By Alam Rind
Fall of Dhaka on December 16, 1971 left a deep scar on the souls of Pakistanis that probably won’t fill up in centuries. It is not so because the people of formal East Pakistan got separated and Bangladesh came into being; it was the manner in which all this took place. This episode can only be attributed to the failure of the leadership and their inaptness as statesmen. Economic fragmentation that took roots in Ayub era had its toll. Wide spread poverty, unemployment and lack of industrialization and development provided ideal environment for the hostile powers to sow the seeds of secessionism among the people of then East Pakistan.
It is a historic fact that Shaikh Mujibur Rahman had sought help from Indian Government to effect secession. He publicly conceded this fact in front of a huge gathering in his address on 7th June, 1972 at Ramna Race Course now Suhrawardy Udyan of Dhaka. Naeem Hasan in Mujib’s Bangladesh in the Eyes of Foreign Journalist (London 1977) had quoted the daughter of Shaikh Mujibur Rahman, Shaikh Hasina Wajid (present Prime Minister of Bangladesh) that Mujib had visited Agartala in 1962 to organize help from India for secession of East Pakistan. Similar facts were also reported by an ex-MP Abdul Razzak in an interview given to weekly Meghna in September 1995. That establishes Agartala conspiracy as a fact.
It is the same venom against Pakistan that Prime Minister of Bangladesh Shaikh Hasina Wajid has ordered constitution of an International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) to try those Bangladeshis accused of collaboration with Pakistani forces in committing atrocities. It kills two birds with one stone. The ploy has provided her with an opportunity to take vengeance from political opponents while defaming and maligning Pakistan Armed Forces of carnage during 1971 war. Reportedly, so far only seven individuals have been arrested, two from the main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party and five from Jamaat-e-Islami. Though there are serious reservations regarding capacity and impartiality of the judicial tribunal, yet, it will serve the purpose of Awami League government.
Along with Indians they have been harping for last over thirty years that more than three million people were killed in the conflict and hundreds of thousands of women were raped by Pakistani soldiers. Most of the people in Bangladesh and other parts of the world may believe this but the facts are quite contrary.
A recent book written by Sarmila Bose an Indian research scholar dubs this notion as a “narrative of the victorious side.” It was part of propaganda that suited Awami League as well as Indians. The carnage was unleashed by Indian trained Mukti Bahinis. They initially operated along the border with India and gradually penetrated deep into then East Pakistan. They brutally massacred Bayharies and other Bangalis those who were supporting united Pakistan. These illegitimate sons of the soil continued to perpetrate crimes against their own kinsmen with the brutality that matches that of terrorists, while Indian and global media continued to apportion blame on to Pakistan Army.
It is tragic that we often forget the valiance and courage with which Pakistani solders fought in East Pakistan. They were confronted with insurmountable odds while being highly diluted and resource constrained. In those difficult conditions they had almost defeated Mukti Bahinis. Indian intervention came once Indians realized that Mukti Bahinis will not be able to achieve the objective of separation of East Pakistan. Pakistani troops deployed for internal security duties were degraded to the extent that they could not change their posture with the required swiftness to check Indian onslaught. General Niazi was confronted with a difficult decision. Reinforcement was not insight and continuation of war would have meant inhalation of men under his command. His decision to surrender under no circumstances denudes Pakistani men in uniform of their high morale ascendancy and valour. Indian duplicity and propaganda has been aptly exposed by Sarmila Bose where she maintains that empirical evidence doesn’t support the claims of excesses by Pakistani troops as harped by the propagandists.
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