Title: Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution condemns the atrocities committed by the Armed Forces of Pakistan against the people of Bangladesh from March-December 1971.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1430 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1430

              Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 14, 2022

    Mr. Chabot (for himself and Mr. Khanna) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
              Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971.

Whereas, in August 1947, British rule in India ended, creating the 2 independent 
        sovereign countries of India and Pakistan, the latter of which included 
        the noncontiguous regions of West Pakistan (Pakistan) and East Pakistan 
        (Bangladesh), also known as East Bengal;
Whereas the Pakistani ruling elite was comprised overwhelmingly of West 
        Pakistanis who concentrated the country's resources and development 
        efforts in West Pakistan to the detriment of East Pakistan's 
        development;
Whereas West Pakistani officials harbored well-documented anti-Bengali 
        sentiment, considering Bengalis to be a lesser people group that had 
        been corrupted by un-Islamic practices;
Whereas, during elections held in 1970, the Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur 
        Rahman, won a majority in Parliament on a platform of autonomy for East 
        Pakistan;
Whereas negotiations to form a government between Pakistani President, General 
        Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto leader of the Pakistan 
        People's Party, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman failed;
Whereas, at a meeting on February 22, 1971, General Yahya Khan is recorded as 
        saying to his top military brass ``[k]ill 3 million of them and the rest 
        will eat out of our hands'';
Whereas, on the night of March 25, 1971, the Government of Pakistan imprisoned 
        Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Pakistani military units, in conjunction with 
        radical Islamist groups, began a general crackdown throughout East 
        Pakistan code-named ``Operation Searchlight'' that involved widespread 
        massacres of civilians;
Whereas atrocities continued during the ensuing 9-month Bangladesh War of 
        Independence as the Pakistani military scapegoated ethnic Bengalis and 
        Hindus and targeted supporters of the Awami League, Bengali military or 
        police personnel, intellectuals, students, and professionals, while 
        victims included members of both majority (Bengali Muslim) and minority 
        (non-Muslim) communities;
Whereas the genocide against ethnic Bengalis and Hindus is one of the forgotten 
        genocides of the 20th century and its lack of recognition remains an 
        open wound for millions of people who were directly effected by the 
        atrocities;
Whereas estimates of the number of those killed in these atrocities vary, with 
        the Government of Bangladesh estimating that 3,000,000 persons were 
        killed;
Whereas over 200,000 women were raped and, due to stigma, the full number will 
        likely never be known nor the victims remembered;
Whereas, as a result of the atrocities and the war, nearly 10,000,000 refugees 
        fled to India, and countless others, up to 50 percent of Bangladesh's 
        population, were internally displaced;
Whereas the Government and people of India magnanimously cared for the refugees 
        until the culmination of hostilities;
Whereas in a seminal column on June 13, 1971, for The Sunday Times, titled 
        ``Genocide'', journalist Anthony Mascarenhas wrote ``It seems clear that 
        the `sorting out' began to be planned about the time that Lt.-Gen. Tikka 
        Khan took over the governorship of East Bengal.'' and continues ``When 
        the army units fanned out in Dacca on the evening of March 25, in pre-
        emptive strikes against the mutiny planned for the small hours of the 
        next morning many of them carried lists of people to be liquidated. 
        These included the Hindus and large numbers of Muslims; students, Awami 
        Leaguers, professors, journalists and those who had been prominent in 
        Sheik Mujib's movement.'';
Whereas, on March 28, 1971, United States Consul General in Dacca, Archer Blood, 
        sent a telegram to Washington titled ``Selective Genocide'' in which he 
        wrote ``Moreover, with support of Pak military, non-Bengali Muslims are 
        systematically attacking poor people's quarters and murdering Bengalis 
        and Hindus. Streets of Dacca are aflood with Hindus and others seeking 
        to get out of Dacca. Many Bengalis have sought refuge in homes of 
        Americans, most of whom are extending shelter.'';
Whereas, on April 6, 1971, in what became known as the ``Blood Telegram'', 
        Consul General Blood sent by way of the State Department's dissent 
        channel an objection to official United States Government silence on the 
        conflict signed by 20 members of the United States diplomatic staff of 
        Consulate General Dacca which reads in part ``But we have chosen not to 
        intervene, even morally, on the grounds that the Awami conflict, in 
        which unfortunately the overworked term genocide is applicable, is 
        purely internal matter of a sovereign state. Private Americans have 
        expressed disgust.'' and in which objection Blood concurs stating ``I 
        believe the views of these officers, who are among the finest U.S. 
        officials in East Pakistan, are echoed by the vast majority of the 
        American community, both official and unofficial. I also subscribe to 
        these views but I do not think it appropriate for me to sign their 
        statement as long as I am principal officer at this post.'';
Whereas, on April 8, 1971, Consul General Blood sent another telegram which 
        states in part ```Genocide' applies fully to [this] naked, calculated 
        and widespread selection of Hindus for special treatment . . . From 
        outset various members of American community have witnessed either 
