EU urged to recognise 1971 genocide by Pakistan in Bangladesh

A demonstration was staged in front of the European institutions in Brussels to mark the genocide committed by the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh in 1971 wherein thousands of people were slaughtered.

The civil society and human rights orgsations in Europe as well as the Bengali orgsations on Thursday called for a global acknowledgment of the genocide as it remains unrecognised in comparison to the other genocides in Europe and Africa.

The demonstrators held placards and banners and were seen raising slogans. One of the banners read -- "50 years: Genocide in Bangladesh. Pakistan must acknowledge responsibility NOW. EU should also recognise the genocide in Bangladesh."

Manel Msalmi, a human rights activist in Brussels, said the civil society and human rights orgsations came in the protest to pay tribute to the victims on the 50th anniversary of the genocide by Pakistan and ask for the European Union and the United Nations' recognition.

"It is a tribute to the Bangladesh Hindu genocide of 1971 and a tribute to the 2-3 million victims who were killed including 200-4,00,000 women who were raped. We need to remember this genocide incident 50 years later and never forget the brutality of this massacre in which Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists in Bangladesh were oppressed and tortured. The Hindu community lost its land and was slaughtered by the Pakist Army," said Manel Msalmi wrote in Europa Blog.

"Today, we yearn for a global acknowledgment of this genocide mainly because it remains unrecognised in comparison to the other genocides in Europe and Africa," Msalmi added.

The Bengali Genocide Remembrance Day or the Bangladesh Genocide Memorial Day is a national day observed on March 25 in Bangladesh to pay respect to the victims of the genocide of 1971. It was approved unmously in 2017.

The Pakistan Army launched an attack on unarmed civilians on the night of March 25, 1971, to crush the Bengali rebellion following refusal by the military leadership to accept the election results of 1970 in which the Awami League got a thumping majority.

On Genocide Memorial Day, protests were orgsed at 34 spots across Bangladesh on Thursday in memory of the three million people killed by Pakist forces during the 1971 Liberation War.

( With inputs from ANI )