US House resolution seeks ‘genocide’ tag for Pakistan’s 1971 atrocities on Bengali Hindus
US Congressman Greg Landesman has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives demanding recognition of the atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army and its allies against Bengali Hindus in 1971 as war crimes and genocide.Landesman, a Democrat from Ohio, introduced the proposal Friday. It has been sent to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.In March 1971, Pakistan military units, in collaboration with radical Islamic groups inspired by the ideology of Jamaat-e-Islami, launched a massive crackdown in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) under the codename ‘Operation Searchlight’, resulting in mass killings of civilians, especially Bengali Hindus.
‘Mass murder of Bengali Hindus’
The resolution states that the Pakistani military and its Islamist allies “carried out indiscriminate mass murder of ethnic Bengalis without regard to religion and gender, killed their political leaders, intellectuals, professionals and students, and forced thousands of women to work as their sex slaves.”“They specifically targeted the religious minority Hindus for destruction through mass massacres, mass rape, conversion and forced expulsion,” it said.Also, the proposal states that the entire community should not be held responsible for the actions of individuals.
‘Blood Telegram’
The resolution cites a telegram sent by Archer Blood, Consul General of the United States of America in Dhaka, on March 28, 1971, titled ‘Selective Genocide’. “Furthermore, with the support of Pak Army, non-Bengali Muslims are systematically attacking poor people’s dwellings and killing Bengalis and Hindus,” he wrote in the message.It also mentions the April 6, 1971 communication known as the “Blood Telegram”, in which Blood formally objected to the US government’s silence on the “genocide”.“But we have also decided not to intervene morally on the grounds that the Awami conflict, to which unfortunately the term genocide applies, is entirely an internal matter of a sovereign state,” the message, signed by 20 members of the Consulate, said.Based on these accounts, the resolution urges the House to condemn the actions of Pakistani armed forces against Bengali Hindus as crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.On the night of March 25, 1971, the Government of Pakistan imprisoned Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after winning the general elections. Following the atrocities, India went to war with Pakistan, resulting in the surrender of the Pakistani army and the creation of Bangladesh.