Copyright: Arif Hafiz

Since the past few weeks, the youth in Bangladesh have been protesting against war criminals and demanding justice for the victims of 1971. Bangladeshi blogger Paula Aziz says, the movement is an awakening of the masses.

In 1971, during Bangladesh’s war of independence, when Pakistani troops had laid siege on the city of Dhaka, one man allegedly gunned down 344 people and raped a young girl. He was Abdul Qader Molla, the man who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Bangladeshi war crimes tribunal on February 5 this year. Thousands of women and men have gathered to protest against the government’s decision in Shahbag in Dhaka and many more protest demonstrations are being organized abroad by non-resident Bangladeshis in a movement that may just redefine Bangladesh’s identity as a nation.

One year after the Bangladesh Supreme Court issued an order criticizing the government for failing to protect it citizens, there has not been a great deal of change, criticize women’s rights groups.