Balkan Tragedy: A Re-enactment of the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh

Dawn News story May 8, 1999

Editor`s freedom ends at midnight:

Armed men beat up Najam Sethi, wife and guards

Mr Najam Sethi, Chief Editor of weekly The Friday Times (TFT), Lahore, was beaten and arrested when a joint team of police and intelligence agencies stormed his house and barged into his bedroom to apprehend him in Lahore in the early hours of Saturday.

It is not known on what pretext the police detained Mr Sethi but there are reports he may be arrested in a sedition case for giving a recent lecture in India which the local authorities felt was anti-Pakistan. Mr Sethi had served as an adviser during the interim government after the sacking of the PPP government in November 1996.

Mr Sethi`s wife, Jugnu Mohsin, was also beaten and locked in a room and threatened with dire consequences if she tried to raise an alarm. Plainclothes officials used extremely filthy and abusive language when Mohsin asked to see an arrest warrant.

Speaking from Lahore, Mohsin told this correspondent that lawyer Asma Jehangir would file a petition against the illegal detention. ``I am unaware of any case registered against him nor did they show a warrant. It is not clear whether he was arrested by the police or kidnapped by PML fascist elements,`` she said.

Mohsin, who was clearly shaken by the incident, could not speak much. Another family member giving details said, ``At around 3 am, about 15 armed men arrived in vehicles bearing government registration plates and started to beat the two security guards posted at the gate. Then they entered the house and banged upon the bedroom door. As soon as Najam opened the door they started beating him. His wife tried to rescue him but she was also beaten.``

The armed men then ordered Najam to accompany them. One of the armed men warned Mohsin not to raise an alarm and locked her in the room. The operation was carried out with such speed that Mohsin`s parents, who live next door, learnt of the incident only after the armed men had left.

Sethi is the second editor after Rehmat Shah Afridi, Editor-in-Chief of daily The Frontier Post, Peshawar, to be arrested. Earlier, Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, the Editor-in-chief daily Jang and present APNS President, was threatened and four working journalists were detained under the Maintaince of Public Order (MPO) in the last three months. Hussain Haqqani, who was also picked up by unknown persons a few days ago, is also a regular TFT columnist. Another TFT correspondent, Ejaz Haider, has also been threatened, while the staff fear the weekly`s office will be attacked as they have been threatened by a local PML leader.

Two days ago, three journalists were attacked, including two belonging to The News, while the third was detained for helping a BBC team to make a documentary film about the Sharif family.

The Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ) and the Lahore Press Club have jointly called an emergency protest meeting at the LPC this evening to draw a future course of action.

The President of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Chairman All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation (APNEC), Mr I.H. Rashid and Mr Abdul Hameed Chappara, in a joint statement have condemned the arrest of Sethi and the maltreatment of his wife and deplored the violent incidents against the Press. They said the manner in which he was arrested shows the fascist mind of the government.

Leaders of the two apex bodies of the journalists and newspaper employees said the PFUJ and APNEC Action Committee constituted in Peshawar have already called for a countrywide demonstration on May 13.

News From Bangladesh

May 6, 1999

Readers` Opinion

The first ever 1971 war crime debate in cyberspace: Some afterthoughts

By A.H. Jaffor Ullah

If you’re an avid reader of newspapers in the cyberspace, you must know -- what is red hot these days in the world wide web. On the other hand, if you’ve the slightest clue as to what I’m talking about, then I strongly recommend that you visit the Pakistani website ‘Chowk’(www.chowk.com) to read NFB writer Jamal Hasan’s article ``Balkan Tragedy: A Re-enactment of the 1971 Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in Bangladesh`` and all the comments and counter comments associated with the article. Jamal Hasan’s article had engendered one of the hottest political debates that I know of. Although, this is not the first time a debate got started by the writing of this ‘contentious’ writer. Put it bluntly Jamal may be considered the Salman Rushdie of Bangladesh, of course not in the same vein! He is most certainly an emotional writer of high order. Jamal Hasan has to his credit another article that he had published in the fall of 1997. That article too, spawned another ‘nasty’ debate in the cyberspace, which continued for a good many months spanning quite a few continents (If I recall correctly, that debate went all the way to Bangladesh and came back to the states).

However, it is not my idea to retrogress and find some old wounds. I better keep my focus on the present debate and make a progress report on it, if I may. The ‘Chowk’ debate had centered on the alleged culpability of retired Brigadier Z.A. Khan. Remember the works of Z.A. Khan? In mid-March this year NFB published in seven parts the memoir of this retired Pakistani brigadier. Needless to say, this NFB publication had re-opened the old wound because Khan’s non-remorseful writing had given gave the impression to our readers that lives of Bangalees were expendable in the dark days of 1971. As you might recall, in 1971, Pakistani army had a grandiose scheme to save Jinnah’s Pakistan at all cost. To them, it was a justifiable act then to annihilate the entire Bangalee nation only to save the united Pakistan; even if it would mean to have East Pakistan in a vestigial form. The unrepenting Brigadier penned his memoir nonchalantly to describe the wanton killing of the Bangalee military, EPR, and policeman. He took extraordinary care not to mention even single civilian killing in the entire memoir. Nevertheless, his perfect perfidy showed up brazenly when he painted a doom and gloom scenario describing how many West Pakistani civilians were massacred in Karnafuli Paper Mills or how many ‘innocent’ Biharis were murdered in Chittagong by the irate Bangalees. The Brigadier was cunning enough not to mention the ruthless purge his commando people had bestowed on us while the machine-gun totting soldiers of his unit fanned out in all possible direction. On the other hand, he most certainly tried his best to demonize the Bangalees at the expense of ‘elevating’ the status of marauding Pakistani force in occupied Bangladesh.

As expected, in the aftermath of the publications of Z.A. Khan’s memoir, Bangalee cyber readers were mad as hell and were mighty upset; I could almost feel that a dormant volcano was about to erupt anytime soon. Publication of Jamal Hasan’s article, according to my humble assessment, was a seminal event in the sense that it acted as the needed catalyst for the untimely eruption of the latent volcano.

As of this writing (May 2, 1999) about 300 comments of variable sizes had been posted in the folder ``reply.`` Some of the rejoinders were simply feast to the eyes. Only two people supported the action of Brigadier Z.A. Khan’s action in occupied Bangladesh. These two persons belong to Z.A. Khan’s family. One was his daughter Ms. Munnezae Alam Khan and the other was his nephew by the name Omar Mirza. While Ms. Khan only left two postings laced with acerbic language (for example, she wrote that Bengalis should not be trusted and in another place she mentioned that the traitor Bengalis deserved what they received from Pakistani army). Mr. Omar Mirza, who claims to be a law student in a US school, was like a loose cannon. God almighty knows how many people in the Chowk forum were bulleted by Omar’s invectives. He most certainly had a very low opinion about the Bengalis of erstwhile East Pakistan and Hindus of India. That sentiment showed up strongly through and through in his writings.

