Those who forgot genocide of 1971, should leave: HPM Sheikh Hasina

Taking part in the discussion on a motion in Parliament on Saturday to declare Mar 25 as Genocide Day, "Those, who forget the killings, have no right to stay in Bangladesh. They should better leave."

"And those, who hobnob with the war criminals, should better go to Pakistan. If they remain in Bangladesh, misfortune will never go away from the people," she added.

As the Bengalis' struggle for freedom from 23 years of suppression intensified, Pakistan let its army lose on the innocent people of Bangladesh on the black night of Mar 25. Codenamed ‘Operation Searchlight’ they carried out genocide in the first hours of that night in Dhaka.

Bangladesh snatched victory in exchange for the lives of 3 million Bengalis and the honour of some women during the nine-month war that followed.

The prime minister said the Pakistani military rulers and their local accomplices Al-Badr, Al-Shams, Razakar are equally responsible for the genocide.

She recalled how her father, the leader of the Bengalis, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was arrested and how she was detached from her mother Sheikh Fazilutunnesa Mujib and her younger siblings from Mar 25 to 27 in 1971.

"When I went out to the street on Mar 27, I saw bodies of people lying in the street, shot dead or run over by tanks. I saw with my own eyes what genocide is," she said.

She said the Pakistan Army opened fire on the people after setting fire to slums.

Sheikh Hasina was pregnant then. She recalled the days in the hospital. "There was no medicine, doctor, or nurse. The beds were filled with maimed patients," she said.

"There is no need of proof of this genocide. Several media around the world depicted how the genocide was committed. And I saw the atrocities with my own eyes. There was no village without the sign of genocide in Bangladesh," she said.

She also expressed ire over claims made by so-called Pakistani researcher Junaid Ahmad in his book 'Creation of Bangladesh: Myths Exploded'.

"I see that the Pakistanis are yet to gain consciousness. They are circulating research outcomes full of lies. They are still lying," she said.

"And there are some 'brokers' in our country too. I myself feel ashamed whenever I remember that I promoted him to major general before his retirement. That's ZA Khan, who wrote in his book that Bangladesh is the outcome of the conspiracy of India's RAW," she said.

RAW stands for India's top intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing.

ZA Khan, a former adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, is the writer of the preface of the book of Junaid Ahmad.

"They (people like ZA Khan) will keep licking their (Pakistanis') boot, ignoring the kicks. The people of our country still suffer because of people with such mindset," the prime minister said.

Photos and videos of the atrocities unleashed by the Pakistani forces on Mar 25 night in 1971 and during the Liberation War were shown in Parliament during the discussion.

After JaSoD MP Shirin had moved the Genocide Day motion, Prime Minister Hasina took the floor and said, "Many MPs here are youths. They did not see the horrific genocide that started on Mar 25 in 1971."

She then sought the Speaker's permission to show the photos and videos of the Liberation War published in the media.

The photos and videos were then displayed on a big screen in pin-drop silence for 18 minutes. The prime minister wiped tears several times.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's historic Mar 7 speech, the declaration of independence, refugees leaving the country, genocide, and many other things were in the images and videos.