পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ষষ্ঠ খণ্ড).pdf/৫১৭

এই পাতাটির মুদ্রণ সংশোধন করা প্রয়োজন।

481 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ষষ্ঠ খণ্ড individuals and consequently a full scale attack was launched to eliminate any sense of Bengali nationalism, from amongst the people. It is clear now that the Pakistan Army does not intend to let anyone live within their reach who would assert himself to be a Bengali whether Muslim or Hindu. Hitler’s National Socialist regime in Germany exterminated more than eight million people. Subsequently Nations adopted in 1948 the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and defined it as “acts, committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnical racial or religious group by killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of such group.” The Convention also declared this crime as punishable under International Law and made it applicable to rulers and public officials also. With this is connected the concept of fundamental human rights recognized both by the Convention and Charter of the United Nations. If crime against humanity is an offence under International Law2, the Pakistan Army’s action in Bangladesh could be taken up by the Penal Tribunal under Article 4 of the Convention. No other better or clearer case of genocide has emerged since the end of Second World War than the one being committed by the Pakistani regime in Bangladesh today. By sheer brutal force Pakistan Army is committing ‘double genocide one elimination of Bengalis as a race and two Hindus as a religious group. Anyone who dares to proclaim himself a Bengali is shot at sight whether Muslim or Hindu and anyone who admits to being a Hindu is bayoneted to death. In simple terms this is genocide and this is exactly what the Pakistan Army is doing now. If world conscience is to act, no issue could be more worthwhile to take up than the present case of Bangladesh. Genocide is a crime which should never go unpunished.