Just when Bangladesh hanged war criminals Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury (SQC) and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed their masters and patrons in Pakistan, for which they grievously acted against humanity during our Liberation War in 1971, are giving out their hearts and souls for those two killers, rapists and perpetrators of all sorts of abuse on innocent people in the former eastern wing of Pakistan.
Not only the Pakistani government but a "ultra-voltage" human rights activist and a politician in that country also joined a malicious campaign to undermine Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan 44 years ago at the cost of three million lives by trying shamelessly to glorify the war criminals (WC) as heroes. They also alleged the war crime trials the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) that sentenced SQC and Mohajeed (and several other WCs before then) to death for committing crimes against humanity in 1971 had been flawed and did not follow international standards
Imran Khan, former Pakistan cricketer turned politician, asked the Bangladesh government not to execute the WCs for the sake of peace in the region and elsewhere in the world. His insolent and audacious remarks were simply disgusting and annoying not only to the people of Bangladesh but even to many sane and conscious people in Pakistan, too. At the same time, Pakistan's top human rights leader Asma Jahangir lambasted overwhelming sympathy and support of the Pakistan government for SQC and Mojaheed as a proof that the two were agents of Pakistan.
While Imran criticized the Pakistan government for violating human rights in Pakistan by executing many people, they kind of decorated SQC and Mojaheed in reactions to their execution on November 21 as "political leaders" sent to the gallows through unfair legal process.
They are damn wrong. Perhaps they do not know that SQC of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Mohajeed of Jamaat-e-Islami were hanged for war crimes, not as opposition leaders. The ICT in Bangladesh has spared none considering their political or religious identities, As such, ICT has also tried and sentenced leaders of the ruling Awami league and allied Jatiya Party for 1971 war crimes. There is no evidence of partisanship or bias in the trials of the war criminals which has been demanded by all Bangladeshis except for the collaborators of Pakistan occupation army who conducted one of the history's worst genocides on the soil of Bangladesh.
Asma Jahangir probably has lost her humanist steam except for keeping some in store for those executed by military courts and terrorists in Pakistan. Imran Khan clearly went out of his head in the craze for a slice of power in Pakistan that over the years has kept eluding him. It is good to try luck in politics or write one's name as humanist but that should not compromise ethics, values or deny history.
Imran was "adult"' when Pakistan's "patriotic and nationalist forces" in East Pakistan fought for independence and surely followed the developments curiously. They are fully aware of the bloodbath caused by Pakistan occupation  army and Jamaat with its killer gangs Al Badr, Al Shams etc. Yet they seem to forget everything or pretend to forget. This is shameful, audacious and indiginable.
Pakistan has been ruptured by Islamist terrorism and resurgence of military rule that together led to deaths of thousands of people there. Many Pakistani tribesmen and politicians also made bonhomie with Taliban and maybe Al Qaeda also, that destroyed Afghanistan and vitiated life in its immediate neighbour. But Asma or Imran could do nothing to stop them.
Now as Bangladesh under Prime Miniser Sheikh Hasina's government is stubbornly opposing and fighting spread of terrorism even in the form of Islamic State (IS), the ex-cricketer with a history of family debacles zoomed on the trials of war criminals in Bangladesh. He should know that eminent international jurists and legal experts have said they are satisfied over the fairness and high standard of ICT trials in Bangladesh and as such found no flaw or bias in the verdicts to hang the criminals.
Asma was of the opinion that the hangings in Bangladesh would "further deepen the divide and haunt its politics in the future". She said all human rights activists who monitored these trials "agreed that due process had not been given to the two accused".
"We've condemned the unfortunate developments end even given out urgent appeals to the Amnesty International and other international human rights organisations in this regard," she added.
Here we feel intrigued. What Asma or Amnesty International did when thousands of Iraqis including President Saddam Hussein were killed by the US-UK coalition troops riding on false accusations of keeping Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) or over 600 people were hanged in a single day in Egypt? They were silent spectators.
Imran Khan, chief of Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), had written a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the day before executions of SQC and Mojaheed took place. He asked for the forgiveness to the convicts. `If his execution is stopped, it will be in the larger interest not only of our region, but for the establishment of world peace and justice,' he said.
The two Pakistanis came out in chorus against Bangladesh's ICT verdicts at a time when Bangladesh was facing increasing threats of terrorism from fundamentalists and terrorist forces. But in view of strong resolve and firm actions by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, terrorism has yet to take roots in Bangladesh.
Global powers including the United States and UK are trying to turn IS' focus on Bangladesh so the secular Muslim democratic country is known as a terror country. But their heinous attempts have failed. Now we wonder whether they are also trying to align Pakistan in the malicious campaign and use persons like Asma jahangir and Imran Khan to carry their design.
However, we believe the people of Bangladesh, despite efforts by Jamaat and BNP, will not be misled by any propaganda or tolerate any conspiracy. They will value the sacrifices made and prices paid in 1971 to the highest esteem.