Usually people committing any sort of crime will be on the run if they can evade the law enforcing agencies. But history tells us the hand of law may get them some day and give the punishment due to them under a normal condition. The common phrase ‘justice delayed, justice denied’ may not always be true as has been proved in the recent cases filed against and verdicts passed to the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders in Bangladesh for the crimes they committed in the dark days of 1971 when the country was fighting for its independence. Jamaat is one of the four oldest political parties in the Indian sub-continent, the oldest being the Indian National Congress (1885) followed by the Muslim League (1906) and Communist Party (1920) of India and lastly the Jamaat-e-Islami (1951). Though thought of being founded as a party to preach theological ideologies the wider belief is that the party was established with the backing of the British Intelligence service to divide the Indian Muslims who wanted a separate independent state of their own. Founded by Syed Abul Ala Moududi the party declared that a separate country called Pakistan for the Muslims for which Muslim League was struggling to establish under the leadership of Jinnah and others would be a country of the impure (Na-Pakistan). Moududi and his party preached that the rule of the British would be better than either an Independent India or Pakistan. Once India was divided into India and Pakistan in 1947, Moududi was one of the first to migrate to Lahore, the capital of Punjab in Pakistan bringing with him his Jamaat outfit. However, a small and insignificant Jamaat still exists in India. Jamaat is the only political party that exists in all the three countries of the Sub-continent — Bangladesh, India and Pakistan — operates more like an NGO with its head quarter in Lahore (Ghulam Azam, the former Amir of Jamaat in Bangladesh told in a number of his personal interviews with the press). Though Jamaat existed in these countries but could never be a worthy political force in any of these countries and could never be part of the state power excepting in cases where they were given a small share as part of political convenience as happened in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In 1971 when Bangladesh was fighting for its liberation against the occupation Pakistani forces Jamaat along with other religion based political parties like Muslim League, Nezami Islami and PDP became willing collaborators of Pakistan army and helped them not only to gain control of the country but also to carry out acts of genocide, arson, loot, rape and forced conversion and eviction across the country. During half way of the war Jamaat created its own private killing squad Al-Badar under the leadership of Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed, the then leaders of Islami Chhatra Sangha, now Islami Chhatra Shibir. While the former is now facing trial in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Mojaheed has already been sentenced to death by the ICT on July 17, 2013. Though a so-called Central Peace Committee was formed in 1971 under the leadership of the Muslim League leader Khawja Khairuddin and Ghulam Azam and other Jamaat leaders were included in the committee, Jamaat also operated with its own identity, mostly terrorising the country. The members of the Jamaat killing squad Al-Badar was formed in line with Hitler’s dreaded SS, and the Gestapo and the Black Shirts of Mussolini of Italy. They were funded and armed by the Pakistan army and in many places operated under a joint command. Initially though the Al-Badar operatives went on indiscriminate rampage with the help of the Pakistan army August onward they resorted to selective killing, mostly focusing on the intellectuals of the country. In many places they established torture camps the notable amongst them is the Dhaka’s notorious torture camp set up in the Physical Training College near Mohammad Pur, PT School in Khulna and Dalim Hotel in Chittagong. It has been proved that Mojaheed oversaw personally the torture camps in Dhaka and in his own home district Faridpur. Hundreds of innocent people were bought to these camps, tortured and later killed. Their prime targets were the Hindus, people belonging to Awami League or who were perceived to be sympathisers and supporters of independent Bangladesh and young and able men who were thought to be vulnerable in joining the Mukti Bahini (the Freedom Fighters or the Resistance Forces). Towards the middle of November of 1971 the liberation of Bangladesh was becoming obvious as the Freedom Fighters stepped up their operation inside the country keeping the Pakistani forces on the run the Al-Badars too stepped up their killing spree. This was the time when night time curfew would be imposed and in the dark and eerie nights vehicles would stop in front of the residences of those condemned by the Al-Badars to die. They would be picked up never to be seen alive again. Journalists Serajuddin Hossain, Syed Najmul Hoque, Nijam Uddin, Shaidullah Kaiser, music director Alataf Mahmud, writer Selina Parvin, Dhaka University teachers Muneir Chowdhury, Giasuddin Ahmed, Sirajul Haque Khan, Dr. Abul Khayer, Dr. Faizul Mohiuddin, Rashidul Hasan, Anwar Pasha, Dr. Faizul Mohiuddin, Santosh Chandra Bhattarcharyya, Mofazzal Haidar Choudhury, physician Dr. Alim Chowdhury, Dr. Mohammad Murtaza, Fazle Rabbi and many others across the country were picked up by the Al-Badars during the last days of the occupation of Bangladesh and many of their dead bodies were never to be seen again. A few mutilated dead bodies, bearing the marks of atrocious torture with hands tied behind the back and blindfolded were discovered in Mirpur and Rayerbazar of Dhaka. The last pick up took place on the dark night of December 14, 1971 when the joint forces of Bangladesh and Indian Army were closing in on Dhaka and the fall of Dhaka became imminent.

