The atrocities in the 1971 civil war

[Windjammer]

Vinod2070 , Tiki Tam Tam , third eye, Abir, toxic _pus.... V .... Xeric.

And I thought, one Pakistani verses five Indians ratio was only limited to the armed forces.

There must be a moral there....... some where. !!

 

[Xeric]

Funny to see the mental gymnastics of some people who can never learn from the blunders.

The West Pakistani (mainly Punjabi and Pathan) discrimination and ridicule and persecution of Bengalis didn't start in 1971. It started soon after the partition.

Dont fool around. Rather dont fcuk around!

We know what made Banladesh, we know that mistakes were committed and we know that 'everybody' including the military had played a part in it. But the point is that we accept our mistakes, we acknowledge that Bengalis were mistreated and that they had all the right to stand up for it, but then if it hadnt been for india, things would have ended up more smoothly.

But then you probably dont know a tosh about the reasons behind the clash, as the difference with the distant centre’s view began to surface in East Pakistan soon after independence, when a group of students protested the Quaid-i-Azam’s speech in Dacca in 1948, that Urdu alone would be the national language. Two years later in 1950, the East Pakistan Muslim League asked for maximum autonomy. The central government’s manipulation to deny power to the elected majority in East Pakistan added to the accumulating grievances. Delays in constitution-making and holding national elections exacerbated East Pakistan’s sense of exclusion.

Also, East Pakistan’s isolation during the 1965 War and its lack of self-defence capability gave a fillip to the existing demand for autonomy. In March 1966, the Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rehman put forward the Six Points. Ayub Khan’s highly centralised government equated this demand for autonomy with secessionism.

The government also implicated Mujibur Rehman in this case, though he was in custody during the Agartala Conspiracy period (say thanks to india). Mujib’s Six Points and his trial made him a hero out of nothing. As if this was not enough, the federal government’s indifference to the plight of the people in East Pakistan after 1970’s flood broadened the mistrust fissures.

Mujib, unable to get his fair share in power, took an extreme position. He declined any invitation to visit Islamabad for talks. The political situation got worsened. Yahya – Mujib talks in Dacca broke down on 23 March when the Awami League proposed Pakistan should be made a confederation.

We should also see the the Bengali sentiments in historical context. During the British Raj, except for a short period between 1905 and 1911, Bengal remained united. During this period, the politics and economy of Bengal were largely dominated by the Hindus who had won favours from the British. Muslims, who were largely down trodden, were represented in two categories: the aristocrats i.e. likes of Nawab Salim Ullah Khan etc, symbolizing the Persian-Urdu speaking culture of northern India and the native lower middle class Bengali peasants, representing the local Bengali culture.

Despite the Hindu-Muslim socio-cultural divide, Bengalis were comparatively more regional than people of many other parts of the country. This was partly due to the influence of nationalists like Rabindranath Tagore and Romesh Chunder Dutt (Romesh Chunder Dutt was a Bengali writer, civil servant, economic historian and translator of Ramyana and Mahabharata. He had been president of Indian National Congress) and partly because Calcutta remained the capital of the country till 1911. The strength of Bengali sentiment was vividly displayed when the partition of Bengal carried out by Lord Curzon in 1905, had to be undone in 1911. The strong Bengal centric sentiment continued till 1937 elections, when Muslim League was able to form a coalition government with AK Fazlul Haq’s Krishak Party in Bengal. This coalition was an uneasy one, largely due to Fazlul Haq’s provincial agenda, which did not go in line with the Muslim League’s vision. It was during this period that Lahore Resolution was proposed and the word ‘states’ included in it. The coalition finally collapsed in 1941, only within a year of the Lahore Resolution. The Bengali sentiment was partially overshadowed by the overwhelming force of the “Idea of Pakistan”, resulting into landslide victory of Muslim League in 1946 elections. The under currents however, remained.


The Socio-Cultural aspects also played its role. Bengal projected a very vibrant socio-cultural environment, which cut across the Hindu-Muslim divide. The socio-cultural environment was, however, largely dominated by Hindu traditions, which were willingly accepted and followed by the Muslims. The province also had a far eastern touch on its culture and society, which was because of its geographic and climatic contiguity with some of those cultures. Except for religious values, Bengal did not share a common ground on social and cultural aspects with Muslims of northern India. This was visible in food, dress, language and festivals etc.

It is also worth pointing out here that Bengalis, despite their self belief in the richness of their customs, traditions and intellect, were not so well perceived by many others in the country which included the British, who considered them non martial race. Their language was also looked down upon by the Muslim aristocrats.

