Dhaka, Mar. 23: The Bangladesh Government has banned people suspected of war crimes during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan from travelling abroad.

It says these people, who are accused of collaborating with Pakistani troops, will face war crime trials.

Among them are leaders of the largest religious party Jamaat-i-Islami - a rival of the ruling Awami League, the BBC reports.

The Awami League-led government, which came to power in December, says it wants to punish those who helped the Pakistan army''s brutal attempt to hang on to what was then Pakistan''s eastern province.

The government says some three million civilians died and 200,000 women were raped in 1971.

Awami League supporters say the government''s pledge is the last chance for the generation which lived through the war to see justice. (ANI)