Bangladesh to observe ‘one-minute blackout’ to mark Genocide Day today
As many as three million people were believed to have been killed, up to 200,000 women were violated and over 10 million people were forced to cross the border to India to seek shelter during the 1971 Operation Searchlight launched by the Pakistan army
International conference held in Hague on Thursday where speakers demanded international recognition of the Bangladesh genocide. ANI
Bangladesh will observe a ‘one-minute blackout’ on Friday to mark ‘Genocide Day’, in memory of the three million people killed by Pakistani forces during the 1971 Liberation War.
The ‘blackout’ would be observed for one minute from 9:00 pm to 9:01 pm across the country, the Dhaka Tribune reported citing an official statement.
The daily reported that no lighting will be allowed at all the government, semi-government, autonomous organisations, and private buildings and installations on the night of 25 March.
According to the official, key point installations (KPIs) and emergency installations will be exempted from the blackout program, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Recently the Paris-based think tank The Center of Political and Foreign Affairs brought out a report titled ‘East Pakistan Genocide: Still Yearns for Global Acknowledgement’ in which the author Mario de Gasperi explained that the Bangladesh genocide is considered to be the largest and longest since it covers the entire length of the nine-month-long liberation war of Bangladesh.
“Ironically the Bangladesh genocide remains unrecognised while other genocides in Europe and Africa have been acknowledged,” Gasperi wrote.
On 25 March, 50 years back Pakistan Army launched ‘Operation Searchlight’ resulting in the worst genocide in human history over a period of nine months till the Army was defeated, Gasperi wrote.
Gasperi further said, “The Liberation War in erstwhile East Pakistan marked by the horrific genocide committed by the Pakistani Army and razakars, or collaborators, is not acknowledged widely even to this date.”
Meanwhile, on Friday, speakers at an international conference held on Thursday titled, ‘Bangladesh: Justice after genocide’ held at Leiden University in the Hague — organised by Europe based Bangladeshi diaspora organisation European Bangladesh Forum (EBF) in collaboration with the Leiden University UNICEF Student Team the Hague & SESA (Southeast and South Asian) Club by CIROS (Community of International Relations and Organisations Students) — demanded international recognition of the Bangladesh genocide.
EBF has also been holding a two-day long demonstration in front of the historic ‘Broken Chair’ at the UN building in Geneva, Switzerland since Thursday. The demonstration is being organised in collaboration with the International Human Rights Commission Bangladesh, Geneva. The demonstration will reiterate the demand for trial of the perpetrators responsible for the genocide in Bangladesh and international recognition of the 1971 genocide committed by the Pakistan army.
Bangladesh started observing 25 March as ‘Genocide Day’ in 2017.
With input from ANI
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