Mascarenhas' 1971 "GENOCIDE" Story Biased All Media Coverage of East Pakistan

[Jacob Martin]

the worst thing is no country in the world recognize this genocide or massacre not even US

Taken from the Wikipedia entry:

Time reported a high US official as saying "It is the most incredible, calculated thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland."[152] Genocide is the term that is used to describe the event in almost every major publication and newspaper in Bangladesh,[153][154]and is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group"[155]

President Richard Nixon viewed Pakistan as a cold war ally and refused to condemn its actions. From the White House tapes "The President seems to be making sure that the distrusted State Department would not, on its own, condemn Yahya for killing Bengalis".[75] Nixon and China tried to suppress reports of genocide from East Pakistan.[156] Nixon also relied on American disinterest in what was happening in Pakistan, he said "“Biafra stirred up a few Catholics. But you know, I think Biafra stirred people up more than Pakistan, because Pakistan they’re just a bunch of brown goddamn Moslems.”[157]

A 1972 report by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) noted that both sides in the conflict accused each other of perpetrating genocide. The report observed that it may be difficult to substantiate claims that the 'whole of the military action and repressive measures taken by the Pakistani Army and their auxiliary forces constituted genocide' that was intended to destroy the Bengali people in whole or in part, and that 'preventing a nation from attaining political autonomy does not constitute genocide: the intention must be to destroy in whole or in part the people as such'. The difficulty of proving intent was considered to be further complicated by the fact that three specific sections of the Bengali people were targeted in killings committed by the Pakistani Army and their collaborators: members of the Awami League, students, and East Pakistani citizens of the Hindu religion. The report observed, however, that there is a strong prima facie case that particular acts of genocide were committed, especially towards the end of the war, when Bengalis were targeted indiscriminately. Similarly, it was felt that there is a strong prima facie case that crimes of genocide were committed against the Hindu population of East Pakistan.[158]

Please do not do this. The point is not how many people died. Or women raped. The point is not whether the technical term is massacre or genocide. Please do not mock and demean human sensibilities so much that human life itself looses all value and becomes just a pawn for keyboard warriors to play with. It's a sincere request.

 

[Reichsmarschall]

President Richard Nixon viewed Pakistan as a cold war ally and refused to condemn its actions.

President Richard Nixon viewed Pakistan as a cold war ally and refused to condemn its actions.

 

[wiseone2]

Evidence as presented shows there's no comparison between the two situations. What happened in East Pakistan was a civil war incited by India and its proxies followed an invasion by India. There was no civil war in Europe.

Bangladeshi nationalists claims that "three million people were killed, nearly quarter million women were...". These claims have failed the scrutiny of the only serious scholarly researcher Sarmila Bose ever done into the subject. Bose's investigation of the 1971 Bangladeshi narrative began when she saw a picture of the Jessore massacre of April 2, 1971. It showed "bodies lie strewn on the ground. All are adult men, in civilian clothes....The caption of the photo is just as grim as its content: "April 2, 1971: Genocide by the Pakistan Occupation Force at Jessore." Upon closer examination, Bose found that "some of the Jessore bodies were dressed in shalwar kameez ' an indication that they were either West Pakistanis or ‘Biharis’, the non-Bengali East Pakistanis who had migrated from northern India". In Bose's book "Dead Reckoning" she has done case-by-case body count estimates that lead her in the end to estimate that between 50,000 and 100,000 people were killed on all sides, including Bengalis, Biharis, West Pakistanis and others, in 1971 war.

Dr. M. Abdul Mu’min Chowdhury, a Bengali nationalist who actively participated in the separatist cause, in his publication "Behind the Myth of 3 Million", challenges the falsehood. Citing an extensive range of sources to show that what the Pakistani army was carrying out in East Pakistan was a limited counter-insurgency, not genocide, the scholar discloses that after the creation of Bangladesh, the new de facto government offered to pay Taka 2,000 to every family that suffered loss of life but only 3,000 families claimed such compensation. Had there been three million Bengalis dead, a lot more of such families would have come forward. The actual fighting force of Pakistan was 40,000 not 93,000. They were given the responsibility to maintain law and order and protect civilians from the India-backed insurgents of Mukti Bahini. India's Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw praised the professionalism and gallantry of Pakistani soldiers facing the Indian Army's 50:1 advantage in the 1971 war.

