H.Res. 1130

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1130 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1130

Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971 and protection of religious 
minorities in Bangladesh.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 20, 2026

Mr. Landsman submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

RESOLUTION

Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971 and protection of religious 
minorities in Bangladesh.

Whereas, in August 1947, British rule in India ended, creating the 2 independent 
sovereign countries of India and Pakistan, the latter of which included 
the noncontiguous regions of West Pakistan (Pakistan) and East Pakistan 
(Bangladesh), then known as East Bengal;
Whereas the Pakistani ruling elite was comprised overwhelmingly of Punjabi West 
Pakistanis who concentrated the country's resources and development 
efforts in West Pakistan;
Whereas West Pakistani officials harbored well-documented anti-Bengali 
sentiment, considering Bengalis to be a lesser people;
Whereas, during national elections held in 1970, the Awami League, led by Sheikh 
Mujibur Rahman, won a majority in Parliament on a platform of autonomy 
for East Pakistan;
Whereas negotiations to form a government among the Pakistani President, General 
Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan 
People's Party, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman failed;
Whereas, on the night of March 25, 1971, the Government of Pakistan imprisoned 
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and Pakistani military units, in conjunction with 
radical Islamist groups inspired by the ideology of Jamaat-e-Islami, 
began a general crackdown throughout East Pakistan code-named 
``Operation Searchlight'' that involved widespread massacres of 
civilians;
Whereas, while estimates of the number of those killed in these atrocities vary, 
the most reliable are in the range of tens to hundreds of thousands of 
people killed;
Whereas over 200,000 women were raped and, due to stigma, the full number will 
likely never be known, nor the victims remembered;
Whereas, in a column on June 13, 1971, for the Sunday Times, titled 
``Genocide'', journalist Anthony Mascarenhas wrote, ``When the army 
units fanned out in Dacca on the evening of March 25 many of them 
carried lists of people to be liquidated'';
Whereas, on March 28, 1971, United States Consul General in Dacca, Archer Blood, 
sent a telegram to Washington titled ``Selective Genocide'', in which he 
wrote, ``Moreover, with support of Pak military, non-Bengali Muslims are 
systematically attacking poor people's quarters and murdering Bengalis 
and Hindus'';
Whereas, on April 6, 1971, in what became known as the ``Blood Telegram'', 
Consul General Blood sent an objection to the official United States 
Government silence on the conflict, signed by 20 members of the United 
States diplomatic staff of Consulate General Dacca, which reads in part, 
``But we have chosen not to intervene, even morally, on the grounds that 
the Awami conflict, in which unfortunately the overworked term genocide 
is applicable, is purely internal matter of a sovereign state. Private 
Americans have expressed disgust'' and in which objection Blood 
concurred;
Whereas, on April 8, 1971, Consul General Blood sent another telegram which 
states in part, ```Genocide' applies fully to [this] naked, calculated 
and widespread selection of Hindus for special treatment . . .'';
Whereas Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's 
Subcommittee To Investigate Problems Connected with Refugees and 
Escapees, published a report to the Committee on November 1, 1971, which 
states ``Nothing is more clear, or more easily documented, than the 
systematic campaign of terror--and its genocidal consequences--launched 
by the Pakistan army on the night of March 25th. Field reports to the 
U.S. Government, countless eye-witness journalistic accounts, reports of 
international agencies such as the World Bank, and additional 
information available to the Subcommittee document the continuing reign 
of terror which grips East Bengal. Hardest hit have been members of the 
Hindu community who have been robbed of their lands and shops, 
systematically slaughtered, and, in some places, painted with yellow 
patches marked `H'. All of this has been officially sanctioned, ordered, 
and implemented under martial law from Islamabad'';
Whereas, in a legal study published in 1972 titled ``The Events in East 
Pakistan'', the Secretariat of the International Commission of Jurists 
states ``There is overwhelming evidence that Hindus were slaughtered, 
and their houses and villages destroyed simply because they were 
Hindus'';
Whereas the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 
Crime of Genocide declares that genocide ``means any of the following 
acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a 
national, ethnical, racial, or religious group''; and
Whereas it is of the utmost importance to recall and document crimes against 
humanity, war crimes, and genocide for the sake of posterity, to 
preserve the memory of the victims, and to deter future atrocities: Now, 
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns the atrocities committed by the Armed Forces 
of Pakistan against the people of Bangladesh on March 25, 1971;
(2) recognizes that while the Pakistani Army and its 
Islamist allies indiscriminately mass-murdered ethnic Bengalis 
regardless of their religion and gender, killed their political 
leaders, intellectuals, professionals, and students, and forced 
tens of thousands of women to serve as their sex slaves, they 
specifically targeted the religious minority Hindus for 
extermination through mass slaughtering, gang rape, conversion, 
and forcible expulsion;
(3) recognizes that entire ethnic groups or religious 
communities are not responsible for the crimes committed by 
their members; and
(4) calls on the President of the United States to 
recognize the atrocities committed against ethnic Bengali 
Hindus by the Armed Forces of Pakistan during 1971 and its 
allies in the Jamaat-e-Islami as crimes against humanity, war 
crimes, and genocide.
<all>