Dhaka, April 7 (IANS) The refusal to offer a clear, unconditional apology for atrocities committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War by Pakistan and its former collaborator, Bangladesh’s radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, reflects not just a historical failure but a deliberate “ongoing act of obfuscation”.
More than five decades later, the issue is not confined to the past but points to conscious unwillingness masked by carefully chosen languages and political convenience, a report mentioned.
According to the ‘Times of Bangladesh’, Pakistan’s stance has long illustrated how accountability for war crimes can be avoided, often relying on the calculated use of the word “regret” to serve its own interests.
“Regret is cheap since it shows that you feel bad without saying you’re sorry. It is meant to make people less responsible while avoiding the moral and legal weight of the word ‘genocide’. This is not regret. It is planned ambiguity, a failure to say what needs to be stated because the results would be too real,” the report detailed.
“Pakistan’s denial may be based on distance, but Jamaat-e-Islami’s stance is much more open and offensive. This is not a foreign state that is trying to forget its past; it is a political party that is working in Bangladesh but won’t take responsibility for its part in one of the darkest times in the country’s history,” it added.
The report noted that Jamaat did not merely oppose Bangladesh’s independence in 1971; they sided with the Pakistani military ruler and became complicit in the machinery that brutalised millions of civilians. That is not a historical footnote but a central part of its political legacy.
“But instead of dealing with that past, Jamaat has perfected the art of changing its political shape. It makes vague, slippery remarks that seem like apologies but don’t hold up when you look at them closely. These aren’t confessions of guilt; they’re lines that are meant to mislead and make people doubt enough to avoid taking responsibility. It’s not about being sorry; it’s about public relations,” it mentioned.
Emphasising that Jamaat’s hypocrisy becomes more apparent in its symbolic politics, the report said that the party’s recent tribute to the martyrs of the Liberation War at the National Martyr’s Memorial in Dhaka rings hollow.
This is because it said Jamaat stood on the “wrong side of history” aligning with Pakistan when those martyrs were killed, and the gesture therefore reflects ” “appropriation”, not tribute.
The report further said, “Pakistan needs to stop hiding behind empty words, and Jamaat-e-Islami needs to stop pretending to be sad and face its past honestly. Until then, their gestures – whether they are meant to show sorrow or respect – will always be what they really are: calculated performances.”
–IANS
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