Pak rights activist Asma Jahangir tells The Daily Star
Asma Jahangir
Internationally renowned human rights lawyer and former special envoy of UN secretary general Asma Jahangir said because of its military, Pakistan could not apologise to the people of Bangladesh for the atrocities and genocide committed by its army during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.
“I think they [government] are afraid of our military,” she told The Daily Star in an interview here on March 26, the day Bangladesh proclaimed its independence 42 years ago.
“Pakistan’s foreign policy is kept hostage by the military dictatorship even now,” she said adding, “I hope that Pakistan and Bangladesh can put their past behind, learn a lesson from it and go forward together for a prosperous South Asia.”
Asma Jahangir came here to receive Friends of Liberation War Honour conferred upon her late father Malik Ghulam Jilani.
The then president of Punjab Awami League, Jilani was imprisoned for denouncing the Pakistani government for genocide during their military action in Bangladesh.
“My father was treated as a traitor and we were treated as children of a traitor. Now I take pride in the fact that “traitor” is a case meant to stand up for a good cause and for the right cause,” she said adding that she feels very proud that her father went to jail because of opposing the military operation and atrocities in Bangladesh.
She felt very emotional after receiving the award on behalf of her father. “I wished had he [my father] been here. It’s not just the award, rather a feeling of being together.”
About the government’s initiative to honour Pakistani nationals, Asma said, “I think it’s a very open-hearted and positive initiative.”
Regarding the ensuing parliamentary elections in Pakistan, she said no party would win a majority. Pakistan People’s Party will lose some of its strength, while Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League will do slightly better, she observed. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf could get enough seats in parliament to play a kingmaker’s role, added Asma.
She thought former military dictator Pervez Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League has very little support in the country.
The army as usual, she said, will play a major role in forming the next government. The army will have a substantial number of seats under their wing, which will be given as a gift to whoever listens to them, noted the lawyer.
She suggested that the military should stay away from politics. “This is a big lesson that Bangladesh can learn from Pakistan.”
Source: The Daily Star