Well, that is not all Omar Mirza had done to the Bengalis and Indians. He even threatened Jamal Hasan and the ‘Chowk’ management openly stating that unless they retract the lines in Jamal’s article where it is written Brigadier Z.A. Khan fits the profile of war criminal, someone will bring a law suit for defaming the ‘honest’ brigadier. A sum of quarter million dollars was openly touted as the amount the Brigadier will seek from writer Jamal Hasan as a punitive damage. Suffice it to say that litigation threat was taken very lightly by all participating in the forum except perhaps Ms. Khan and Omar Mirza. We all surmised this to be a vacuous threat devoid of any substance. As a retaliatory move, some of us had warned Mirza Omar that when Brigadier Z.A. Khan would arrive in America to sue Jamal or better collect his quarter million dollar booty, our lawyer would anxiously wait in the wings to take the brigadier to a civil court to stand trial for the gratuitous killing of the Bengalis in Comilla, Feni, Chittagong, and Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Omar Mirza, the trusted nephew of Brigadier Z.A. Khan, mentioned in one place that his family is from Punjab (we suspected that all along!). He also said that he had a very poor opinion about Baluchis and Sindhis; he even denigrated Bhutto family of Sindh at one point. That action of his brought a terse one short paragraph reply from Pakistan People Party (PPP) headquarters. The PPP operatives warned him to stop foul-mouthing Bhutto family. It was an outright threatening letter from PPP.

In the initial phase of the ‘Chowk’ debate, only a handful of Bengalis wrote rejoinders to Omar Mirza. But once the news of ‘Chowk’ debate spread like a wild fire quite a few pro-71 Bengalis joined the debate in progress and made their presence known through their writings. At point, Omar Mirza had to tackle Bengalis by the name M.N. Khan, Saleh Tanveer, Khokan, S.A. Khalid, Zunaid Kazi, M. Wahiduzzaman and a few more. I was immensely impressed by the unity that was being displayed by the Bengalis in the ‘Chowk’ forum.

Like most things in the cyber world, the ’71 war criminal’ debate in ‘Chowk’ web site had a life of about a month or so. Omar Mirza, the sole defender of Brigadier Z.A. Khan was becoming visually tired. At the end, his vacuous writings were lacking much punch. Omar Mirza was not the same swaggering person as he was in the beginning of this debate. Contrary to that a latecomer like M. Wahiduzzaman was going mighty strong till the end of this debate. To be fair Omar Mirza fought a good fight, but in the hands of united Bengalis he was simply cornered. He even admitted that some Pakistani officers may have committed war crimes in 1971, but he was saying until the end that his uncle Z.A. Khan was an honest man, who never did kill any civilian Bengalis.

At the later part of the debate, Bengali participants were taunting Omar Mirza by reminding him the easy sum of quarter million dollars may not fall on his lap, after all. Later, Omar Mirza himself also realized that it was a ludicrous idea to seek the help of American judicial system to vindicate his uncle’s alleged wrongdoing in occupied Bangladesh during March through June 1971. Incidentally, the Brigadier’s superiors sacked him in June 1971; he was shipped to West Pakistan in a hurry in the same month.

Was there any merit in engaging in a debate with some Pakistanis over the issue of 1971 war crimes? I think the answer is affirmative. To my knowledge, this is the first time any Bengalis confronted Pakistanis in an open forum and challenged them with the question that Pakistani army did violate most brazenly the civil rights of men, women, and children during the nine grueling months in 1971. This in it self is a victory.

I personally feel gratified knowing that a handful of expatriate Bengalis had the courage to go after one of the Pakistani high-ranking retired military officer who never did feel remorseful for his ‘action’ which led to the deaths of hundreds and thousands of unarmed civilians in the southeastern part of occupied Bangladesh. I would hate to imagine even how many women were violated by these Punjabi and Pathan foot soldiers. Brigadier Z.A. Khan being the commander of a commando battalion had to bear the ultimate responsibility for the ‘action’ of his men. He could not get away from this responsibility. He could even be charged with dereliction of duty. But then Pakistani high command decided to annihilate Bengalis. Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan often said in 1971 that people of occupied Bangladesh were not important to Pakistan’s military; it was the land that they were after.

This handful of Bengalis who are now living in America achieved quite a lot by staging a full-scale debate in ‘Chowk.’ They did something that our Bengali leaders could not have done in their lifetime. Even Sheikh Mujib, who was bestowed the title Bongobandhu by his people, was not able to raise the issue of war crimes to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The two army Generals, who had behaved like tigers displaying their valor in Kurmitola Cantonment, did not have the guts to bring-up the war crime issue to their Pakistani counterpart. That is not all. Mrs. Khaleda Zia, the one-time Prime Minister of Bangladesh was busily rehabilitating the razakars and fifth columnists among us to mainstream politics only to consolidate her power. And now Mrs. Hasina Wazed, Sheikh Mujib’s daughter, who is at the helm for over three years as Prime Minister of Bangladesh did cave into the pressure coming from unknown sources. She also did not ask Mr. Nawaz Sharif her counterpart from Pakistan the pertinent question of 1971 war crimes committed by Pakistani army. Mr. Sharif visited Dhaka barely 2 or 3 months ago, but Mrs. Hasina Wazed did not have the guts nor did she have the acumen to ask the Prime Minister of Pakistan the most important question of war crimes.

I hope this is just a new beginning. The civic groups inside Bangladesh, who are now active on war crime issues, should take solace knowing that some diehard expatriate Bengalis have not forgotten the sacrifice of our three million people. The politicians of all hue in Bangladesh may have forgotten the sacrifice of our people, but it is the ordinary Bengalis who have not written off their minds the sacrifice of those lost souls. Until this day, we cherish the memory of those departed folks who had given their lives only knowing that their next generation could breathe the air of freedom.

I suppose neither Mrs. Hasina Wazed nor Mrs. Khaleda Zia couldn`t care less about the sacrifice of those three millions Bengalis. This has to be the ultimate insult to the spirit of 1971.



A.H. Jaffor Ullah writes from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Response to naeembangali (Reply # 317):

FerozK`s stance is a good example of what naeembangali has written. FerozK was frank enough to admit that, till this exchanges on Chowk, he wasn`t even aware of some of the elementary facts of 1971. For example he had no idea that 195 of Pakistan`s army officerds had been actually charged with very specific crimes. And even after becoming aware of the situation, FerozK thinks Bangladeshis are wasting their time if they expect Pakistanis (even educated ones) to be any more sympathetic to the cause of bringing the criminals to trial.

But FerozK is not represantative of all Pakistanis. Veteran Pakistani journalist Z.A.Suleri (whose daughter Sarah is herself a writer of some repute) died recently. I was reminded how distraught Mr. Suleri had felt in June of 1971 to hear Pak army officers joking nonchalantly about the rapes in East Pakistan as a service to the nation for the improvemnet of genes among Bengalis!!

