British lawyer Geoffrey Robertson wants trial of some freedom fighters for alleged war crimes perpetrated against surrendered Pakistani troops and Urdu-speaking civilians locally called ‘Biharis’.
“There are some severe allegations of war crimes against the Bengali freedom fighters ,” Robertson told a London press conference on Wednesday.
“These war crimes were committed against the 3 million Urdu-speaking population and others who supported the unity of Pakistan. So there should be trial for these crimes as well.”
Robertson was critical of excluding these freedom fighters from the ongoing war crimes trials that targets collaborators of the Pakistan army, especially leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami.
“Letting them (freedom fighters) go scot free is a travesty of justice because they had also committed serious crimes during the 1971 war.”Robertson came down on the ‘lack of global standards’ in the ongoing war crimes trials in Bangladesh.
He said it was unfair to amend the war crimes law following the pressure of the Shahbagh movement after Abdul Quader Molla’s life sentence.
That amendment allowed prosecution the right to appeal against the life sentence verdict.
Robertson denied being engaged by any political party in Bangladesh, though his press conference came around the time of the ICT verdict on Jamaat leader Abdus Subhan.
Jamaat’s foreign lawyer Toby Cadman had raised many questions over the ongoing war crimes trials in the past. – bdnews24.com