Sensing that things were not actually going their way Ghulam Azam, and a few others fled Bangladesh in November, first to Pakistan and then to the Middle East or to Europe. The killing squad leaders like Nizami, Mojaheed, Quader Molla, Kamaruzzaman, Sabur Khan (Muslim League) went into hiding. Fazlul Quader Chowdhury of Chittagong (Muslim League) while trying to flee to Myanmar on a fishing trawler was arrested by the Mukti Bahini. The government of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib cancelled the citizenship of Ghulam Azam and the senior collaborators like him. Ghulam Azam with the assistance provided by Pakistan’s President Z A Bhutto tried to mobilise opinion against Bangladesh amongst the Muslim countries of Middle East and created a fund for the unification of Pakistan. On record he appealed seven times to the King of Saudi Arabia not to recognise Bangladesh as an independent nation saying that it was an occupied part of Pakistan held forcibly by ‘Hindu’ India. The killing of Mujib on the dark night of August 15, 1975 the wheels of history was turned backwards. Ghulam Azam was allowed to return to Bangladesh with a Pakistani passport on a three month’s visa on the pretext of seeing his ailing mother in 1978 never to return back. Though from 1978 till 1991 he maintained a low profile to the surprise of everyone he was appointed the Amir of Jamaat of Bangladesh in 1991, though he still retained his Pakistani citizenship (in his autobiography Ghulam Azam confessed that he was made the Amir in 1978 but the fact was not made public while Abbas Ali Khan was officiating as the Acting Amir). The then government of Begum Zia failed to take appropriate measures to stop this gross violation of the Constitution of the country. While the anti-Ershad movement was going on all other Jamaat’s absconding leaders began to surface and became overtly active in their party activities.

In 1992 a movement was launched by the Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee under the leadership of Shahid Janani Jahanara Imam to arrest Ghulam Azam and try the perpetrators of 1971. However everything went into deaf years. Under public and political pressure Ghulam Azam was subsequently arrested and kept in custody for sixteen months only to be given back his citizenship by the apex court of the country. Ironically this was the same person who fought against the country and now his citizenship was restored back to him, an unprecedented event in contemporary history. Not only Ghulam Azam’s citizenship was restored but he became quite active in the national politics along with his compatriots of 1971. The demand for their arrest and trial all were not only disregarded by the subsequent governments after 1975, some of them like, Shah Aziz, S Q Chowdhury, Abdul Alim, Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan M Mojaheed found place in different cabinets after 1975. This is an irony of history.

Though the public expectation from the Awami League led government of 1996-2001 was that they would initiate the trial of the war criminals of 1971 but the trial of the killers of the Father of the Nation took a precedence over this and it was not until the present government under Sheikh Hasina came to power in the election of 2008 did the people see hopes of the much awaited trial. The expectations were raised high when the Awami League included the trial of those accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in 1971. Soon the leading actors of 1971 were arrested and their trial began in 2010 under the International Crimes Tribunal Act of 1973 and already six of the main culprits were tried and four were sentenced to death while Abdul Quader Molla given life term and Ghulam Azam though found guilty of crimes demanding that he be sentenced to death, the tribunal was kind enough to commute his death sentence and sentence him to imprisonment for ninety years. Ghulam Azam is now 91 years old. They were found guilty as accused in most of the allegations brought against them including man slaughter and mass killing and committing acts of genocide. Though the sentencing of Abdul Quader Molla and Ghulam Azam to prison terms dismayed most of the people, the greatest achievement was that the trial is taking place. Jamaat has left no stone unturned to stop this trial and spent millions of dollars inside and outside the country to put pressure upon the government to stop the trial. But the government stood firm braving all odds. The court while giving verdicts on four different occasions also in a very strong manner labeled Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islam as a criminal organisation and said the key leaders of the party still harbours anti-Bangladesh feeling. As a matter of fact the tribunal has not only tried the leaders of the party but also the party itself and found it guilty of committing criminal activities.

Immediately after Ghulam Azam was sentenced Pakistan Jamaat Islami staged demonstrations in major cities of the country condemning the Bangladesh government and urging the Pakistan Prime Minister Newaz Sharif to put pressure on Bangladesh government to release Ghulam Azam. They also termed the government of Sheikh Hasina as anti-Islamic and said no previous government of Bangladesh had the audacity to try either Ghulam Azam or any other leaders of Jamaat. Bangladesh and the present government led by Sheikh Hasina are standing at a crossroads of history. The general people of the country who believes in a liberal democratic and secular country have waited forty two years for the trials of those who fought against the creation of Bangladesh. The wait was long and at times seemed it was not worth the patience. Today they can see for real that the long wait has not gone in vain. However, the wait will only be complete when they will see the execution of the verdicts announced by the ICT. Only time will tell where Bangladesh will go from here.

The writer is a former Vice-chancellor, University of Chittagong.