        burning down of Hindu villages, Hindu enclaves in Dacca and shooting of 
        Hindus attempting [to] escape carnage, or have witnessed after-effects 
        which [are] visible throughout Dacca today.'';
Whereas Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's 
        Subcommittee To Investigate the Problems Connected with Refugees and 
        Escapees published a report to the Committee on November 1, 1971, which 
        states ``Nothing is more clear, or more easily documented, than the 
        systematic campaign of terror--and its genocidal consequences--launched 
        by the Pakistan army on the night of March 25th. Field reports to the 
        U.S. Government, countless eye-witness journalistic accounts, reports of 
        international agencies such as the World Bank, and additional 
        information available to the Subcommittee document the continuing reign 
        of terror which grips East Bengal. Hardest hit have been members of the 
        Hindu community who have been robbed of their lands and shops, 
        systematically slaughtered, and, in some places, painted with yellow 
        patches marked `H'. All of this has been officially sanctioned, ordered 
        and implemented under martial law from Islamabad.'';
Whereas the war ended on December 16, 1971, and Bangladesh became an independent 
        country;
Whereas, in a legal study published in 1972 titled ``The Events in East 
        Pakistan'', the Secretariat of the International Commission of Jurists 
        states ``There is overwhelming evidence that Hindus were slaughtered, 
        and their houses and villages destroyed simply because they were 
        Hindus.'';
Whereas, in 1994, reflecting on his time covering the war, New York Times 
        correspondent Sydney Schamberg wrote ``Later I toured the country by 
        road to see the Pakistani legacy firsthand. In town after town there was 
        an execution area where people had been killed by bayonet, bullet and 
        bludgeon. In some towns, executions were held on a daily basis . . . 
        This was a month after the war's end (i.e., January 1972), . . . human 
        bones were still scattered along many roadsides. Blood stained clothing 
        and tufts of human hair clung to the brush at these killing grounds. 
        Children too young to understand were playing grotesque games with 
        skulls. Other reminders were the yellow `H's the Pakistanis had painted 
        on the homes of Hindus, particular targets of the Muslim army.'';
Whereas in its ``Declaration in Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the 
        Bangladesh Genocide'' United States nongovernmental organization 
        Genocide Watch states ``Throughout the nine months of their anti-
        independence occupation of East Pakistan, the Pakistani Military Forces 
        persecuted, tortured, and murdered representatives of Bengali culture 
        and identity, including poets, musicians, professors, journalists, 
        physicians, scientists, writers, and film makers.'';
Whereas the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 
        Crime of Genocide, signed at Paris on December 9, 1948, declares that 
        genocide ``means any of the following acts committed with the intent to 
        destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious 
        group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious 
        bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately 
        inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its 
        physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended 
        to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children 
        of the group to another group.'' and ``The following acts shall be 
        punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct 
        and public incitement to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit 
        genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide.'';
Whereas United States nongovernmental organizations Genocide Watch and the 
        Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention have sought international 
        recognition of the atrocities committed by the Armed Forces of Pakistan 
        as genocide; and
Whereas it is of the utmost importance to recall and document crimes against 
        humanity, war crimes, and genocide for the sake of posterity, to 
        preserve the memory of the victims, and to deter future atrocities: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the atrocities committed by the Armed Forces 
        of Pakistan against the people of Bangladesh from March 1971 to 
        December 1971;
            (2) recognizes that such atrocities against ethnic Bengalis 
        and Hindus constitute crimes against humanity, war crimes, and 
        genocide;
            (3) recalls the death and suffering of the countless 
        victims of such atrocities and expresses its deep sympathy for 
        the suffering;
            (4) recognizes that entire ethnic groups or religious 
        communities are not responsible for the crimes committed by 
        their members;
            (5) calls on the President of the United States to 
        recognize the atrocities committed against ethnic Bengalis and 
        Hindus by the Armed Forces of Pakistan during 1971 as crimes 
        against humanity, war crimes, and genocide;
            (6) calls on the Government of Pakistan, in the face of 
        overwhelming evidence, to offer acknowledgement of its role in 
        such genocide, offer formal apologies to the Government and 
        people of Bangladesh, and prosecute, in accordance with 
        international law, any perpetrators who are still living; and
            (7) reaffirms the United States commitment to promoting 
        peace, stability, and intercommunal harmony in the Indo-Pacific 
        region, and the right of all people living in the region, 
        regardless of national, racial, ethnic, or religious 
        background, to enjoy the benefits of democratic institutions, 
        the rule of law, the freedom of religion, and economic 
        opportunity.
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