So, the indian members should know that it is in the backdrop of socio-cultural environment and Bengal centric sentiment that creation of Pakistan and east-west relations should be studied. At the time of partition there were inbuilt inadequacies in the relationship between both the wings, which fundamentally boiled down to constraints imposed by geography and economy. As for economy, East Bengal had been a poor province during the British rule; whereas, areas that constituted West Pakistan were quite prosperous. The socio-cultural and economic differences were underpinned by the facts of geography. Sensing the likely troubles between both the wings, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad made a prophetic statement about a decade and a half before 1971. He said, “Mr. Jinnah and his followers did not seem to realize that geography was against them. These two regions have no point of physical contact. People in these two areas are completely different from one another in every respect, except only in religion. No one can hope that East and West Pakistan will carry all their differences and form one nation.”.

Quaid-e-Azam also appeared to have fully understood the likely complications of east, west relations: while addressing an East Pakistani audience in Dhaka on 21 March 1948 he said, “You belong to a nation now; you have now carved out a territory, vast territory, it is all yours; it does not belong to a Punjabi or a Sindhi, or a Pathan, or a Bengali; it is yours. Therefore, if you want to build yourself into a nation, for God’s sake give up this provincialism.” Such was the broad environment, which set the stage, for an uneasy twenty four years relationship between East and West Pakistan.


Moreover, with the domination of Urdu speaking community both at the central and provincial levels, the already partially aggrieved Bengalis (due to award of Calcutta to India) were further antagonized by the announcement that Urdu would be the national language. The language row started on February 25, 1948, when a Hindu Bengal member, Mr Dhirendra Nath Dutta, moved a resolution in the constituent assembly that Bengali, along with Urdu, should be used in the assembly proceedings. To this, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan responded that “Pakistan is a Muslim State and it must have as its lingua franca the language of the Muslim nation…It is necessary for a nation to have one language and the language can only be Urdu and no other language.”

Ofcourse, this was taken with a pinch of salt by Bengalis as their language was spoken by 54.6 % of the people of Pakistan while Urdu was the language of only 7.2 % of Pakistan’s population. Quaid-e-Azam’s assertion of the same in Dacca only after one month did no good in settling the issue. The central government’s insistence to bulldoze the issue resulted into Language Riots of 1952, which resulted in some deaths and quite a lot of bad taste.


Most importantly, the immediate legal-cum-political challenge faced by the newborn state was formulation of a constitution, which should have been drafted at the earliest, due to peculiar dictates of geographical, political, economic and social differences between the two wings. The assembly however, failed to draft a constitution till its dismissal in 1954. The consequences were obvious: politics reverted to provincial levels and trust deficit started to increase between both the wings and there were calls for more autonomy from East Pakistan. 1954 is also generally the time period, when sub-national tendencies started to appear in East Pakistan. AK Fazlul Haq pioneered these tendencies, when as Chief Minister of East Pakistan, he made statements which were suggestive of independent Bangladesh. It is unfortunate to point out that government failed to fully comprehend the consequences of such divide. This was made obvious by its almost inaction to the United Fronts’ 21 points, which asked for greater autonomy for East Pakistan.

So, these were a few reasons that lead to the alienation of Bengalis. But then had india kept its dirty palms out of our internal affairs, things would have been much much better, unfortunately this was not to happen! So, to the likes of vinod, please spare us the bee ess, and dont act smart, because you are not!

 

[Vinod2070]

So, to the likes of vinod, please spare us the bee ess, and dont act smart, because you are not!

Smart enough to handle you any time of the day, any day of the week.

This multi colored, "multi bold" commentary contains little that we don't know already and takes nothing away from the barbarity perpetrated by the PA on the Bengalis.

The reason the Bengali separation was so violent was because of this kind of tendency on the part of West Pakistanis.

Roedad Khan, that incorrigible Pakistani bureaucrat, glowed at dawn on March 26, 1971. As Bengalis were shot down, he exclaimed: "Yaar, iman taaza ho gya." Pakistan must someday weep for that comment. And then we will forget.

Forget 1971, says Pakistan

No gymnastics of Indian support for the Bengali liberation will take that away.

 

[Tameem]

What was wrong in the majority of Pakistanis demanding what is natural. A country's major language should be the one spoken by the majority of its people.

