US House calls for recognition of 1971 genocide in Bangladesh
A resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives calls for formal recognition of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, bringing renewed attention to atrocities committed by Pakistani forces.
The resolution calls on the President of the United States to recognise 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.
On the night of March 25, 1971, the government of Pakistan imprisoned Bangabandhu 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.
Submitted on March 20, 2026 by Democratic Congressman Greg Landsman of Ohio and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the resolution outlines historical events leading up to and during the 1971 Liberation War, citing widespread killings, sexual violence, and targeted persecution of religious minorities.
The resolution cites documented accounts from US officials, journalists, and international bodies.
The resolution says the House of Representatives condemns the atrocities committed by the Armed Forces of Pakistan against the people of Bangladesh on March 25, 1971; 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; recognizes that entire ethnic groups or religious communities are not responsible for the crimes committed by their members; and
The resolution refers to a study by the Secretariat of the International Commission of Jurists which concluded there was “overwhelming evidence” of targeted killings based on religious identity.
Source: UNB