Talk:Operation Searchlight

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[edit] Scope

As far as I know, the Operation Searchlight was the crackdown initiated on March 25, 1971. It did not cover the whole war. For references, see Major Siddiq Salique's book "Witness to surrender". --Ragib 15:42, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Death toll

The main article on Bangladesh states: 'Rough estimates of those massacred range from several hundred thousand to 3 million', whereas only the figure 3 million is given here. I am not personally familiar with attempts to arrive at a definitive figure, so I'll leave it unchanged, but if someone with better knowledge could attend to it, that would be much appreciated. --Benwilson528 13:35, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

See here. There is no definitive number, but most estimates agree on a number between 1 million and 1.5 million. The 3 million number is an upper limit. Thanks. --Ragib 16:20, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV

To state that it was a Genocide in the first sentence is not a WP:NPOV.

This article does not cite its sources. Further as there have not been any trials (but see Raymond Faisal Solaiman v People's Republic of Bangladesh & Ors)it can only be an alleged genocide if a genocide at all. Please see the article Genocide, it is not at all clear that even if the top figure of three million were killed that it would qualify as a Genocide as the "in part" would not be reached. The only way that this could be considered a genocide is if those targeted were "emblematic of the overall group, or is essential to its survival", but that Bangladesh was created and has survived it would suggest that the group killed were not. --Philip Baird Shearer 14:19, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

So a death cannot be a murder until someone is prosecuted for it? Or the genocide in Serbia didnt exist because a large enough part of the various communities werent killed? Removing Neutrality tag, have fun and please post with something more than sophistry next time. Also see [1] --89.100.1.161 18:07, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

See Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic - Appeals Chamber - Judgment - IT-98-33 (2004) ICTY 7 (19 April 2004) the massacre of Muslim men was defined as a genocide by an international tribunal. The tribunal did define the Srebrenica massacre as a genocidal act. Genocide has a specific set of criteria defining it and it is not at all clear that this operation can be defined as an itent to commit genocide (see for example Genocide#In part) the plan to kill 3 million -- which is an alledged number -- out of the total population of East Pakistan is not enough for it to be a planned genocide. I am aware of the Allegations of genocide in that article, because I spent several months working on the atrocities section of that article. Notice it says "allegations of gencide" not "genocide". --Philip Baird Shearer 20:12, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Yet again you ignore the point, no where does it mention that anyone was convicted of genocide or that people were indicted on it, Genocide as a word and genocide as a crime are different, just as murder and many other terms that have both legal and common-use definitions are. Stop with the pointless sophistry and straw mans. --89.100.1.161 11:49, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

This is not a blog page it is an encyclopedia article. The word has to carry precise meaning if the encyclopedia is to remain credible. Your argument would carry more weight if the word "genocide" was not linked to the article genocide which states "Genocide is a term defined by Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) as ...". Please read WP:NPOV because a first sentence in an article that stats "Operation Searchlight was a planned genocide carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in erstwhile East Pakistan in 1971." is in clear violation of that Wikipedia policy--Philip Baird Shearer 12:29, 21 November 2006 (UTC)