Day: December 17, 2015

Mozammel H. Khan: Despite history's numerous precedents, the word “genocide” did not exist until legal scholar Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew who found shelter in the United States, coined the term in 1943. On December 9, 1948, the UN unanimously adopted a convention on genocide, identifying it as a crime “committed with the intention to destroy in whole or part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Called The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, it was adopted by the General Assembly on December 9, 1948, and came into effect on January 12, 1951. The word “genocide” that gradually entered the lexicon of international law has been used to officially character-ise the mass slaughter of Armenians, Jews and Rwandans in the 20th century. The UN recogni...

Ishtiaq Ahmed: It's the middle of September, 1971. The location is Shonir Char, an inconspicuous fictional village under Barisal District, Sector 9 of independent Bangladesh. But Shonir Char is of great strategic importance to both the nefari-ous Pakistani Army, who are currently occupying it by force, and the Freedom Fighters who want to secure this crucial outpost. Surrounded by Madhumati River, the village has suddenly become critical because of the recent emerging char (river islets). The Pakistanis have also set up a watch-tower which gives them visibility of any enemy approaching their stronghold. At the break of midnight, a group of five Freedom Fighter commandos approach Shonir Char by first swimming through the dark waters of Madhumati and then crawling on the sand dunes of the bu...