Get on with it
The Jamat-e-Islami faces the dubious distinction in both Pakistan and Bangladesh of having opposed the creation of the nations. That is all well and good; bygones can be bygones and, though swipes at the party’s stance by other are kosher, their point of view should be evaluated objectively.
But things are not that simple. JI leaders have plenty of sins to atone for in Bangladesh, where they are accused of participating in war crimes in the liberation struggle of that country.
Many ask whether it is right to dig up the dead, figuratively speaking, and hold them accountable. It indeed is. It is about time Bangladesh exorcises these demons and brings those responsible to book. It is also time for Pakistan to cooperate with its South Asian brotherly country in this regard. The effort is going to be more therapeutic for Pakistan than it will be for Bangladesh.
The 89-year-old, wheelchair bound former head of the JI shouldn’t be given any respite to account for his age as far as the investigations themselves are concerned.
We need to ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions. We need to revisit our heroes and villains. We need to look these very fundamental questions straight in the eyes and confront them.
If the Americans can conclude that one of their most cherished founding fathers (Thomas Jefferson) and perhaps the most intellectually gifted one of them, as morally flexible, especially regarding race and slavery, surely we can try to take on our self-constructed deities ourselves.
It has been quite some time since the Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission’s findings have been declassified. But there has been no movement there. Perhaps if we can dig these graves, as they were, like the Asghar Khan petition, like the Zafar Ali Shah petition, like the ZAB case, like the Hyderabad Conspiracy case that we can attempt to not only close the door on all such excesses but also provide a measure of retribution to guilty parties as well.
