Indian journalist’s book launched in Lahore

LAHORE: A session held at 2nd day of Lahore Literary Festival at Alhamra Art Center on Saturday was addressed, among others, by Salil Tripati, the Indian journalist and writer of a book on Bangladesh.
The session was titled “An Interview with Bangladeshi History-Book Launch: The Colonel Who Would Not Repent” and moderated by Taimur Rehman with the speakers Salil Tripathi, Hina Jilani and Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi.
Tripathi gave an overview of the tragedy based on his encounters with those who were directly affected by it.
On a question that how a writer relying on his childhood memories can be objective, he said that he did not use his memories as a primary or secondary sources. He explained that he visited the victims and archives, documents etc for writing the book.
Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi, a Bengali poet and women rights activist, also narrated the woes of the victims. On a question about the rapes committed by Mukti Bahini, Sadaf said that Bengali writers themselves had written a lot about those in Bengali. She said that the whole thing that happened during that period is a tragedy.
Hina Jilani, an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a human-rights activist from Lahore, stressed the need for taking measures so that such tragic happenings do not occur in future.