Justice Delayed....

        Today’s newspaper report brought a sigh of relief to me and millions of like-minded people across the globe. Two Khmer Rouge leaders are jailed for life. The criminals are Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea who, together with Pol Pot organized a reign of terror in Cambodia for four years from 1975 to ’79. They could, on false promises and threat of violence, move the inhabitants of entire cities, deny them food, clothing, shelter and medicine and annihilate two million people, 25% of the country’s population. Brother No.1 Pol Pot died in captivity after his fall from power and these two of his compatriots survived. International community and the UN dragged their feet for thirty five years to bring these criminals to justice. The Judge yesterday pronounced that they were “guilty of crimes against humanity, of extermination,… political persecution and other inhuman acts.”

During the reign of terror news used to leak out through the Western media like Time, Newsweek, Guardian etc.  One picture had been haunting me ever since, that of a young boy of about ten years standing on the edge of a long ditch with a noose around his neck. That picture was taken a few seconds before the boy was pushed into the ditch and “executed”. His crime was that his parents were teachers, intellectuals, doctors …at least city dwellers. Khmer Rouge (This means Red Khmer in French) took care to ensure that entire families and even distant relatives of “class enemies” were selected and murdered. Nuon Chea said that this was to avoid possible vengeance in future. Gruesome tales of pregnant women whose stomach is cut open with a knife before smashing the baby and cutting the woman’s throat were reported by eye witnesses in many killing fields.

        City dwellers were, at gun point moved to distant villages with no personal possessions whatever. They had to work in the paddy fields for twelve hours a day with a spoonful of gruel as food ration. In most paces inadequate quantity of salt was rationed once a week. Denial of salt was one form of harassment practiced by the cadres who were trained in inhuman acts and cruelty.  Large number of people were sent to prisons like the notorious S-21 where they died of torture and starvation. It took four years before there was an uprising against this reign of terror. Pol Pot’s ethnic cleansing included Chinese, Muslims and large number of Vietnamese just across the border. Pol Pot ordered that all Easterners who had Cambodian bodies and Vietnamese mind should be killed. They were given a blue scarf to wear for easy identification. Refugees fled to Vietnam. Cambodia launched an attack on Vietnam across the border. Pol Pot’s arithmetic was that one Cambodian could kill 30 Vietnamese and they are destined to win.

        The dissidents and Vietnamese forces swept across Cambodia and liberated the people in less than a week. Some of the top brass escaped to Thailand where they were arrested.

        There was criminal negligence on the part of UN and the big powers in meting out justice. These two criminals who supervised the carnage were Deputy Prime Minister Nuon Chea (Brother No.2) and President Khieu Samphan.  Surviving victims of the reign waiting in front of the court in Phnom Penh applauded the verdict in jubilation.

        In June 2014, I visited Cambodia and saw the killing fields and the genocide museum where skulls and bones of victims are displayed (see my FB posts and flickr). As Pol Pot considered bullets too expensive most of the killing was done by sticks and agricultural implements. Palm tree stalks were very popular among Khmer Rouge’s executioners.

        Justice delayed is Justice denied. There is some solace that these two top criminals are now jailed. More verdicts on killers are expected.