Not all Pakistanis take the stance of FerozK who insists that it is not to Pakistan`s interest to prosecute the war criminals. Z.A.Suleri had experessed his outrage even in the darkest days of 1971.In fact, even today, there are Pakistanis who are educated enough, sensitive enough, decent enough and farsighted enough to know that it is to Pakistan`s interest to haul the war criminals before a court of law for a belated accounting of their crimes. Here`s a letter from one such Pakistani:

News From Bangladesh

http://www.bangladesh-web.com/news

Pakistani Army Men Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999

Nadeem Jamali

jamali@cs.uiuc.edu

I have received a message containing a partial list of Pakistani army men guilty of crimes against humanity. That was forwarded to me by a Bangladeshi friend. Part of the reason why Pakistan`s Punjabi establishment dares to threaten Sindh with a Bangladesh-style carnage is that none of the butchers responsible for the 1971 massacre have ever faced justice.

Today, most of the senior officers involved in the crimes against Bengalis are old enough and probably rich enough to be travelling abroad for medical treatment. Many have amassed enough wealth to be able to comfortably settle down in western countries. In whatever ways possible, we should help Bangladeshis track down these murderers and rapists. If we can provide information to Bangladesh government about such people who may be settled in or visiting western countries, they can attempt to have them extradited to Bangladesh to face trial.



Mr. Nadeem Jamali is a Sindhi-Pakistani.

He is currently with the

Computer Science Department at

University of Illinois at Urbana.

Pakistan-- willful, deliberate national/mass amnesia.

I remember the most dismal experience w/ Pakistani students at Oberlin College was not that they disputed that 1971 happened, but that they had absolutely no clue about what had happened.

A memorable sample came from one Pakistani student (smart in all other respects), who bleated, ``Well your General Mujib made all the trouble.`` On being corrected, he squealed ``I always thought he was an army rebel!`` But that squeal aside, I never saw him once browse through Oberlin`s ample collection of books on the genocide. Nor did I see him attend the 2 viewings of SONG OF FREEDOM and WAR CRIMES that we organized. No desire to educate himself about his nation`s shameful past.

Others were far worse. One princess yelled at me, after hearing me argue (one too many times for her pearl shaped ears), ``Oh, Naeem, is 1971 ALL you ever think of?``

My cousin who was one of 4 Bengalis in Karachi Grammar School during 1971 has far more unpleasant stories. Of KGS girls who would loudly shout for his benefit that Bengali girls were being purified by Army jawans, followed by girlish giggles. And far worse..

Later Tikka Khan`s son was puzzled as to why he would not be friends with him at college in America.

After graduating from Oberlin college, for a long time I thought it unhealthy to dwell on 1971. I was far too young to carry around all this anger and hurt memory on behalf of others. But when the Brigadiers daughter has the ``ashpordha`` (Bengali for temerity) to threat us for speaking the truth about 1971-- the time to forget has not come.

I hope sane-minded Pakistanis (I know there are many of you), will join us in the growing cry for an INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL.

-Naeem Mohaiemen

Re: Khohan # 315

My friend, I am telling you realistically what can and what can not be done. I am cynical, as you rightly pointed out, because the ruling elites of Pakistan have no self-interest to destroy their own myth of the last 28 years!

You are a highly intelligent person and your zeal for the cause of seeking justice for the victims of 1971 is admirable. As I mentioned earlier, politics is the art of the possible and what you are suggesting is simply not possible in the present day and age as that equation pertains to Pakistan. Pakistan does not have the moral climate to do what you would like to see. This may sound like a denial of guilt, but it is more an acceptence of reality.

Let me ask you point blank: what is in the interests of Pakistani educated elites to try the alleged war criminals? Please do not offer moral arguments, but cold political self-interested explanations! My friend, everyone acts in their own self-interest and it is not in the self-interests of Pakistani elities to de-construct their own history of the last 28 years!

That is the reason why I suggested that the burden of trying the alleged war crimes rests on the Bangladeshi government and not Pakistan. As to the argument of the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh and the issue of Kashmir; Kashmir is in the self-interests of Pakistan and those Pakistanis are not. Such is the cold logical mathematics of geo-politics and it is regretable, but it is still the reality.

My friend, you have to divorce the connection between morality and reality and only then will you undertand why this problem is so intractibale to solve!

FerozK (reply # 314) has suggested that Pakistanis (even the educated ones) do not think it is to Pakistan`s interest to ensure justice for the victims of the 1971 genocide. I disagree. I have suggested that FerozK should take another look at the lines from John Donne that he, himself, had posted not too long ago. And I have explained in previous replies why war crime trials are ultimately to the interest of the ordianry citizens of Pakistan. If the ruling elite becomes convinced that it has gotten away with the crimes of 1971, there is nothing to prevent it from repeating the crimes. And this time the victims won`t be the Bengalis, they will be the Sindhis, Mohajirs and Balochs, the Shias, Christians, Ahmadiyyas and the Zikris. This time it will be their fathers, brothers and sons who will be murdered. This time it will be their mothers, sisters and daughters who will be subjected to the gene improvement experiments by the brave men from martial races.

FerozK stated, ``As to the Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh, it is cruel to suggest this, but they are noting more than the victims of fate and are suffering from what the French refer to as, `la belle indifferance du état, - the beautiful indifference of the state.`` This cruelty is symptotic of the same cynicism and shortsightedness that has protected the war criminals for so many years.

Finally, it is legitimate to ask if Pakistan`s ruling elite cannot accept the quarter million ``Biharis`` who cosider themselves to be Pakistanis, how can they carry conviction when they cry themselves hoarse shouting, ``Kashmir banega Pakistan`` when there is not an iota of evidence to suggest that Kashmiris consider themselves to be Pakistanis?

A recent article in DAWN hit the nail on the head when it pointed out the difference - the Kashmiris will come with real estate but the ``Biharis`` won`t. And that seems to have made the crucial difference in the attitude of Pakistan`s ruling elite.

Pakistan`s ruling elite will feign support for the self-detrmination of the 3 million Kashmiris in the Valley but they have not a tear to shed for the quarter million ``Biharis`` who have had their lives on hold for the last 27 years. Pakistan`s government has all the money in the world to carry out proxy wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir. But they have not a penny to spare for the repatriation of the ``Biharis.`` Pakistan is willing to risk a nuclear war for the ``self-determination`` of Kashmiris, but they will not lift their finger to make a difference to the quarter million ``Biharis`` who have been rotting in refugee camps for well over a generation. How much more cynical can you get?

Re: ALL WHO POSTED A REPLY!

Sorry for the delay......we had some fresh powder and I was taking advantage of that!

I would agree with Khokan: Pakistanis can not help the Bangladeshis get justice until they know the facts. In this respect, this article has been instrumental in reviving this issue. It is in the interests of all concerned to have the facts out in the open and to let a healty debate on this topic.

It is my experience that in order to get to the truth, hard questions need to be answered. It was with that intent that I was not mincing my words. There was never a personal animosity or a sense of rancour intended in my posts and if such was taken, then I am sorry, but I am not sorry for asking those questions! The following responses to my questions were really illuminating and beyond that, were highly informative and educational in stating the historical context of the issue.

