Govt and military owe India an authentic history of the 1971 Bangladesh War. Rest is mythology

[El Sidd]

I think you are mostly right, bengali muslims wanted independent sovereignty but a united bengal as separation between East and west spelled hardship for many.

The hardship still continues. Only a United Bengal can bring human development in the region.

 

[F-6 enthusiast]

What has Muslim league to do with Bangladesh?

 

[Tom-tom]

Who are these gentlemen and their significance?

The guy at the bottom looks familiar I think I seen him in a article

 

[F-6 enthusiast]

Who are these gentlemen and their significance?

The guy at the bottom looks familiar I think I seen him in a article

from top to bottom
Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani - Wikipedia
Peasant Leader- known for his fiery speeches against zamindars, elites. he was a personal friend of Zhou en Lai ( former Premier of China). Ideology: Islam and socialism.

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy - Wikipedia
Bengali politician. Former prime minister of Pakistan. ideology- Free market Capitalism. Instrumental in us getting bengal as a separate entity from west bengal. Forged stronger ties with USA-western world.

in the picture above he is addressing US congress as PM of Pakistan.




A. K. Fazlul Huq - Wikipedia
He was the person who put forward the Lahore resolution.
Given the title Sher-e-Bangla. Governor of Bengal. Social Democrat
What can be said about him ? this what M.A. Jinnah thought of him.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah remarked "When the tiger (Huq) arrives, the lamb (Jinnah) must give away".[12]

 

[Bilal9]

Suhrawardy at an early episode of "Face the Nation" in Washington DC - look at how he negotiated with Eisenhower and how he couches his words used - so carefully. Mark of his training and upbringing. He knew what was at stake about the support of the US for Pakistan even then, which did not unfortunately stand the test of time. It's too bad that the new FM Bhutto (in Ayub Khan's cabinet) vilified him (and to some accounts caused his loss of life).

 

[The Ronin]

I dont understand your point about shelling on the border. That happens so much between Pakistan and India that its almost natural.

Talking about the shelling on Mukti Bahini positions/camp near the boder in India. I remember reading one camp had to be relocated cause the shelling was too close.

Regarding 93k soldiers being pow...

93,000 Pakistani soldiers did not surrender in 1971 because....?

Dr. Junaid Ahmad| December 16, 1971, was an ominous day for Pakistan, because the Pakistani army’s scattered divisions sandwiched between an internal insurgency supported by Indian war machine and Indian army columns finally decided to surrender. To this day popular imagination and rhetoric is...

www.globalvillagespace.com

Yes, looks like the combined number of POW is 90k actually. Though neutral sources suggest the number of army personnel are 54k or less in 90k POW. Surprised that many of us never bother to check the numbers even though it was right before me. Probably because no one bothers to mention the numbers separately and number of POW became number of surrendered soldiers as time passed including India and BD's glorification. Thank you for bringing it up.

 

[Tornado23]

Talking about the shelling on Mukti Bahini positions/camp near the boder in India. I remember reading one camp had to be relocated cause the shelling was too close.



Yes, looks like the combined number of POW is 90k actually. Though neutral sources suggest the number of army personnel are 54k or less in 90k POW. Surprised that many of us never bother to check the numbers even though it was right before me. Probably because no one bothers to mention the numbers separately and number of POW became number of surrendered soldiers as time passed including India and BD's glorification. Thank you for bringing it up.

The MB camp had to be relocated?

Also the figures for armed personnel in EP was 34k-40k max. 55k was including non combatants. Thats excluding the KIA, MIA and escaped figure.

 

[The Ronin]

The MB camp had to be relocated?

Yup further inside Meghalaya. Even when there's was an attack by Mukti Bahini, they were called Indian miscreants in East Pakistani radio. Specially when Pakistani army arrested some people including Crack Platoon members in August/September. There's was arrest of Indian troops in Sylhet on 30th April and there was "Crush India" stickers on vehicles by the end of September. It wasn't a secret that India was involved after March.

Also the figures for armed personnel in EP was 34k-40k max. 55k was including non combatants. Thats excluding the KIA, MIA and escaped figure.

Well, i'll have to disagree on that. The number varies from one source to another. I certainly wouldn't trust Pakistani sources. Not only for the obvious reason but these officers were controversial even among Pakistani military for the blame game, denial of their war crime and BS claim. Specially Niazi, this guy even said he would fight till last man and won't surrender but he did it anyway though Pakistan could prolong the war for another month. So we have to rely on neutral source like usual.

• First of all the article you provided only focused on the number of ARMY soldiers. None of the references or the writer give an exact number of other forces which were combat-capable. Possibly because they were not directly involved with other forces. Doesn't look like the writer did thorough research.
• According to Hamoodur Rahman Commission report there were 26000+ army soldiers present in Dhaka cantonment during the surrender on 16th December. So it makes no sense that there were only 14000 army soldiers in other places. Also more troops and arms came before Operation Searchlight and during war (Swat ship incident). There were still some parts of Bangladesh wasn't liberated like Mirpur, Shiromoni. According to Tom Cooper there was 4 Pakistan army divisions in BD. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606195040/http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_326.shtml
• According to "A History of the Pakistan Army: Wars and Insurrections" by Brian Cloughley, among the POWs 55,692 were Army, 16,354 Paramilitary, 5,296 Police, 1000 Navy and 800 PAF. The remaining 13,324 prisoners were civilians - either family members of the military personnel or Bihari Razarkars.
• In "Mainsprings of Indian and Pakistani Foreign Policies", S.M Burke showed this number.
  
• And this report published in 1973 suggest there was 20000 civilians among POWs. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1973/4/18/in-pakistan-the-pow-struggle-goes/
• The best source could've been this document of POW transfer ⤵ which is probably included in Hamoodur Rahman Commission and POW Investigation Commission report. It looks like the POW were listed with their rank ⤵. And the soldiers had their uniform and military kit. So i guess there's no scope in doubting that document.

So looks like Brian Cloughley and S.M Burke provides more details about the POW. Judging by the neutral sources the number of uniformed personnel were between 70K-78K. Wish i had more sources like Brian Cloughley and S.M Burke.

 

[Viking 63]

It is exhausting that we are still debating 71 war- Guys move on !!

 

[Maira La]

Imagine IoK being on the Western side of Pakistan, separated from mainland India, and the entire Kashmiri population (both Muslim and Hindu) rising up against Indian rule. That's the sort of situation Pakistan faced.

MB's victory was inevitable, with or without India's support. My father and uncles fought in the war so I know what I'm talking about.

 

[M. Sarmad]

.... Muslim league. Its inception in Dhaka rather than somewhere in todays india or pakistan is a testament to the origination of idea of muslim sovereignty being solely Bengali Muslim in origin.

Just cause others jumped in the bandwagon later does not change the facts on the ground.

Not true.

In February 1906, Mian Fazl-i-Husain established a Muslim association in Punjab by the name of "Muslim League"

Sir Muhammad Shafi and Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk also created a provincial Muslim Association in Punjab

All India Muslim League was founded later, in Dec 1906 in Dhaka at the occasion of the annual All India Muhammadan Educational Conference, It was participated by the Muslim leaders from Punjab, including Mian Fazl-i-Hussain and Muhammad Shafi. The league created by Sir Shafi was recognized by the Central Muslim League as a branch of the All India Muslim League