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

RE : Mr.Manik #208 I am going to address a few quotes from your post and analyse them.

It is unthinkable that Bangabandhu would ask for “assurance” of blood thirsty Pakistani military animals for staying alive.

Response: In an earlier post I stated clearly enough I think that rhetoric, which we are all guilty of using must end, no one listened. Certainly not you. The problem you see is understandable, you read as do most people with their own biases. Its unthinkable Bangabandhu could be a common human being, or react like one. This is your preconception, nothing more. I have an eyewitness.

peace-loving Bangalees in 1971

Response: Quite frankly you need to repeat this statement in front of some of the people, whom I know personally, who lost parents and relatives (all civilians whose crime was being non-Bengali) to the blood thirsty mobs of ‘Peace Loving Bengalis in 1971.’ Come to Karachi, I can find these people for you. Tell this to them. See what they say.

It is unthinkable that Bangabandhu would ask for “assurance” of blood thirsty Pakistani military animals for staying alive.

Response: This is your preconception. It shows. Even Stalin was a man (and Banghabandu’s deeds from 1972-75 can be roughly compared to Stalin’s totalitarian regime’s acts, and modus operendi). What to speak of a Bangabandhu!

And he is not at all interested in professional exchange of views. His goal is to disseminate falsehoods and fabrications about Bangladesh.

Response: You have misunderstood me blinded as you are by your own rhetoric. I am the champion of those causes on whose behalf no one dares to speak out of fear of being labeled politically incorrect. I do not doubt that many Bengali civilians died, some innocently in the Civil War of 1971, I am not naive. Pakistan army was not full of angels, any more than Bangabandhu was one descended from Heaven to ‘liberate’ East Pakistanis. My point has been that it is time to shatter ALL myths. And I am perfectly willing to go to play extremes in order to stimulate people to think. Why? Because I don’t accept the Universal Truth that Bengali and Indian scholars have painted in Black/White about a progression of discrimination leading inevitably to Independence. The people involved were human beings not automatons as you paint them out to be. As I stated earlier, this simplistic version of history being peddled is FAR TOO Simplistic. Even the most patriotic Bengalis today who were in their 40s during the 1971 period can recollect a time when they loved United Pakistan, and West Pakistanis were not devils, but Bengalis and West Pakistanis were brothers. You had better heed these words. I always speak the unspeakable for a reason. I have no desire to torment anyone, except those who would impose a rigid conception of history upon us (for my views on how history is represented see earlier posts) or too rosy a one sided view. For them I have NO MERCY! Real history gets lost in Rhetoric, in this case the Rhetoric of the winning side, i.e Bengali Nationalism and Indian Trimphalism. Even professor types are lost in the rhetoric. To you, I am a hate-mongerer etc, well if expressing the views of 98% of Pakistanis today is ‘hate-mongering’, then I suppose I am what you say. I never shy from the truth or discovering it, or questioning it, no matter how ugly. First person accounts are valuable, and I have no problem with who wrote them, as these are the tools by which we can gain insights into the past. Let us not shun them and only regurgitate national myths. That would be completely useless. You have a preconceived attitude disposed to find Z.A Khan guilty before trial, you would be disqualified as a potential juror in the U.S with such a disposition. That has been my point throughout repeated ad nauseum, that Z.A Khan is not a war criminal JUST because he was there. I think frankly speaking that most of the 90,000 Pakistan army soldiers are war criminals in Bengali eyes. It really doesn’t matter what they actually did all that much. This attitude must be exposed. You have exposed it yourself, go back and read your post and see if you can spot your own preconceptions. If you can’t, you’re blind. I at least openly acknowledge mine and recognize them. You guys indulge in the same sterotypes that West Pakistanis are guilty of, and then try to justify it in terms of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, sort of taking on the role of the Jews of the subcontinent, imposing your version of history onto everyone else like they have done over the past 50 years. I most certainly don`t deny the holocaust occurred, nor do I deny Pakistani some culpability in what happened in 1971. But I do challenge the holier than thou attitude with which accounts are presented and country`s described, especially when i know that they are not entirely justified but a view distorted through the prism of history, of the progression of history. There are only theories as to why what happened was `inevitable`, i challenge any and all presumptions, by any means necessary to drive home this point, no matter how verbally brutal i have to become simply because the past is covered by layers of preconceptions that have solidified over time. I WAS NOT EVEN BORN when this happened. Fortunately, I have a skeptical mind. I am willing to explore the can of worms Z.A Khan has opened thru his simple unvarnished account of what he claims to have witnessed with his own eyes. Soon the remaining participents in these events will be dead. I suppose that is why you want trials, to establish the primacy of your truth.

#209 MnKhan

Good Point! I though earlier today about this scenario myself, BEFORE I read your post.

Here is a gesture of good will towards Bengalis. I for my part have no objections to handing over ‘the jackal’ Niazi. If you want to try him, question him, and hang him, be my guest. I think most of Pakistan wished he were dead for the dishonor he brought upon us. I have no problem with handing him over to Bangladesh. The only thing is that I insist that he be tried not at the Hague for his alleged crimes, but in Bangladesh, where we can be sure he will swing without a doubt. I am extremely sorry that this gentleman has come out with, ‘mein nay hatyar nahinh daalay.’ (Trans. I did not lay down my weapons). Even though I have not read it. Perhaps I like others suffer from my own preconceptions of what he did and HOW he did it.

