More than 36 years after Bangladesh won independence through a bloody war that killed 3 million people, commanders and veterans of the conflict gathered in Dhaka on Friday to demand trial of alleged war criminals. The issue has strong political implications as some alleged suspects are leaders and activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami Party, part of the government of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia who ended her five-year term in power in Oct. 2006. Jamaat denies the accusations. Rallying under the banner of the Bangladesh Liberation War Sector Commanders' Forum, those attending urged the army-backed interim government to at least initiate war crime trials. The first convention of the recently-formed forum was attended by many who said they witnessed carnage by Pakistan's army and collaborators in the then East Pakistan in 1971. Tight security was imposed around the forum venue. Speakers, including past top military officers who fought in the nine-month war, said they felt anguished and disgraced over the long delay in bringing war criminals to justice. “Our campaign to bring the war criminals to law and put them through trials will continue indefinitely, until the authorities make our dream into reality,” said former air chief A.K. Khandaker, Bangladesh Liberation Army deputy chief in 1971. “I appeal to the government to form war crimes tribunals and also to seek help of the United Nations to arrange trial of the war criminals,” Khandaker added.Bangladesh asks envoys to avoid internal issues Bangladesh's army-backed interim administration has asked foreign diplomats, who often make comments on domestic politics, not to interfere in the country's internal affairs. The government move came on the heels of recent visits by foreigners who made comments on the country's criminal justice system and human rights situation. “There has been a renewed perceptible tendency on the part of some foreign diplomats to make remarks in public that a section of the media has perceived to be interference in Bangladesh's internal affairs,” a foreign ministry statement said late on Thursday. It said recognized diplomatic norms and standards should be adhered to. Bangladeshis had earned Independence and sought to guard their sense of sovereignty with “zeal and pride”, the statement said. “The diplomatic agents concerned are urged to take note of this fact, and act in consonance with these sentiments.” __