Now declassified US State Department transcript of an April 6, 1971 conversation between then Secretary of State William Rogers and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger reveals that the US diplomats in Dhaka were also misled by false media reports of mass graves. Kissinger told Rogers that a reported mass grave of 1,000 dead Bengali victims of "genocide" turned out to be baseless.

http://www.pakalumni.com/profiles/b...ocide-story-biased-all-media-coverage-of-east

the numbers are somewhere in the middle

 

[Shah Khalid]

Do you ever think that Nazi Germany can indulge in HAGGLING
over Holocaust deaths

Whether it was 6 Million or Less

Similarly here too ; it is Bangladesh the victim which has ALL the rights
over the Victim narrative

There are no Mitigating Circumstances what so ever

Yes One Problem Nazis Are No Longer in Power Please Come Back to 2017

 

[Stephen Cohen]

Yes One Problem Nazis Are No Longer in Power Please Come Back to 2017

Ever heard of the word Analogy

You need to go back to school

 

[Shah Khalid]

Quite right.

Does that mean the scope and scale of atrocities on both sides were equal and comparable? NO.

Here Are Pictures of Mukti Bahini Militants Murdering Urdu Speakers

Ever heard of the word Analogy

You need to go back to school

Making An Anology With A Group That No Longer Exists To Tell It's Side Of The Story Ever Heard of The Word Idiocity

BTW My School Is Way Better Than Your Shaka

Kind of like saying, "Six million Jews and German soldiers died in Nazi death camps", isn't it?

Kind Of Like Saying That Half A Million Iraqis and US Soldiers Died In US Invasion of Iraq

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131015-iraq-war-deaths-survey-2013/

 

[Solomon2]

Here Are Pictures of Mukti Bahini Militants -

The problem with individual pictures is that even if the captions are completely truthful - and as we've seen in the thread, all too often they are not - most pictures usually convey only a small scale of events: a photo of an individual atrocity or dead person cannot therefore be extrapolated into the hundreds, thousands, or millions. So official records (as in the Holocaust) or official eyewitness accounts from "friendly" foreigners - like the U.S. diplomats in Dhaka in 1971, or the German Military Mission to Turkey in 1914 - are better sources of mass atrocity info.

Evidence as presented shows there's no comparison between the two situations. What happened in East Pakistan was a civil war incited by India -

You have the right to your own opinion but not your own facts.

Why didn't you research the criticisms of Bose's book?

 

[RiazHaq]

The problem with individual pictures is that even if the captions are completely truthful - and as we've seen in the thread, all too often they are not - most pictures usually convey only a small scale of events: a photo of an individual atrocity or dead person cannot therefore be extrapolated into the hundreds, thousands, or millions. So official records (as in the Holocaust) or official eyewitness accounts from "friendly" foreigners - like the U.S. diplomats in Dhaka in 1971, or the German Military Mission to Turkey in 1914 - are better sources of mass atrocity info.

You have the right to your own opinion but not your own facts.

Why didn't you research the criticisms of Bose's book?

I have looked at several critiques of Bose's books but none of them have done the serious detailed field research, interviewed the alleged perpetrators and the victims and presented these facts in a cogent, rational way. Her arguments are compelling.

SAURABH KUMAR SHAHI | New Delhi, August 20, 2011 17:12
Tags : Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War | Sarmila Bose | india | pakistan | 1971 |

http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/dead-reckoning-memories-of-bangladesh-war/14/20769/

SB: As you know, it is said that history is written by the victors. And it has stood true for every conflict. In that respect, it is not unusual for this conflict too. What is unusual is the length of time that it has taken to take a dispassionate and realistic look to be brought upon this conflict. 40 years is a long time. In fact, it has been decades since I started to do things on this issue. Normally, after a decade or two after the conflict, all the parties try to take a fresh look of the conflict departing form inevitable war propaganda. That is why it is much harder in this case to take a dispassionate look at the case. Another problem in this particular case is that many of the eyewitnesses have died. But better late than never; mine is one contribution in this discussion. I am sure many more books will come that will take a dispassionate and unbiased look at the series of events.

