The historical record of Bangladesh’s Liberation War is neither ambiguous nor disputed in credible scholarship. There is nothing new to prove today that Jamaat-e-Islami and other anti-liberation forces did not merely oppose independence ideologically; they collaborated with Pakistani military to carry out one of the twentieth century’s worst genocides. The mass killings, systematic rape of women, and targeted extermination of intellectuals in 1971 are not matters of interpretation but documented facts, established through eyewitness testimony, international reporting, judicial findings, and historical research.
Yet, rather than confronting this record with remorse and apology, Jamaat now performs a politics of “feigned sorrow”- posturing as patriotic mourners while simultaneously seeking to recast collaborators as victims and distort the foundational truth of the war. This calculated display of nationalism is not repentance but a strategic attempt to rewrite history, undermine the moral legitimacy of the Liberation War, and normalise a narrative that absolves its own role in crimes that are already historically established.
This attempt, in addition to their old tactic of using religious card, is driven by the party’s crude lust for power, capitalising the current political reality of Bangladesh in post-Sheikh Hasina era.
What is understandable is that the defeat on the battlefield 54 years ago did not translate into moral reckoning. The Pakistani army and its local collaborators were decisively defeated in December 1971, and Bangladesh emerged as an independent state. But the ideological forces that opposed liberation never accepted that verdict of history and embarked on a long-term political project to delegitimise the Liberation War itself – blurring the line between victim and perpetrator and recasting collaborators as misunderstood patriots.
Over the decades, this project has assumed many forms: denial, distortion, selective amnesia, and increasingly, appropriation. The most striking contradiction today is that the very forces that opposed independence with arms and atrocity now publicly profess admiration for the Liberation War and freedom fighters. This performative reverence reflects not ideological transformation, but political expediency. When the language of 1971 carries popular legitimacy, anti-liberation forces seek to co-opt it, even as they hollow it out from within.
That contradiction becomes glaring when juxtaposed with their continued derogatory remarks about freedom fighters and persistent efforts to rewrite foundational events of the war. Recent comments by Jamaat-e-Islami leaders questioning who killed the intellectuals on 14 December exemplify this strategy of manufactured ambiguity.
The statement by Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar claiming that the killing of intellectuals was a “well-planned conspiracy” by the Indian army and intelligence agencies fits squarely into this pattern. By shifting blame away from the Pakistani military and its local collaborators, particularly Al-Badr, the militia drawn from Jamaat’s student wing, such narratives attempt to absolve Jamaat of responsibility while reframing India as the principal villain of 1971.
Equally revealing is what these narratives omit. On Victory Day and other commemorative occasions, Jamaat leaders direct their rhetoric almost exclusively against India, while remaining conspicuously silent about Pakistan – their proven ally in 1971. Pakistan is shielded from criticism because acknowledging its crimes would inevitably implicate Jamaat itself.
The irony is stark. Forces that rejected the very idea of Bangladesh and fought against its birth through violence and collaboration now organise programmes on Martyred Intellectuals Day and speak the language of national mourning. Such performances ring hollow because they are accompanied by denial of responsibility and contempt for historical truth. Celebrating Victory Day while questioning the legitimacy of the victory, praising freedom fighters while undermining their legacy, is not reconciliation – it is mockery.
In a recent talk show, New Age editor Nurul Kabir rightly pointed out that driven by a crude lust for power, Jamaat is belittling Islam while simultaneously distorting the country’s history. He warned that a politically destructive force is clearly at work and must be confronted both politically and culturally. Failure to do so, he argued, would amount to a betrayal of the millions who sacrificed their lives for the Liberation War and for the ideals of justice and equality.
Kabir further observed that the Jamaat leadership, devoid of moral accountability, neither admits its crimes nor seeks forgiveness. Instead, it shifts blame onto others – particularly India. Such deflection, he argued, constitutes not only political dishonesty but also hypocrisy and an anti-Islamic act.
Jamaat itself might not have imagined of this reality 16 months ago. Following changes in the political landscape last year and aided by the strategic failures of other political parties Jamaat has gained upper hand. Its resurgence has occurred in direct opposition to the spirit and aspirations of the Liberation War.
Credit for this, however, does not rest with Jamaat alone. Sheikh Hasina and her party Awami League bear significant blame for reducing the Liberation War into a partisan and familial possession, cynically exploiting it for political mileage. After her fall last year, Jamaat and like-minded ideological forces fully capitalised on the vacuum, seeking to reverse historically established truths.
But the people of Bangladesh are not as forgetful or naïve as these actors assume. Collective memory, especially of trauma and sacrifice – does not disappear easily. Attempts to sanitise or reverse history may generate temporary noise, but they cannot erase the moral clarity of 1971.