However, to be a realist, the list of ``concerns`` listed by Khokan is highly utopian. In a normal society, with a democratic process, educating the public and informing them of an issue can influence the politcal process, but Pakistan is not a normal democratic society. History, in Pakistan, is often a myth created by the timocrats who rule Pakistan to justify their own interests. As a person involved in the political process I can safely say that those concerns listed will never materialize. Nations impliment decisions that are in their interests and there is nothing in Pakistani interests to justify an agreement, with Bangladesh, on those points.

Neither will ``educated Pakistanis`` help in this regard. Though we may agree with you and share a national remorse on the issue, the majority of the Pakistani public is more concerned with the basic hardships of life and consequently, do not have the luxury of championing justice of Bengali victims. As to the Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh, it is cruel to suggest this, but they are noting more than the victims of fate and are suffering from what the French refer to as, ``la belle indifferance du état`` - the beautiful indifference of the state.

Pinochet may have indeed revived the cause for seeking justice, but the extent of the Pinochet`s crimes were not in the context of war crimes. If accusations against Pakistan for practicing war crimes is charged, it can not be compared with the Chiliean example. What happened, in Chile, was an internal matter and international law and the United Nations` Charter bar any outside intervention in what is purely an internal Chilean concern. In the case of Pakistan, the events of 1971 are characterized as a ``war for liberation`` and not a civil war. Hence, the argument is made that it was not an internal act, but within the preview of international law and its régimé of sanctions.

Also, another critical distinction in the Pinochet case was that Pinochet was arrested in England and not Chile, which would not have extradicated him. The same applies in the case of Pakistan. Pakistan, rightly or wrongly, will not allow the Bangladeshi authorities to arrest the alleged persons for war crimes and unless that happens, this issue is nothing more than an academic discussion.

What the people of Bangladesh and its government has to decide is how to proceed with this topic. Having allegations and the supporting circumtancial evidence does not matter and nor does it help in the conviction of the said persons. The question that should have been discussed on this forum should have been on the modulaties of how to try them! In this, I hate to be the harbringer of bad news, to my Bengali friends, but they will get no help from the Pakistani government in this regard.

Lately, the discussion on this topic seems to have meandered into the realm of Simla and the discussions involved in that agreement. If the intent of the Bangladeshis is to seek justice, debating who did what to whom and why will not bring this issue to any resemblence of a closure either. In this sense, I will repeat my earlier statement and that is; this discussion is nothing more an avent gardé topic for a few educated intellectuals to showcase their humanitrian concerns! This is not denigerate the present discussion, but to merely express the opinion that unless those alleged to be guilty are put on trial and brought to justice, there is absolutely no point in continually repeating the allegtions ad infintium!

The question the Bangladeshis should be asking themelves is not the nature of the crimes, but how to bring the alleged guilty to trial! Unfortuneately, that explanation has not been forth coming. In this regard, the Bangladeshi experience is a lot closer to Bosnia than it is to Chile. The Bosnian-Serb leadership has been indicated for war crimes, but have not been brought to justice, because there is no clear cut ways to bring them without the use of armed force and the recourse to that force pre-supposes a political decision. International law, in this regard, is pre-disposed towards the doctrine of sovereign inviobility and it frowns upon any such action, regardless of its justifications. Lately, in the example of the Kosovo crisis, the international community, notabaly Tony Blair, has suggested a concept of overcoming that law in the interests of humanitrian conerns. That doctrine is still in its early formulative stages and is being resisted, ironically, by the United Nations, because it would undermine its bureaucratic rasion d`etre!

Hence, the Bangladeshis and their cry for justice are caught in-between those two competing doctrines. Till that humanitrian doctrine is instituted, as an corpus of international law, the onus for trying those to have committed war crimes, in 1971, falls on the Bengalis. In this sense, they will not get any help from Pakistan or the international law, because it is, in its intent, designed to protect the internal affairs of Pakistan, as long as Pakistan continues to maintain that 1971 was a civil war and thus, an internal matter and will not aid in the conviction of Pakistanis alleged to have committed war crimes in 1971!

Hence, it is with a sense of dejection, but it still bears stating: the only people who can bring justice to the Bengali cause is the Bangladeshis themselves and no one else!

Some thoughts in retrospect



Omar Mirza had openly challenged Sheikh Mujib`s departed soul to answer some burning questions.

The 20 some year old Omar Mirza does not have any clue about the chronolgical history of Pakistan movement. He should read some Pakistani historians `and political thinkers` analyses. He might be disappointed to note that many Pakistani scholars give due credit to Bengal Muslims for the inception of Pakistan. Some even went so far to say ``Without Bengal`s active participation Pakistan would not have been a reality``.

The story of Bengal Muslims is a story of broken dreams and false promises. Mr. M.A. Jinnah was very much involved in those days of agitation when Calcutta riot engulfed the whole subcontinent, when one time Jinnah`s proteg`e, H.S.Suhrawardy`s controversial role in the so-called Direct Action Day was a watershed event in culminating permanent enmity betwen Hindus and Muslims in the subcontinent. In fact Hindus needed to become more ``demons`` to justify the creation of Pakistan.

Jinnah with his Bombay mercantile constituency needed the support of Bengal Muslims until 14th August of 1947. After that he did not have any second thought of throwing that important ingredient of Pakistan formation into waste paper basket. In other words Bengalis were used and abused.

When Jinnah came to Dacca and declared ``Urdu and Urdu shall be the state language of Pakistan`` Bengalis came to senses and smelled the coffee. They realized that Jinnah was not their man, he was an alien and remained an alien. So it is quite logical for Jinnah as his whole attention was directed towards the western wing. He might have been lucky to die early; otherwise he would have to face a bitter showdown with the Bengalis in course of time.

Mujib was not the best choice but the only choice of the Bengalis. He made lot of mistakes, even then Bengalis want to forgive him because of his tremendous sacrifices. But Bengalis will never make him a demi god like many Pakistanis make one in Jinnah.

mnk

Mr. Ras Hafiz Siddiqui wrote (Reply # 297):

``Why did India/Indira who held all the cards at Simla suddenly fold the deck and could not even get a substantial concession on Kashmir? We know what a ``generous`` personality Indira was. Was it ``mission accomplished`` for now?``

Mr. Ras H. Siddiqui, is reading too much into what can be explained otherwise. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a skillful negotiator. He was always willing to take risks to get his way. But most importantly, he wasn`t really holding a losing hand.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had personally told his daughter, Benazir, of his strategy during the Shimla Meeting. Interested readers can read of it in Benazir Bhutto`s autobiography, ``Daughter of Destiny.`` Essentially, Papa Bhutto said that if faced with a choice between negotiaing for the release of POWs and retaining and recovering territory from India, he was going to give preference to the latter.

His reasoning was audacious but quite clear cut. Bhutto reasoned that if Pakistan loses territory in the Shimla negotiations, he cannot ever count on the world for its recovery. But such wasn`t the case with the POWs. If Bhutto refused to take back the POWs on terms other than the ones to his liking, the world would sooner or later exert pressure on India to let go of the prisoners.

