BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//sebbo.net//ical-generator//EN URL:https://lectures.london/london-school-of-economics/citizens-to-traitor s-bengali-internment-in-pakistan-19711974/calender.ics NAME:Lectures London X-WR-CALNAME:Lectures London TIMEZONE-ID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:fccbd7d2-1059-4ced-be5b-0913ce74d66d SEQUENCE:0 DTSTAMP:20260515T070242 DTSTART:20260520T140000 DTEND:20260520T153000 SUMMARY:Citizens to traitors: Bengali internment in Pakistan\, 1971–1974 LOCATION:London School of Economics: In-person public event (Wolfson Theat re\, Cheng Kin Ku Building) DESCRIPTION:Wednesday 20 May 2026 3pm - 4.30pmSpeakersIlyas Ahmad ChatthaN ayanika MookherjeeDina M. SiddiqiChairDr Mahvish AhmadThis talk explains a n overlooked aspect of the 1971 Bangladesh War by focusing on the mass int ernment of Bengali civilians in West Pakistan.It considers how hundreds of thousands of Bengalis were recast as internal enemies\, and how suspicion s of treason redefined citizenship without belonging and legitimised mass nonjudicial punishment through internment. By engaging these themes\, the talk examines how wartime governance reshapes the boundaries of citizenshi p and sovereignty\, explaining how states mobilise suspicion to redefine i nclusion and exclusion during periods of political upheaval.Meet our speak ers and chairIlyas Chattha teaches History at LUMS and is the author of Ci tizens to Traitors: Bengali Internment in Pakistan\, 1971–1974 (Cambridg e\, 2025)\; The Punjab Borderland (Cambridge\, 2022)\; and Partition and L ocality (Oxford\, 2012)\; his upcoming project is on the Evacuee & Enemy P roperty in South Asia.Nayanika Mookherjee is a Professor of Political Anth ropology in Durham University and Co-Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies. She was awarded the 2025 Rivers Memorial Medal for outstanding c ontributions to anthropology\, with an emphasis on fieldwork and a signifi cant body of theoretical literature. Her recent publication includes the e dited book "On Irreconciliation" (2022) and she was invited to deliver the 2023 Firth lecture on this theme at the ASA nnual conference. Based on he r widely-reviewed and acclaimed book The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence\, Public Memories and the Bangladesh War of 1971\, in 2019 she co-authored a graphic novel and animation film: Birangona and ethical testimonies of s exual violence during conflict (funded by ESRC) and received the 2019 Prax is Award. She has published extensively on anthropology of violence\, ethi cs\, memorialisation and aesthetics and research on gendered violence duri ng wars\, debates on irreconciliation and transnational adoption. Her work on Irreconciliation has been extended by scholars to various theoretical frameworks of that of repair\, climate change\, mental health\, adoption a nd studies of various forms of authoritarianisms and post-authoritarianism s. Drawing on her research on memorialisation\, she is co-leading a projec t on Durham’s Black History\, which has developed a walking tour in coll aboration with Durham Cathedral. It explores the relationship between Durh am’s history of enslavement\, mining and imperialism. She is finalising her manuscript Arts of Irreconciliation and continuing her research on tra nsnational adoption and the Bangladesh War.Dina M. Siddiqi is Clinical Pro fessor in Liberal Studies at New York University. A cultural anthropologis t by training\, her research puts into conversation critical development s tudies\, transnational feminist theory\, and the anthropology of Islam and labor. She has published extensively on garment supply chains and the cul tural politics of Islam\, gender\, and nationalism in Bangladesh. Her publ ications are available on https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dina-Siddiq i. Siddiqi sits on the editorial boards of Contemporary South Asia\, Diale ctical Anthropology\, Asian Anthropology\, and the Journal of Bangladesh S tudies. She is on the Executive Committee of the American Institute of Ban gladesh Studies (AIBS)\, and an Advisory Council member of the South Asian feminist network\, Sangat. Until recently\, she served on the board of Sa khi for South Asian Survivors. She has frequently collaborated with Bangla deshi human rights organizations including Ain o Salish Kendra\, Nagorik U ddyog\, and Bangladesh Legal and Services Trust (BLAST). Siddiqi is curren tly working on a book provisionally entitled Garment Nation: Muslim Women\ , Industrial Labor\, and the Intimacies of Capital in Bangladesh.Mahvish A hmad is an Assistant Professor in Human Rights and Politics. Before joinin g LSE\, she was an A.W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Human ities Research\, University of the Western Cape. She completed her PhD in Sociology at Cambridge. Earlier\, Mahvish was a journalist covering milita ry and insurgent violence in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region\, and co-foun ded the bilingual Urdu/English magazine Tanqeed with Madiha Tahir.From tim e to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the da y of the event.Whilst we are hosting this listing\, LSE Events does not ta ke responsibility for the running and administration of this event. While we take responsible measures to ensure that accurate information is given here this event is ultimately the responsibility of the organisation prese nting the event.LSE holds a wide range of events\, covering many of the mo st controversial issues of the day\, and speakers at our events may expres s views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science. URL;VALUE=URI:https://www.lse.ac.uk/sociology/events/2026/citizens-to-trai tors END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR