Chintito

The accountable must apologise for the gruesome crime

Chintito

In August 1997 under 'An apology for gruesome crime', Chintito wrote: A visit to the subcontinent by the British queen to mark the 50th anniversary of the division of India... (was overshadowed by) the Indian Prime Minister's honest advice that Queen Elizabeth II should not visit (the Golden Temple in) Amritsar (also the location of the famed Jallianwala Bagh carnage) as planned because her presence at the site of a massacre of innocent Indians by British troops nearly eighty (repeat eighty) years ago might prove dangerous and provoke a demand for an apology by Britain's head of state.

At Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919, about twenty thousand satyagrahis, followers of Gandhi, had assembled in the walled garden of Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. On the orders of General Reginald Dyer, the British army fired without warning on a peaceful gathering and they continued firing until they ran out of ammunition. 379 people were killed and almost a thousand others were injured, some grievously. Dyer was as ruthless as his ancestors, some of who are depicted in the torture chambers of several London museums today. To cause maximum casualty, Dyer had ordered his men to fire into the thickest part of the crowd.

In our War of Liberation we had come across many brutes among the Pakistani officers whose actions would have made Dyer tremble in fear. Have we not heard of Bangalee children being flung into the air only to test the sharpness of Pakistani bayonets? Have we not been shamed by the rape of our mothers and sisters? Have we not seen the murder of innocent Bangalees, streets and alleyways littered with our soul and body? Yet, have we ever made a concerted effort to seek an apology from Pakistan?

The Pakistani head of state has visited Bangladesh several times. Let alone at other times, have our graveyards and killing fields ever echoed with the demand for an apology for the most heinous crime in history by the most barbarous of forces to coincide with their visit? Do we then not consider the martyrdom of our shaheeds worthy of an apology?
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In November 2005, under “Apologise they must” Chintito again wrote: While today visiting Pakistani leaders conveniently salute the martyrs of this land that verily their soldiers killed, it has evaded apologising and financially compensating (for moral compensation is impossible) for one of the most grisly crimes in the history of mankind. In fact, Pakistani leaders should not be allowed to set foot on the Jatiya Smriti Soudha, bathed in sacred blood of countless Shaheeds, until they (Pakistan) have asked for forgiveness for their sin.

The mother of the child lost in 1971 still wipes a tear. The widow hopelessly longs for the return of her loved one. The child of a shaheed expects every other living parent to at least feel, if not fight for the cause his father laid down his life.

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In September 2007, under “Arduous apology of the accountable” Chintito once again wrote:

Just say it that you are sorry. For there are countless that you killed. [Brutality perceived not before or since]. And then believe in it too.

Just believe it that you are sorry. For there are myriads that you maimed. [Disfigured a nation bodily, not in soul]. And then mean it too.

Just mean it that you are sorry. For Generation-71 they still seek their parents. [Many for eternity shall haunt your paternity]. And then admit it too.

Just admit it that you are sorry. For your cowardice stooped to our daughters. [Their innocence you could never ever clench]. And then confess it too.

Just confess it that you are sorry. For in Operation Searchlight how evil were you. [They smeared darkness through the lust in your eye]. And then come clean that you are sorry.

Just come clean that you are sorry. For we demand your exile despite time gone by. [No sin is ever covered by religious disguise] And then…

Say it, believe it, and mean it. And forever remain sullied. Admit it, confess it, and come clean. Or by ageless conscience be harried.

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Only last Friday 9 December, BBC news reported: “The Dutch government has apologised for the 1947 massacre committed by its soldiers in Indonesia. As many as 430 men and boys were rounded-up and killed in the village of Rawagede, as Indonesia fought for independence and the Dutch were clinging to their retreating colonial empire. Families of those killed attended a ceremony at the site of the killings, now known as Balongsari.”

Cut Dutch and replace with Pakistan.
Cut 1947 and replace with 1971.
Cut 430 and replace with three million; and include women and children.
Cut village of Rawagede and replace with Bangladesh.
Cut Indonesia and replace with Bangladesh.
Cut colonial and replace with tyrannical.
Cut Balongsari and replace with Bangladesh.

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Cut relations and replace with demand for an apology.

<chintitoforever@gmail.com>

 

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