With America, China and most of the Islamic nations solidly behind Pakistan, Bhutto was confident that India wouldn`t dare to hold on to the POWs nor would she dare to hand over any of the POWs to Bangladesh to face war crime trials. In fact, Bhutto had threatened India with dire consequences if even a single POW was handed over to Bangladesh.

Bhutto was daring enough and cynical enough to make the issue of POWs a secondary one in favor of pushing for maximum leverage on territorial issues. There was no way India could have extracted anything more on Kashmir from this wily negotiator.

In fact Bhutto was always willing to take extraordinary risk and pay an extremely high price to achieve his goals. On his return to Karachi from Dhaka, on 26th March, 1971, he is reported to have told the journalists, ``Thank Allah, Pakistan has been saved.`` Bhutto was intelligent enough a politican to realize that the wholesale murder at Dhaka university on 25th March, 1971 (of which he was well aware by that time) does not bode well for the future of united Pakistan. But he was also cynical enough and ambitious enough to realize that this was also his only way to eliminate the Awami League as a contender and to emerge as the lone civilian choice to lead Pakistan (united or otherwise). Bhutto was quite willing to live with the human toll of the tragedy if it would advance his own career.

At the Shimla Negotiations, he was shrewd enough to realize that contrary to the general perception, he wasn`t really holding a losing hand. He was cynical enough to make the POWs a secondary concern to get his way on territorial issues. There was no way India could have forced Bhutto to give up anything on Kashmir.

Mr. Ras H. Siddiqui`s questions were meant to help him promote a theory of conspiracies in foreign lands to explain the 1971 genocide. I don`t think it holds water. All the questions he is raising can be explained by straight forward answers without the need to discover any ``conspircy`` hatched abroad.

Mr. Ras Siddiqui has also pointed to the violent ends of Bhutto, Mujibur Rahman and Indira Gandhi as evidence in support of his ``Conspiracy Theories.`` But once again, I must point out that all 3 deaths were the result of events that are well understood and documented. There is no need to invoke the CIA/KGB for the purpose.

Mr. Ras H. Siddiqui (reply # 297) wrote:

``Where would the NaxalBari (Naxalite Communists) be today if Bangladesh had not happened?``

Mr. Ras Siddiqui went on to add, ``Anyway just some questions from the ``Conspiracy Theorists``. And India`s `Liberator` role stays suspect too as does the Trojan Horse of the Naxalite Movement which Indira possibly used to fan the fears of a Marxist takeover in all of Bengal in the eyes of the Western World?``

RESPONSE: I do believe this is just another example of ``Conspiracy Theories`` gone wild. Naxalbari was (and still is) in West Bengal, India. There is no basis to theorize that it would be any where else if Bangladesh hadn`t been liberated.

And if Indira Gandhi was indeed using the ``fears of Marxist takeover in all of Bengal,`` she must have been singularly unsuccessful in her efforts because, America, the strongest power in the non-Communist world was solidly behind Yahya Khan`s Fascist regime through out the crisis and after.

West Bengal, today, has a Communist government. In, fact it has had one for the last 22 years. But this has had no significant impact on the rest of the subconinent, in general, and on India and Pakistan in particular. Communist influence in the subcontinent was confined to West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala in 1971. The situation is still exactly the same . Nothing has changed. These are the only three states in the subcontnent where Communists have won the elections to form the government.

Communists outside the subcontinent didn`t consider a localized anti-landlord movement in remote Naxalbari to be of any significance even in the subcontinent, let alone to be of any gobal significance. Communist China had its own geopolitical compulsion to support the Yahya Khan`s Fascist regime and Communist Russia had its own to oppose it.

Ideology had absolutely nothing to do with the opposing stance of the two Communist giants.There is absolutely no evidence to show that Naxalbari had any role to play in Yahya Khan`s decision to unleash his soldiers on the people of Bangladesh. It is ridiculous to claim that the Pak soldiers went on their spree of mass murder and rapes to save Pakistan from the evil influence of ``Naxalbari.`` The theory is just not credible.

But, yes, the ``Conspiracy Theorists`` may have indeed blown up ``Naxalbari`` as a significant factor in the 1971 genocide. But it was for internal consumption only. I very much doubt that even the ``Conspiracy Theorists`` ever had any faith or belief in the stories they were conjuring up. There was no coherent story line to make the theory credible in any sense. China & Russia were not in the least moved by the happenings in ``Naxalbari.``

What motivated the ``Conspiracy Theorists?`` Perhaps they found it galling to admit that the roots of the 1971 genocide were home grown. It was a puerile attempt to absolve themselves of responsibility of the universally condemned mass murder and rapes. The ``Conspiracy Theorists`` may have decided that it was more respectable to claim that Pakistan was torn asunder by international conspiracies rather than by the ambition, greed and selfishness of the ruling elite who had embracecd the ``martial races`` myth to convince itself that it was its manifest destiny to rule the subject people in East Pakistan.

It is indicative of the attitude of Pakistan`s ruling elite that its daughters and nephews continue to believe that ``Bengalis are descendants of Mir Jafar,`` ``Bengalis cannot be trusted,`` and that Bengalis are ``ghaddars.`` This ruling elite was incapable of respecting Awami League`s victory in the elctions. It was prepared to go to any length, including genocide, to avoid taking orders from or even sharing power with elected representatives of the people.

OMAR1974 Posting #307: Nationwide protest by Mujib would not have worked as it is not working for Sindh or Baluchistan today. Pakistani Military Dictators along with the Junta never believed democracy and decided for brutal option starting with disarming and killing their Bengali compatriots in the Army in East Pakistan. By that time Z. A. Bhutto already declared himself to be the Prime Minister of West Pakistan and Brig. Z. A. Khan`s already posted in East Pakistan.

If Yahya had the right kind of mind he would have used Bengali Generals in East Pakistan, Baluch Regiments in Baluchistan and Sindhis in Shindh.

In your posting #118 you have accepted Jamal Hasan`s efforts as humanitarian at the same time wanted to have him a lawyer?

Ras Siddique`s will have no chance to rule Pakistan, OMAR1974`s have better chance with the kind of mind set he are reflecting through his postings!!!

Re: Sigalph235`s posting #303

I am very sorry I am misunderstood by the above poster. I am not denying freedom fighter Ziaur Rahman`s role in the tumultuous days of 1971. When his family was at the mercy of the marauding Pak army he took enough courage in continuing the liberation war.

Similarly Mujib`s contribution from the sixties to seventy one should not be ignored. I am reapeating the same analysis again. As an administrator Mujib was a total failure. Probably it could have been better for his long term image if he would have died before 1972. Till today he would have been termed as a Saint, not a Sinner.