Majority...the difference is only 19/20 and besides the thorning issue is amongst various nationalities only one demanding seperate identification..gave it to them others cry what their fault is?? So its means opeining up the pandora Box so early and that too while we in first year of our independence and their are more desperate issues needs collective attention i/o pitty sectarianism?? they simply played badly in early years of our independence and sow the seeds of distress very early!! So at the end of the day Again its not We who started it!!

I don't see any Bengalis. Probably some razakaars (and they don't matter) but mostly Pakistanis on this thread.

Oh...its not my folly that you joined the debate only recently!! check the facts!!

Good, we are on the same page then.

May be but for different reasons while you enjoying your blacken face in our civil war which eventually benefitted both of us in the end and that's reason of my rejoysing!!

 

[Elmo]

Everyone on this thread - take a break!

 

[kobiraaz]

East Pakistani Soldiers during Operation Searchlight

 

[DESH PRAIMEE]

NEW DELHI – It is exactly 40 years since the Pakistani military regime of Yahya Khan initiated “Operation Searchlight” in March 1971. That military expedition was but the latest in a series of pogroms carried out to intimidate the restive population of what was then called East Pakistan – today’s independent Bangladesh. What followed was one of the worst massacres in human history, now all but forgotten by the international community.

Pakistan was created by the partition of British India in 1947, but its territory was divided into two enclaves separated by hundreds of miles. While they shared a religion, Islam, there were major cultural and linguistic differences between East and West Pakistan.

In the east, there was a strong sense of being Bengali, and a sizeable Hindu minority continued to live in the province. There was, moreover, strong resentment that political power lay in the hands of western-based politicians and generals who were blatantly insensitive to Bengali demands. It seemed to many that, with the creation of Pakistan, East Pakistan had merely exchanged one form of colonialism for another. And, as Bengali demands for autonomy gained momentum, the response became more repressive.

In November 1970, tropical cyclone “Bhola” struck East Pakistan, killing between 300,000 and 500,000 people. Bhola is still considered one of the worst natural disasters on record, and the military dictatorship’s lukewarm relief efforts incensed the Bengali population.

So, when Pakistan’s military leaders finally allowed elections in late December 1970, East Pakistan voted overwhelmingly for the Bengali-nationalist Awami League, which won 167 of 169 seats in the province. Since East Pakistan was more populous than West Pakistan, the election’s outcome raised the prospect that the Bengalis would now rule the country as whole. This was not palatable to the Punjabi-dominated military brass or to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the leader of West Pakistan’s largest political party. The elections were “canceled,” and East Pakistan erupted in open revolt.

Yahya Khan responded by sending in the troops. The result was a genocide in which as many as three million people, particularly minorities and intellectuals, were killed. Dhaka University’s residential halls were particularly targeted. Up to 700 students were killed in a single attack on Jagannath Hall. Several well-known professors, both Hindu and Muslim, were murdered. Hundreds of thousands of women were systematically raped in the countryside. By September 1971, ten million refugees had poured into eastern India.

The world knew what was happening. Time magazine’s August 2, 1971, issue quoted a United States official saying, “This is the most incredible, calculated thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland.” The article goes on to describe the streams of refugees:

“Over the rivers and down the highways and along countless jungle paths, the population of East Pakistan continues to hemorrhage into India: an endless unorganized flow of refugees with a few tin kettles, cardboard boxes, and ragged clothes piled on their heads, carrying their sick children and their old. They pad along barefooted, with the mud sucking at their heels in the wet parts. They are silent, except for a child whimpering now and then, but their faces tell the story. Many are sick and covered with sores. Others have cholera, and when they die by the roadside there is no one to bury them.”

The international community’s response to the massacres was shameful. We now have copies of desperate cables sent by diplomat Archer Blood and his colleagues at the US consulate in Dacca (now Dhaka) pleading with the US government to stop supporting a military regime that was carrying out genocide. Instead, President Richard Nixon concentrated on intimidating Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi into staying out. He would even send the US Seventh Fleet to cow her. Fortunately, Gandhi held her nerve and began to prepare for war.

Strengthened by promises of support from the US and China, Pakistan’s military commanders ordered pre-emptive air strikes against India on December 3, 1971. The Indian response was swift and sharp. With support from the civilian population, as well as from the Mukti Bahini, an irregular army of Bengali rebels, the Indian army swept into East Pakistan. Nixon was too bogged down in Vietnam to do more than issue threats. On December 16, the Pakistanis signed the instrument of surrender in Dacca. Bangladesh was born.

