Dhaka: Visiting UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-moon on Tuesday supported the government`s initiative to bring to justice those accused of "crimes against humanity" during Bangladesh`s 1971 `Liberation War`.
"For any nation, dealing with the darker aspects of the past is essential to creating unity and building a healthy, brighter future," he said in a lecture at Dhaka University, which conferred upon him an honorary doctor of law degree. He said Bangladesh was seeking to deal more fully with the legacy of 1971, establishing a war crimes tribunal and took "other important steps" in this regard.
Ban said these issues "are difficult, to be sure...(but) essential".
The ruling Awami League party of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina constituted a high-powered three-member International Crimes Tribunal in March 2010 to bring to justice the war criminals. The UN chief’s comment, on the penultimate day of his four-day Bangladesh tour, came as the main opposition Bangladesh nationalist Party (BNP) has questioned the fairness of the trial.
Two of its own leaders and five of the top leaders fo the largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, a key ally of the BNP are facing trial on war crime charges.
The government was trying to mobilise international supports for the process amid a campaign against the trial by the main opposition parties.
If convicted, the accused could face the highest death penalty and the lowest 10 years of imprisonment for crimes like massacre, murders, arsons and rapes.
Under the International Crimes Tribunal Act, the convicts could file appeals only before the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
PTI