Mujib`s limitation started from the day he was negotiating with Yahya and Bhutto in March 1971. He failed the chess game. When people was asking to take a firm decision he was always saying confidently, ``I know what is going on. I love people etc. etc. `` When the talks failed and on the 24th March most Pakistani leaders were boarding planes (like Daulatana et al.) Mujib had time and could have announced on radio the failure of the talks. He did not do so. The people in Dacca did not have any clue that Pak army crackdown with such a magnitude would occur in the city.

After coming back from Pakistan Mujib came as a symbol of broken dreams. Nepotism and corruption were rampant. Before he initiated the one party system the Awami Leaguers and Mujibabdis were not the examples of democratic norms. Mujib gave blessing to the Mujibabdi Chhatra League. That party and Jubo League members started a reign of terror. Sramik League`s Lal bahini was ready to ``lal ghora dabraie dewa`` etc. Probably Bangladesh became independent too soon. We probably needed more martyrs and thus with more blood flow the weeds and rotten entities of the freedom fighting circle would have vanished. Mujib made the sudden decision of pardoning collaborators of 1971. The memories of the martyrs were paled by the decision. His decision did not come as the general consensus of the society. Nonetheless, during his time spirit of liberation was not totally extinguished.

Zia came with his dark glasses on the face. He followed the path of ``Enemy`s enemy is my friend`` policy of Chairman Mao. His distaste for Indians led him to work for Pakistani cause. He did not have to be a paid agent of ISI. But he wanted to have a harmonious relation with army dominated Pak rulers. So, he banned from radio tv, the words like ``Pak bahini`` etc. Bangladesh Betar became Radio Bangladesh overnight. A new exchange of Pakistani and Chinese defense delegation was continuing. War criminal tribunal or sharing of assets with Pakistani govt. was a farcry during Zia`s time. His basic premise was to ``Forget and forgive the episode of 1971``. In other words, freedom fighter Ziaur Rahman stabbed the Spirit of

1971 in the back. If we analyze his policy of ``attaining power at any cost like - I WILL MAKE PLOITICIANS` LIFE DIFFICULT``, it can be hypothesised that a grass root movement like Shahid Janani Jahanara Imam`s movement would have been nipped in the bud if Ziaur Rahman would have been alive. Also like Ziaul Huq of Pakistan Ziaur Rahman was shrewd enough (not naive and ultra emotional like Mujib) to continue their rule till today. If Ziaur Rahman would have been alive today, under his presidency (certainly he would not have been toppled like Ershad) for the new generation of Bangladeshis 1971 would have been a YEAR OF DISTURBANCE. Sigalph235`s father`s heroic deeds in 1971 would fade away slowly. The Bengalis would come out to be the only nation on earth who failed to respect its own history.

mnk

Mr. Ras H. Siddiqui (in Reply # 297)wrote:

``After 28 years none of us really know of the accurate number of casualties (300 thousand versus 3 million although even 300 thousand is a LARGE number especially for those affected as family members). It appears that Pakistanis do not have a grip on the impact of 1971 in human terms (beyond the splitting of the country). But let me be honest here to Add that it was not only the Bengalis that died. West Pakistani families and the so called ``Biharis`` also suffered significant casualties as a percentage of their numbers present. Why can`t we get more accurate information and where do we turn for it?``

RESPONSE: Mr. Ras H. Siddiqui had spent half a dozen years of his childhood in Bengal. He was an impressionable adolescent in Dhaka when the tragedy was unfolding. And in spite of the circumstances under which he had to leave Bangladesh, he continues to treasure fond memories of the land and the people. It is quite understandable why he would like to get an understanding of the true extent of the tragedy.

Mr. Omar Mirza, on the other hand, has never been to Bangladesh. His impression of the land and the people are based on the type of self-serving accounts by the likes of Lt. Colonel Z.A.Khan. In his book, Bengalis are nothing more than ``descendants of Mir Jafar,`` ``untrustworthy,`` and ``ghaddars`` at best.

Mr. O Mirza has his own agenda. He is the type of ``history buff`` who would defend Germany`s Nazi regime by claiming that the Jews and the Russians were just as guilty of the crimes against humanity. So the information I am posting will make little or no impact on the likes of Mr. O Mirza. In fact O Mirza has categorically stated that he doesn`t care if witnesses to crimes by Lt. Colonel Z.A.Khan can be produced because it is very easy to buy witnesses in poor countries like Bangladesh. In other words, Mr. O Mirza has made up his mind that, no matter what, he`ll choose to disregard any evidence of criminal conduct against the likes of Lt. Colonel Z.A.Khan.

I do believe that ordinary Pakistanis are more like Mr. Ras H. Siddiqui rather than Mr. O Mirza.

The Bangladesh genocide was fairly well documented by the international press in real time. Genocide was well analyzed both during and after. Here I`ll just point Mr. Ras H.Siddiqui to a few sources that should get him started and answer at least some of his querries.

(1) Newsweek, in the immediate aftermath of the liberation, reported (issue of 3/27/72) the murder of 1.5 million.

(2) As the true extent of the holocaust gradually dawned on the world,National Geographic (issue of September, 1972) reported the murder of 3 million. The genocide of 1971 in terms of the scale of killing is undoubtedly the worst since the days of Hitler.

Mr. Ras H. Siddiqui might want to look up Virtual Bangladesh website by Dr. Zunaid Kazi. Dr. Kazi has listed various sources for the type of information that Mr. Ras H. Siddiqui is seeking. The website should, at the least, get Mr. Ras H. Siddiqui started in his quest.

The URL address is: http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/bd_history_holocaust.html

Reposted from: May-2-99 0:18:35 PST Reply #: 286]

Dear Readers: Given the fact the most of the single entries are quickly buried in this thread due to several MULTIPLE entries of the same posts, I would like to re-post this write-up from yesterday with a great deal of hesitancy. There is no harm for a write-up to be re-posted in view of special circumstances. But thre should be a gap in between same posts. May be at least a day or two should elapse in between such re-posts. I was amazed to see that Omar Mirza had often posted the same post without giving any break. I thought that such multiple entries was due to technical difficulty. Now I realize that I was wrong. Such multiple entries were deliberately aimed at drowning posts of other readers. This kind of behavior is not acceptable.

Although I have read articles in CHOWK once in a while but I never posted anything in Chowk before this thread. In fact, I did not even know how to post in Chowk. Another thing I would not hesitate to mention: before I started reading responses to this thread, I had thought Chowk is nothing but a Pakistani Forum where you can post only those things which are typically and traditionally ``PAKISTANI.`` I also thought my truthful expression on the war crimes or war criminals will have no place in CHOWK. I was terribly wrong in stereotyping CHOWK on both counts. The openess in Chowk has thus far amazed me. We should use this opportunity of open forum throgh Chowk. I am glad that Omar Mirza has come back to entertain us once again with his conjectures and absurdities!Yet I respectfully request Omar Mirza not to abuse this forum through his multiple postings of the same write-ups. Thank you very much. Sincerely, M. Waheeduzzaman (Manik

NO WAR CRIMES AND WAR CRMINALS SHOULD GO UNPUNISHED: LET S DEMAND FOR SPEEDY TRIAL OF PAKISTANI WAR CRIMINALS: My Response #5

M.Waheeduzzaman

The most unrepentant Pakistani champions of the 1971 War Crimes have started pointing out their accusing fingers to the Bangladeshi victims of 1971 genocide for the heinous crimes and carnage which the Pakistani soldiers had perpetrated in the then East Pakistan. The spreading of innuendoes, distortions and accusations by some motivated Pakistanis against the victims and survivors of Pakistan s genocide in Bangladesh adequately demonstrates that Pakistan is not yet ready to shave off their tarnished and contaminated baggage. They have serious difficulty in dealing with truths of their tarnished past.