Having acquiesced in the genocide, the international community has conveniently forgotten it, and no Pakistani official has ever been brought to justice. On the contrary, many of the perpetrators later held senior government positions. It is as if the Nuremberg trials never happened after WWII.

As the world watches Libya’s Muammar el-Qaddafi slaughter his own people, we should remember the human cost of international indifference.

The Forgotten Genocide by Sanjeev Sanyal - Project Syndicate

With no Pun towards any section of society(PDF) some freinds here think that indians will become american lapdogs ?
We Indians are not so naive nor do we give S*** about america or its priorities to us owr main objecive is to get our national growth and thats supreme if Indians were so weak in the knees we would have never supported Iran & recently given MRCA contract to Americans & passed Neuklear Liability Bill & Foriegn Direct Investment In Retail .

 

[Awesome]

Who has forgotten it?

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Who has forgotten it?

True.... how could we forget a genocide tht never happened? lol

 

[sachin@india]

Very sad and Painful...who can forget the Tikka Khan... Butcher of Bengal

 

[Abingdonboy]

It is shameful such actions have effectively gone unpunished because the West sided with Pakistan. India held the most POWs since WWII in her possession (93,000), a HUGE bargaining chip, but let them return home with little in return.

I was listening to a BBC podcast that travelled to Pakistan to see how the 1971 defeat shaped modern day Pakistan. The reporter (A Pakistani himself) and was effectively brought tot tears when he heard the lies the school children were being told about an international conspiracy that lead to the defeat in East Pakistan and the fact they refused to believe the Pakistani had arrayed out such genocide, rapes and war crimes. Like he said, the PA in Pakistan is like a cult following, no one wants to hear a bad thing said about them dispute the fact they are the main cause of most of Pakistan's problems.


The world needs to be reminded what has happenend. We must not let such tragedies be forgotten.

 

[kobiraaz]

True.... how could we forget a genocide tht never happened? lol

it was possible for Pakistan military to hide all these from common pakistanis during 1971.. This is the era of internet. just google for neutral sources. There were lots of foreigners in dhaka during 25th march.... Denial should have some limit.

 

[DESH PRAIMEE]

It is shameful such actions have effectively gone unpunished because the West sided with Pakistan. India held the most POWs since WWII in her possession (93,000), a HUGE bargaining chip, but let them return home with little in return.

I was listening to a BBC podcast that travelled to Pakistan to see how the 1971 defeat shaped modern day Pakistan. The reporter (A Pakistani himself) and was effectively brought tot tears when he heard the lies the school children were being told about an international conspiracy that lead to the defeat in East Pakistan and the fact they refused to believe the Pakistani had arrayed out such genocide, rapes and war crimes. Like he said, the PA in Pakistan is like a cult following, no one wants to hear a bad thing said about them dispute the fact they are the main cause of most of Pakistan's problems.


The world needs to be reminded what has happenend. We must not let such tragedies be forgotten.

My Dear AB , this matter is the cruelest true laie in history of Pakistan , but Owr freinds will never ccept it . So Leave It & Mods Kindly Close This Thread Or Shift it to Bangladesh Defence .

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

It is shameful such actions have effectively gone unpunished because the West sided with Pakistan. India held the most POWs since WWII in her possession (93,000), a HUGE bargaining chip, but let them return home with little in return.

I was listening to a BBC podcast that travelled to Pakistan to see how the 1971 defeat shaped modern day Pakistan. The reporter (A Pakistani himself) and was effectively brought tot tears when he heard the lies the school children were being told about an international conspiracy that lead to the defeat in East Pakistan and the fact they refused to believe the Pakistani had arrayed out such genocide, rapes and war crimes. Like he said, the PA in Pakistan is like a cult following, no one wants to hear a bad thing said about them dispute the fact they are the main cause of most of Pakistan's problems.


The world needs to be reminded what has happenend. We must not let such tragedies be forgotten.

---------- Post added at 03:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:18 PM ----------

it was possible for Pakistan military to hide all these from common pakistanis during 1971.. This is the era of internet. just google for neutral sources. There were lots of foreigners in dhaka during 25th march.... Denial should have some limit.

3 million? you believe tht? if you fo i bet you also believe in tooth fairy.

 

[DESH PRAIMEE]

---------- Post added at 03:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:18 PM ----------



3 million? you believe tht? if you fo i bet you also believe in tooth fairy.

Sir PN , this is a very old thread why should you bother , anyway what happened back in 1971 has passed , its been 40 years since & if you really believe in your post#5 then Sir PN no need for you to even post on this meaningless thread .