Ansar Ahmed Ullah: The European Bangladesh Forum, a platform of Bangladeshi European, is organising an international conference on Tuesday 30 November 2021 at Nieuwspoort, the Internationaal Perscentrum in Den Haag, attached to the Parliament building. This is a follow-up of the Geneva conference held on the same subject on 30 September 2021 at the Geneva Press Club in Switzerland.
A number of experts with international reputations working on genocide issues from the UK, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and Bangladesh will participate in the discussion. Besides, speakers from different ethnic groups, including Afghan, Sindh, Baloch and Pashtun, will speak on the occasion. Bangladesh Ambassador in the Netherlands M Riaz Hamidullah will also address the conference. Other speakers include Dr Nuzhat Chowdhury, member of a martyred family from Bangladesh, Dr Ahmed Ziauddin, Board Member, International Crimes Strategy Forum (ICSF), Belgium, Mariam Solaimankhil, former MP & former Advisor on International Relations at the Office of the Afghan President, Chris Blackburn, Communications Director, Swiss InterStrategy Group & ‘Friend of Bangladesh’ Award Recipient, UK, Baseer Naveed, Executive Director, International Human Rights Council, Hong Kong (Sindh), Dr Niloufar Rahim, President, KEIHAN Foundation (Afghans), Netherlands, Aurang Zeb Khan Zalmay, Editor, Pashtun Times & Researcher, Germany and Dr Rayhan Rashid, Trustee Board member, International Crimes Strategy Forum (ICSF), UK. Dr Mojibur Doftori, writer, senior researcher & human rights activist from Finland, will facilitate the sessions of the conference.
The conference will start with the screening of a 10-minute documentary film titled, ‘War Crimes 1971’. It may be mentioned that the 1971 Bangladesh genocide committed by the Pakistan military is one of the worst mass atrocities that the world witnessed in the 20th century. The Pakistan occupation army in nine months killed approximately 3 million people, violated over two hundred thousand girls & women and forced 10 million people to take shelter in India.
Unfortunately, the Bangladesh genocide has today become a forgotten chapter in history. Pakistan has not yet acknowledged the crimes or offered a formal apology despite world-wide demand by the people of Bangladesh and other nationals, including Baloch, Sindh, Pashtun, Afghans who suffered similar atrocities by Pakistan.
