出生在毁灭的路上

NEARLY 40 years after perhaps 3m people died in Bangladesh’s war of secession from Pakistan, the government insists retribution is looming for those guilty of war crimes. Three months ago the government, led by the Awami League, of Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, set up a war-crimes tribunal to try alleged perpetrators. This was one of the League’s main promises in the campaign for the election that it won in a landslide in December 2008. Many Bangladeshis, however, still doubt that the promise will be kept.
大约40年前，孟加拉国脱离巴基斯坦引发的战争导致了近300万人的死亡，而如今40年过去了，孟加拉政府坚持要对那些犯下战争罪行的人实行惩罚。三个月前，由国家首相塞克哈•哈希娜的阿瓦米联盟党领导的国家政府，建立起了一个战争罪行法庭来审判那些有犯罪嫌疑的人。在去年十二月的选举中，这也是阿瓦米联盟党以绝对优势赢得选举所做出的一个重要承诺。然而，许多孟加拉人仍不敢确定政府是否能信守诺言。

Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, became independent in December 1971 after a nine-month war against West Pakistan. The West’s army had the support of many of East Pakistan’s Islamist parties. They included Jamaat-e-Islami, still Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, which has a student wing that manned a pro-army paramilitary body, called Al Badr. It is these collaborators the government wants to try, not the main culprits in the former West Pakistan army.
孟加拉国（以前是东巴基斯坦）在与西巴基斯坦经历了长达九个月的战争之后，于1971年4月1日宣布国家独立的。当时的西部军拥有东部许多伊斯兰政党的支持，其中的一个学生党羽就操控着一个亲军队的准军事机构，叫做阿巴达（Al Badr）。孟加拉国政府想要审判的就是这些通敌分子，儿不是西巴基斯坦军队里的重要战争罪犯。更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

As far as the League and many citizens are concerned, this is a simple matter of validating the historical truth, which included appalling massacres and a concerted drive to wipe out the new nation’s intelligentsia. In 1995 a self-appointed panel of eminent citizens, co-ordinated by the current law minister, Shafique Ahmed, compiled “evidence” on individuals they accused of war crimes. The list includes many of the most senior figures in Jamaat-e-Islami. So far, no one has been charged, but the government has banned roughly 50 suspects from leaving the country. This week three senior Jamaat leaders were arrested on unrelated charges. To the opposition this smacked of petty harassment.
对联盟党以及许多公民而言，这是一种很简单的行为，即重申历史的真相，其中还包括了一些骇人听闻的大屠杀以及多方合谋要铲除新国家的知识分子阶层。1995年，在现在司法部长撒菲克•阿曼德的协助下，社会精英市民们自行成立的专门小组编撰了他们指责的犯下战争罪行的人的“种种证据”。这个名单包括了Jamaat-e-Islami政党中的许多最高层的人物。到目前为止，没有任何人受到指控，但孟加拉政府已经对大约50位嫌疑人下达了禁令，禁止他们离开这个国家。对反对党而言，这种行为简直就是对人的一种折磨，卑鄙低劣。

The United Nations and Western governments are wary of lending support to a tribunal unless it conforms to international standards of due process. But without foreign funds and technical support, those standards are unlikely to be met. Technical disputes over the process, however, mask a more fundamental worry: that in hunting those with four-decade-old blood on their hands, Sheikh Hasina is conveniently hounding her enemies. If the trials confirm the conclusions of the 1995 inquiry, the outcome might conceivably be the execution of nearly all of Jamaat’s leaders.
联合国与西方国家政府对于给这种法庭提供支持表现得特别谨慎，除非该法庭能符合国际正规程序的标准。但是如果没有外国的资金与技术支持，这些标准就不大可能达到。然而，有关法庭程序的司法争议也暗示着一个更为重要的担忧，即在搜捕那些在四十年前双手沾满血腥的凶手的过程中，塞克哈•哈希娜正在悠闲自得地逐步肃清其政敌。如果审判肯定了1995年质询的结论，那么其结果就极有可能是对几乎所有Jamaat政党的领导人实行处决。

Posing perhaps an even bigger obstacle than Western scruples is Saudi Arabia, which sells its oil to Bangladesh at subsidised prices and employs more than 2m of its citizens. It is concerned about plans to reinstate the country’s 1972 constitution, with four “pillars” that include secularism (the others are nationalism, socialism and democracy). Saudi Arabia recognised Bangladesh as an independent country a few months after the assassination in 1975 of the country’s first prime minister, Sheikh Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. That paved the way for a return of religion-based parties, banned by the 1972 constitution. So reinstating and enforcing that original constitution might amount to an outright ban on Jamaat, the standard-bearer in Bangladesh for a conservative strain of Islam, and a staunch Saudi ally.
比西方国家表现出更加担忧的是沙特阿拉伯，该国以低价向孟加拉出售其原油，并雇用了孟加拉200万员工。让沙特担忧的是孟加拉恢复国家1972年宪法的计划，并实行包括宗教与教育分离论的四大“主义”（其它三个则是国家主义、社会主义以及民主主义）。1975年，孟加拉的首任首相（塞克哈•哈希娜的父亲）塞克哈•穆吉博•拉曼被暗杀死亡，数月之后，沙特阿拉伯承认了孟加拉国的独立主权。这为1972年宪法禁止的区域政治政党的回归铺平了道路。因此，恢复并强制实行最初的宪法可能导致对Jamaat政党实行完成禁止，而该党派在孟加拉却是伊斯兰的保守党宗族，也是沙特阿拉伯的一个坚定盟友。

As for war-crimes trials, Mr Ahmed says Saudi Arabia has given the “green light”. Indeed, it has denied allegations that it opposes them. But the number of Bangladeshis taking up jobs in Saudi Arabia has dropped to under 800 a month, down from an average of 11,000 in 2008 and 17,000 in 2007. Not everyone blames the economic downturn.
至于战争罪行的审判，阿曼德先生讲道，沙特阿拉伯为他们开了“绿灯”。的确，沙特否认了针对他们的种种断言。但孟加拉人在沙特阿拉伯的从业人数却减少到了每月800人以下，而2008年的月平均从业人数在11000人，2007年在17000人。并不是每个人都会去怪罪经济萧条。