SB: Numbers are not important in a humanitarian point of view. Of course in a war, people will get killed. But the number of people on both the sides who were killed unlawfully, I mean, non-combatants; people without arms etc, these things are crime against humanity. And even one such crime is too much. Numbers are important from a different point of view. If the numbers that has been initially reported differs from what really was, it affects the nature of the event. So the Bangladeshi claim of more than 3 millions Bengali non-combatants killed comes into question. If we talk about millions killed over a year or less than a year, that is a different kind of event from tens of thousands killed. Even this is a big number, but it affects as to what we are looking for. What sorts of event took place? Because the range is so vast and there is extremely huge difference in numbers reported by both sides, there is a need to arrive at some rough idea as to where we are. I found that there is some unnecessary exaggeration by some section of Bangladeshis in number of people killed by the Pakistani Army. Why I say unnecessary is because if the point was to show that army committed atrocities, that can be easily shown by the real number too. You don't need the figure of 3 million to show or prove that. And I have proved that with real figures. Some of the acts they were done are so ghastly that you don't need any exaggeration to prove them. In fact, those who have exaggerated, especially to an absurd level, have actually harmed Bangladesh by undermining even the truth. Thus it is important to keep all these in mind while handling the numbers. The general trend that prevailed was the exaggeration of numbers killed by the other side and minimizing of numbers killed by one's own side. But even that also does not work that ways all the time. Some people gave exaggerated numbers of people they killed as they thought it was something heroic. But I have tried to arrive to a reasonable estimate. The figure of 3 million I found was not arrived at by some systematic accounting. It is based on hearsay. There is exaggeration in every event I have talked about. With a great deal of confidence I can say that close to 100,000 were killed on both sides.

 

[American Pakistani]

the worst thing is no country in the world recognize this genocide or massacre not even US

It is because 20K killed were mutkia terrorists. So nothing is worst.

 

[Jaanbaz]

You fell for it.

I was wondering why Murdoch was even mentioned. After all, he didn't own the paper at the time. Apparently it was to ignite blind hatred in people like yourself.

Did you ever notice, people who have supreme, unquestioning confidence in their righteousness are also the ones most easily manipulated by the hatred-wielding unscrupulous?

Regardless Rupert Murdoch is still a scum bag.

 

[Laughing_soldier]

It is because 20K killed were mutkia terrorists. So nothing is worst.

Thats why Bangladeshi people hates you. @asad71 @TopCat @idune

 

[American Pakistani]

Thats why Bangladeshi people hates you. @asad71 @TopCat @idune

Nobody gives a fk. If hating Pakistan is what they survive on then be it.

 

[Jackdaws]

Perhaps those who have read more can verify. But I did read that Pak soldiers preferred to surrender to Indians than fall in hands of Mukti Bahini. Is this true?

 

[SecularNationalist]

What Happened in East Pakistan (Yuri Bezmenov Former KGB Psychological Warfare Expert). Yuri Bezmenov ex KGB Psychological Warfare Expert Explains What Happened in East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) in This Video

What this gentleman has said is true.Soviets played a big role in making bangladesh.
Well later we played a important role in breaking the soviet union .Now we are equal and that,s past.
Now we must learn from our mistakes .America was past russia is the future.

 

[WaLeEdK2]

What this gentleman has said is true.Soviets played a big role in making bangladesh.
Well later we played a important role in breaking the soviet union .Now we are equal and that,s past.
Now we must learn from our mistakes .America was past russia is the future.

The soviets were actually the real architects of 1971. India was just used by them. Now the US is doing the same thing.