Thousands rally in Bangladesh, demand speedy 1971 war crimes trials

Dec 29, 2011, 13:13 GMT

Dhaka - Tens of thousands of supporters of Bangladesh's ruling coalition gathered Thursday in central Dhaka demanding speedy trials for those accused of crimes during the country's 1971 war.

'Our promise today is to try the perpetrators of the killings, rapes, arson attacks, and crimes against humanity during the liberation war,' shouted the demonstrators gathered in the area where Pakistani forces surrendered in mid-December 1971.

Bangladesh says that 3 million civilians were killed, between 200,000-500,000 women were raped, thousands of homes were torched and millions were displaced during the nine-month war, when then-East Pakistan seceded from West Pakistan to become the independent nation of Bangladesh.

In 2010, seven alleged collaborators in the massacre were detained. Five of those facing charges are key members of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party, including its leader Matiur Rahman Nizami. The other two are leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Jamaat-e-Islami was opposed to secession, and assisted Pakistani forces during the war.

The Awami League-led coalition government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed has been prosecuting war crimes suspects since she took office in early 2009.

The Awami League has blamed the opposition alliance led by former premier Khaleda Zia of attempting to disrupt the trials. Protesters chanted slogans against Zia, who asked the government to suspend the trials.

An earlier initiative to prosecute war crimes was called off in 1975 when the country's first prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was assassinated.