Another journal review session took place on November 24, 2016, at the Meeting Room of BRACU Savar Campus. Ms. Rifat Jahan, faculty member of Bangladesh Studies, discussed the article titled ‘The genocide of 1971 and the politics of justice” by Navine Murshid.
Ms. Rifat discussed the main focus of the article at first, which is the politicization of the history of liberation war of Bangladesh. According to the author, the post independent justice system did not punish the war criminals until recent time. The years following the war saw the rise of military dictatorships that did not bring the war criminals to justice. When democracy was finally established, it was a time of renewed hope. Yet, the writer states that soon after the political parties consolidated themselves, the well-known war criminals responsible for hundreds of deaths became socially established.
Ms. Rifat continued the discussion by stating that Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee played an important role in that situation, according to the author. However, the politicization of history and war did not stop. Finally, the Shahbag movement opened the floodgates and revealed once again, on a mass scale and with all its contradictions, what the nation as a whole had repressed for four decades. While the Shahbag movement created a space for people whose voices had been shut out, its secular orientation also gave rise to radical Islamist who started violence to show their opposition. She concluded with the author’s belief that Shahbag exposed the dilemma of seeking justice for war crimes decades after the war ended, in a context where justice became the primary demand because of decades of denied justice.
After the discussion, several faculty members shared their views on the issue. All members agreed that this article will add value to the lecture on the political development of Bangladesh because teachers can share the role of Shahbag movement as a strong positive influence to ensure justice regarding the war criminals in post-independent Bangladesh.