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CROSS TALK

A small step towards the giant leap

Let us hope this verdict is a small step towards the giant leap to heal our wound. We have lived too long inhaling the fumes of vengeance burning in our hearts. We should now be able to leave it behind and move on

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan
Life magazine quoted Nazi killer Otto Adolf Eichmann in its December 5,1960 issue when he was
still awaiting trial in Israel. "To sum it all up, I must say that I regret nothing," was the chilling statement from a man who was nabbed by Mossad agents in Argentina. During the Second World War, he had managed the logistics of mass deportation of millions of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps. The difference between Eichmann and Abul Kalam Azad, the first war criminal sentenced in Bangladesh last Monday, is not just the manner of crime but also the condition of trial. While our man is absconding, Eichmann was already in jail.
That difference matters, 'frying a man in absentia has an impaired sense of unfinished justice, akin to missing an enemy and hitting his shadow. It's also like an investor going long on an investment, hoping the price of the stock he bought was going to increase in future. The execution of the verdict hinges on whether and when we should be able to capture the culprit.
But we have been deprived of yet a more exciting opportunity, which is to get his instant reaction. If we ever
get to catch Azad in future, his reactions will be more tempered because he will get enough time to think through his predicament and come up with a cultivated version of denial or confession. It would have been immensely more interesting to hear his instant thoughts, much like watching a beast in wilderness.
This one criminal, for long many years, was able to pull the wool over our eyes. He not only succeeded in hiding his past, but also in projecting himself in the public domain as a spiritual man. Now that the court has found him guilty of rape, arson and
killing, this man is suddenly bereft of his mask. It would have been nice to hear from the horse's mouth how he had the audacity to take us for granted for all those years.
During cross-examination, the prosecutor asked Eichmann whether he considered himself guilty of the murder of millions of Jews. He replied: "Legally not, but in the human sense ... yes, for I am guilty of having deported them." But where did he find the justification even to do that?
The prosecutor thought he had a clue to answer that question. In 1945
Eichmann had said: "I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction." When asked, the Nazi killer countered the claim saying he was referring only to "enemies of the Reich."
Perhaps our war criminal, if he were available for his comments, would have denied the charges against him, calling the verdict a political ploy to victimise him. Perhaps he would have claimed he had only killed those who were deemed enemies of a state that was
killing his own countrymen. Perhaps he would have said nothing, or broken down in sobs mumbling incoherent speeches like his victims must have done when they were being slaughtered and raped.
For those who have vague or no memories of 1971, the verdict must be as shocking as discovering a killer in their bedroom. Those who listened to this man on television sermonising them about life in the next world must be in a serious crisis of conscience. If they have formed their understanding of life believing in this monstrous man, it must be hurting
them now that they know he took them for a ride.
Let us hope this verdict marks a new beginning not only for them but also all of us. Let us hope this verdict is a small step towards the giant leap to heal our wound. We have lived too long inhaling the fumes of vengeance burning in our hearts. We should now be able to leave it behind and move on with our past.
War crimes behind us, we should turn to political and financial crimes. Forged in the spirit of this one verdict and other verdicts to come on war criminals, we must be able to send a message to all criminals in the country. No matter how long it takes and who they are, this nation will find them and bring them to justice.
"I have no conscience, Adolf Hitler is my conscience," said another Nazi criminal Herman Goering, who eluded justice by taking his own life hours before his execution. Crime is always when one relinquishes conscience. The war criminals had surrendered their conscience to the notion of a state that had no conscience.
Forty-two years later, that tragedy is repeating itself. Sycophancy, partisan politics, opportunism and greed have forfeited our conscience. Worrying sign is that the madness is coming again.
The writer is Editor, First News and an opinion writer for The Dally Star.
Email: badrull51@yahoo.com