipu Moni yesterday said she has been attending international conferences and meeting with foreign leaders to garner support for the government's move to try the war criminals of 1971.
She said Pakistan appears to be unwilling to see the trial of war criminals fearing embarrassment and is eager to hold talks with Bangladesh on the issue.
She also said the influx of Rohingya refugees is not a new phenomenon; the Rakhine people have been intruding into Bangladesh since long.
Dipu was speaking at a press briefing at the foreign ministry prior to leaving Dhaka for Singapore to attend a conference.
She said she met with Pakistan's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Malik Ahmad Khan on May 24 during the OIC foreign ministers' meeting in Damascus and that at the OIC summit she urged Islamabad to try Pakistani war criminals to meet international obligation.
"Since trial of the war criminals has now become a big issue, it is natural that there would be campaigns in favour of or against it," said Dipu Moni, adding, "We must inform the international community about what we want to do, why we want to do it and how we want to do it."
In the second week of April, the foreign minister started a series of visits to a number of countries in Asia, Europe and Africa.
Dipu said recently she had talks with OIC Secretary General Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, UK Secretary of State David Miliband, foreign ministers of Norway, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Lebanon, Cuba, Zambia and Myanmar on many issues including trial of war criminals and manpower exports.
"They told me that the trial should be held," she said. "We want to heal the old wounds. We have to stop the culture of impunity. We want to end the chapter," she said, adding that three million people were killed and 4,00,000 women were raped during the Liberation War in 1971."
Referring to her talks with Nawabzada Malik Ahmad Khan, she said it appeared that Pakistan wants to shelve the issue, fearing it may further sour its relations with Bangladesh.
"I told the Pakistani foreign minister that it will not be a victor's justice while we are holding the trial of the war criminals of our country," Dipu said.
"When I asked him to hold the trial of their war criminals as there is an international obligation, he told me to have further talks on it and I told him that we have no problem with holding talks," she added.
Turning to Rohingya issue, Dipu Moni said the Rakhine people are entering Bangladesh territory through Cox's Bazar and Bandarban districts and a large number of the intruders are staying outside the UNHCR camps.
"The influx of refugees will not stop unless there is qualitative change in the Rakhine state [motherland of Rohingyas] of Myanmar," she said.
Referring to the Bali conference on human trafficking, Dipu said the Myanmar delegation told the conference that Rohingyas are not their citizens, they are Bangladeshis. "But I presented the historical facts and necessary evidence on Rohingyas and their origin in Myanmar at the conference to convince the international community," she said.
But during her May 16-17 visit to Myanmar, leaders of Myanmar acknowledged them as Myanmarese and agreed to take them back.
"There has been progress in this regard," Dipu said, adding that the Myanmar government has sought a list from Dhaka on the number of Rohingyas living here.
"We will give Yangon the list in consultation with the UN High Commission for Refugees and International Organisation for Migration," she told reporters. Although the problem has been there for 30 years, she is hopeful about resolving it through fruitful discussion, she added.
Some 28,000 Rohingya refugees, Muslims from Northern Rakhine state of Myanmar, live in camps in Cox's Bazar.
Dipu said she also had talks on maritime boundary delimitation, facilitation of the banking services, trade and commerce, a Bangladesh-Myanmar road link to China and border fencing. She said an expert would soon visit Myanmar to assess gas import.
About construction of the controversial Tipaimukh Dam by India, she said a parliamentary team and experts would visit the site to assess whether Bangladesh will be ecologically affected by the proposed dam.
Referring to her meetings with India's former external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and external affairs secretary Shiv Shanker Menon, Dipu said India has assured that they would reconsider the project if it "adversely" affects Bangladesh.
Foreign Secretary Md Touhid Hossain, who was present at yesterday's press briefing, said there would be no change in Rohingya crisis unless the environment Rohingyas live in is improved.
He made it clear that Dhaka must not accept any foreign national as its citizen.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hasan Mahmud and other senior foreign ministry officials were also present at the briefing.
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