Although there may be a dwarfed or timid segment of decent, conscientious and peace loving people still living in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the relentless efforts of the Pakistani war criminals and their imbecile defenders have thus far made it abundantly clear that the mainstream Pakistanis are continuing to take pride in their national heritage of genocide and ethnic cleansing. With some rare exceptions, there is hardly any genuine expression of repentance or remorse among most Pakistanis for the ghastly crimes which Pakistan s brute military forces had committed twenty eight years ago in Bangladesh.

Some one suggested in this thread that it was the fault of Bangladesh Government for not prosecuting the depraved Pakistani War Criminals. Nothing could be farther from truth. The pressure which was exerted on a newly emerged Bangladesh nation by the middle-eastern allies of the then freshly defeated Islamic Republic of Pakistan thwarted Bangladesh s move even to try only 195 of the War Criminals of Pakistan. This was the minimum demand for justice from Bangabandhu s Government in the initial years after independence. The pressure from U.S. Government on Bangladesh had kept Bangladesh from the United Nations. The master politician Z.A. Bhutto s Government had also played China card on Bangladesh. Since the POWs were held by Indian Government, the geo-political realities and interests of India were also dominant factors pertaining to the trial of Pakistani War Criminals. Above all, the stranded Bangladeshi people were taken as hostages in Pakistan for safe repatriation of Pakistani Prisoners Of Wars (POWs) including 195 certified War Criminals. In spite of such triangular pressure, Bangabandhu kept on demanding trial for at least 195 hard core war criminals. As those who pretend to be friends of Bangalees and then apportion blame to the Government of Bangladesh not for prosecuting Pakistani War Criminals, for God s sake, please verify some information and objective realities of that time before you dish out unsubstantiated accusations on the victims of 1971 genocide.

It is an established fact that ven the certified Pakistani War Criminals who could avert trials for their war crimes only due to overwhelming pressure on Bangladesh from outside, at the behest of Middle Eastern Muslim nations and the United States of America, have started bragging about their heroic performance in a genocide and ethnic cleansing against Bangalees in 1971. These despicable characters and their cohorts have conveniently deleted from their selective memory lanes that approximately ninety thousand Pakistani prisoners of war (POWs) were at the custody and mercy of Indian Government after their ignominious surrender to the joint command of Bangladesh s Freedom Fighters and Indian Army on December 16, 1971. There were reports that while in Indian captivity many of those Pakistani tormentors of Bangalees used to weep like widows and cry like children for avoiding possible trials through war crime tribunals.

The Government of Pakistan under the flamboyant leadership of Z.A. Bhutto had secured their release from Indian custody by holding thousands of stranded expatriate Bangladeshis as hostages in Pakistan in spite of the fact that they were far away from the killing fields of Bangladesh. What was then the crimes of those stranded Bangalees? Their only crime was that they were Bangalees stranded in Pakistan. Given the fact that Z.A. Bhutto lacked any rudiment of conscience, he did not hesitate to use those defenseless stranded Bangladeshis as hostages for the purpose of obtaining the release of all Pakistani POWs from India.

It is unfortunate that the hard core Pakistani War Criminals could not be tried in the courts of law by Bangladesh for their war crimes in 1971 due to the so-called Simla Agreement, a treaty between India and Pakistan, and other insurmountable vicissitudes of international politics. As I already noted, Pakistan Government had played all cards at a time: oil rich Muslim countries, the United States and India. Obviously, neither India nor Bangladesh could remain immune from such pressure.

Despite the fact that no War Crime Trials could take place for the purpose of prosecuting the perpetrators of genocide in Bangladesh, they have NOT yet been exonerated by the survivors of 1971 genocide. Justice was denied then to the helpless victims and survivors of Pakistan s genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh. And justice is once again delayed now. Notwithstanding the relentless vilification of the Bangalee victims of 1971 genocide, those who were responsible for masterminding and committing the ghastly war crimes in Bangladesh will always continue to remain War Criminals in the eyes of all patriotic Bangladeshis.

The latest hate campaign through various Internet outlets and publications against the Bangladeshi victims and survivors of 1971 Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing by the arrogant and shameless defenders of Pakistani War Criminals can hardly change their heritage of genocide. Neither threats of law suit nor tons of arrogance can blot the tradition of genocide and ethnic cleansing from Pakistan s tarnished history. No amount of fraudulent claims or selective memories of valor and heroism in a genocide will delete the depraved character of Pakistani war criminals. No amount of tinkering of facts here and there or demonstration of sky high arrogance or false pride can change the basic fact that the despicable names of those nefarious Pakistani War Criminals will live on in infamy through the ages.

Like its predecessor regimes, the present Government of the Peoples` Republic of Pakistan under Nawaz Sharif is the inheritor and protector of Pakistani heritage of blood bath and false pride. Jallad General Yahya Khan, dirty and power hungry politician Z.A. Bhutto, butcher-in chief Gen. Tikka Khan, man-eating tiger Gen. Niazi, notorious planner and executor of genocide in Bangladesh Rao Forman Ali Khan, habitual hater of Bangalee race Gen. Pirzada and national traitor Gen. Hamid [the list of principal war criminals is not intended to be exhaustve but suggestive] have bequeathed the heritage of genocide, ethnic cleansing, rapes, carnage, torture, horror, burning and looting to their inheritors of today`s Pakistan. Given the fact that Pakistan had committed genocide in Bangladesh, it is a shame to humanity to acknowledge Pakistan as part of the civilized world community.

Since the brute Pakistani soldiers had raped more than a quarter of a million Bangalee women and deliberately exterminated and tormented millions of Bangalees in 1971, it is obscene to endorse Pakistan`s fraudulent claim to be a Muslim or Islamic state. The truth of the matter is that the state Pakistan is a symbol of shame and embarrassment to Islam. Doubtless, the horrific genocide which was systematically perpetrated by murderous Pakistani military forces in Bangladesh over a period of nine months in 1971 is the SCARLET LETTER for Pakistan.

The memories of those heinous crimes will follow the Pakistani war criminals to their graves. Even the certified war criminals have conceded that memories of 1971 still haunt Pakistan. For example, the former commander of genocide in eastern part of the then Pakistan Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi had prefaced his book (The Betrayal of East Pakistan)with the following words: The memories of the separation of East Pakistan still haunt us, as it left the nation divided and its pride shattered.

If Pakistan as a nation-state had any sediment of decency or an iota of self-respect, that nation would have tendered an unconditional apology to Bangladesh for their atrocities long time back. There is hardly any wonder why in the eyes of mainstream Pakistanis our relentless quest for freedom and independence was nothing but Indian aggression on East Pakistan! In the jaundiced eyes of many Pakistanis, our Mukti Juddhas or freedom fighters were Hindu miscreants and killers of non-Bengalis! One Pakistani war criminal (Rao Forman Ali Khan) has mentioned in his book that Tajuddin Ahmed, the uncompromising Prime Minister of Bangladesh Government-in-exile was son of a Hindu Brahmin, and he was converted to Islam when he was 8 years old! These are the books which are full of unsubstantiated stories, absurdities and falsehoods having neither relevance to the truths nor credibility in the academic world.

Even after almost three decades of the emergence of Bangladesh as a sovereign nation-state, Pakistani contempt for our struggle for independence has not diminished. Our independence on December 16, 1971 is still perceived by most Pakistanis as separation of East Pakistan or break up of Pakistan. For examples: A.A.K. Niazi, one of the chief executors of 1971 genocide, titled his book as The Betrayal of East Pakistan (Oxford University Press, 1998). Rao Forman Ali Khan , who is credited for masterminding the genocide of Bangalees of the then East Pakistan, titled his book How Pakistan Got Divided? (Lahore: Jang Publishers, 1992).

For most Pakistanis, the break up of Pakistan in 1971 was the result of Hindu perfidy and Bengali treachery. Same kind of debased conspiracy theories and falsehoods about the emergence of Bangladesh have been carefully crafted in the text books of Pakistan from primary school to college. The official stand of Pakistan Governments has also consistently condoned the 1971genocide even though it was perpetrated by their barbarian hordes. In fact, all Pakistani regimes from Z.A. Bhutto through Nawaz Sharif have continued to squarely blame Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for the 1971 genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh.

It is apparent that Pakistan as a nation is inherently incapable of asking for Bangalees forgiveness for the atrocities and horrific crimes which their soldiers and leaders had committed in Bangladesh. It takes moral courage and a great deal of humility to ask for forgiveness. It seems that the mainstream Pakistani society lacks that kind of moral courage and conscience.

Instead of begging pardons from Bangladesh, many defenders of Pakistani War Criminals have demonstrated audacity of blaming the Bangalee victims of 1971 genocide. For many years even the Governments of Pakistan did not have the minimum decency to tell the truth to Pakistanis about the nature of Pakistan s heinous crimes against the citizens of the then Eastern province of Pakistan. As of this day, no Pakistan regime did take any meaningful step to implement the findings of Justice Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report (HRC) [even though the intent of this Commission was not to investigate War Crimes in Bangladesh. Rather, the terms of reference of the HRC were to identify the causes for the Military Defeat in East Pakistan]. In other words, no one in Pakistan was held accountable or answerable to even internally constituted investigative bodies for the carnage and atrocities in Bangladesh which were committed by Pakistani military forces.

In view of such circumstance, it is fair to recommend that the Government of Bangladesh should demand for the speedy trial of Pakistan s War Criminals in the International Tribunals for War Crimes. Instead of asking for Pakistan s apology, the victims and survivors of 1971 genocide and ethnic cleansing should demand justice.

With the deepest personal regards, Sincerely,

M. Waheeduzzaman (Manik)

last post continued:

(Read that one first)

He could have led NATIONWIDE PROTESTS IN FAVOR OF DEMOCRACY, but no, he chose dismemberment. This is why he will forever be regarded with bitterness and ill favor in Pakistan. It is his true legacy. He deserves it fully. Of course you all already know i hold the other participants in this to blame as well.

I`m waiting for answer. Raise the dead, bring them back life. I wish to cross-question them on the stand. My country too demands a reckoning.

The Quaid e Azam and all the martyrs of 1947 too demand an answer of you Mujib. Have you one? You trivialized their sacrifices and their struggle for freedom by your partisan, selfish acts. My cousin has already rather crudely accused you of selling your soul to India forever. Sigalph has also said as much of your willingness to do so. Your record is rather black (Agarthala conspiracy etc). The evidence of Indian complicity in your actions in 1971 speaks for itself.

You stand before me, before G-D, before those who bled for our freedom, of all those who died in 1971 as well, in the docket for treason. The blood of those who died cries out for an answer. How do you plead? HOW DO YOU PLEAD? I can`t hear you very well Mujib. It must be the Qabar-Ka-Azab. The angels must still be tormenting your very soul. I hope it was worth it. 3 short, miserable bloody years of absolute power. You should have remembered that we all answer for our sins to the same creator, and we take nothing of this world with us when we go, neither the trappings of power, nor wealth, only our good deeds and our sins. I hope you did some good deeds that outweigh the black ones. You cannot escape G-Ds justice. Even if you claim to be a citizen of Bangla Desh. Your end speaks volumes of man`s justice and judgement as to your character already. The other guilty parties met similar fates. Man`s justice has been served. I now await G-Ds justice upon you and the rest.

OMAR MIRZA

I have a question to ask the Bengalis. Any and all are invited to pick up this gauntlet. I did not live through these events, but i have understood their passion only too well. I will put the question that no one has been willing to ask before, because everything that happened has now been cloaked in the historical `inevitability` of 20/20 hindsight.

Granted that Mujib was elected as the rightful primeminister of United Pakistan elected on a madate of provincial autonomy, not independence. As such, he posessed very strong MORAL authority over the people of West Pakistan as well. Why instead of trying to form alliances only with parties like the ANP did he not go above the party heads, Unelected President Yahya`s head, and appeal directly to the people of West Pakistan? Why did he not openly tell them that CIVIL WAR would be the result of the cancellation of the Assembly`s meetings? Why did not fly to West Pakistan in early March and go city to city making speeches if he had to. Patriotic West Pakistanis could have flocked to his side in the name of United Pakistan. They would have put pressure on Bhutto and the government to reach a peaceful solution consonant with the majority mandate of the people that Mujib had rightfully won. But Mujib was only too willing to let United Pakistan descend into CIVIL WAR, more willing to see CIVIL WAR than make a trip to West Pakistan and appeal to the people. I assure you had he done that, March 25th need not have come to pass, not the mob violence in Bengal preeceding that. Instead, rather than act as a nationally elected leader, he chose instead to behave in a regal manner, while West Pakistanis paid visit to his court. He was a small man. He preferred bloodshed, separation, genocide to accomodation and enforcing his rights as leader of UNITED PAKISTAN. That is the judgement of history that I impose on him. Let anyone who can refute it, try. I know the political history like the back of my hand. I also know that nothing, no course of events is set in stone. People make choices. It was Mujib`s choices as much as those of anyone else that brought about the tragedy. I think Bengalis thought Jute would be their salvation. Pie charts of economic distribution and export earnings were the basis of Mujib`s arrogance. This arrogance cost us all a great deal.

OMAR MIRZA