Fair is foul and foul is fair. Things are never quite what they may seem outwardly. Thinking upon the lessons of history, I am going to elaborate my paradigm. THERE ARE ONLY VERSIONS OF THE TRUTH. There is no truth per se. I do not doubt the sincerity of anyone’s PARTICULAR account. But particular accounts necessarily need to be examined with objectivity. I don’t trust any one of them standing alone. There are myths that have been perpetuated with the ‘uncomfortable’ details swept under the rug. Be they stories by holocaust victims, or by those alleged to have killed them. I am prepared to read EVERTHING to formulate my own opinion while remaining conscious of my own biases. Neither will I accept unconditionally anything more than personal accounts of the holocaust. Why? 50 plus years of propaganda by the ‘victims’ that’s why. And the perverted useage of the holocaust to blackmail numerous European governments and the world at large, time and time again. Excuse me therefore for a natural inclination to assume that both the Jews and the Bengalis have a vested interested in playing the role of victims, when they may well have been deemed to be partisans on opposite sides. Yes, PARTISANS, not victims. I am not inclined to dismiss out of hand any reasonable theory, any more than I am inclined to accept it blindly. In essence I ask the unspeakable, what were the Jews doing BEFORE the holocaust. Furthermore I also ask as to what particular conduct the Bengalis were engaged in PRIOR to both March 7th, and March 25th. You won’t like the question as to whether Bengalis were Partisans or victims. The question itself seems obscene to you. That is the point. To those who preach a gospel of genocide, this is heresy. The truth is that the truth is manipulated. It is neither safe in the hands of AAK Niazi, nor Bengalis. They all seem to have their own slanted versions of ‘the truth’. I never swallow anything hook, line and sinker.

Examples of historical myth making. The Kashmir conflict. I don’t dispute the views that Indians sprout by rote, or that Pakistanis sprout. I think now that they are both versions of history that suffer from perspective. In an attempt to drown each other out, both sides have resorted to yelling, w/o any willingness to listen to the other. Emotion has triumphed. Neither side is angelic. Both versions have flaws. We have learned the same history but from different perspectives. And the historical version has been diluted in national myth making. This is reality. I have seen the very same faults in versions related to the explanation of 1971s events. They are all of them imperfect. The theories of oppression, discrimination, Banglabandhu as the angel of ‘liberation,’ West Pakistani colonial exploitation, are all too neat. History is NEVER that neatly written to be understood in terms of natural progression of events in a straight line, deemed entirely foreseeable in hindsight of course. Had we known the train wreck that was to occur in 1971, 10 years earlier, would I seek to redress Bengali grievances? Yes. There is no doubt that there were indeed grounds for many, but it is NOT a tale of universal oppression by any means that certain individuals paint it as.

Take the Arab-Israeli conflict. My sympathies are with the Arabs. But lets look at how the Arabs have behaved towards the Jews rather than focusing only on the way the Jews have behaved towards the Arabs. It is not a one sided tale with only heroes and villains (Saints and Deamons) on one side or the other by any means. To label people as either solely ‘Victims’ and ‘Oppressors’ is not the way. The truth is never that clear cut.

Take ‘Secular India’ or ‘Islamic Fundamentalist Pakistan’, these LABELS ALONE are loaded, just as loaded as ‘Traitors’ Vs. ‘Liberation War.’ Neither of them stand up to close scrutiny completely. Each side believes it is in SOLE possession of THE TRUTH. And proceeds to express the truth it believes itself possessed of at the full strength that its lungs can muster (I have myself given a good example of how his can be done, by provoking the response I expected from a large number of people). Pardon me for my large scale psychological lab experiments with yourselves as the rats. This is no means of establishing truth, only the means I felt necessary to expose its partisan versions which have come out in their fullest hues as anticipated. I have been forced throughout this debate to make the point that there is indeed another side by painting it in very vivid colors. If I have given anyone any particular personal offense or grief, I humbly apologize for my part.

I also humbly observe that the term ‘war criminal’ is just as loaded as any other.

Regards,

Omar Mirza

End Explanatory note:

The truth is that Mujib was BOTH, ‘a liberator’ and ‘a Traitor.’ And you can apply this analogy to all the Pakistani Generals as well, in the same manner. And they can all be BOTH things simultaneously, as I explained in my prior post. It’s a question of perspective. And which jaundiced eye one is taught to view history from. For Bengalis they are `war criminals,` because they are on the `wrong side` of history, for Pakistanis they are `heroic defenders of the fatherland.` That is all there is to it. Holier than thou’s be forewarned, I am your worst nightmare, no matter which ‘side’ you’re on.

In any event, a thoroughly enjoyable discussion for me. Read previous post for full xplanation.

Regrets I cannot say for tea,

All the best

Sincerely,

Omar Mirza

End Explanatory note:

The truth is that Mujib was BOTH, ‘a liberator’ and ‘a Traitor.’ And you can apply this analogy to all the Pakistani Generals as well, in the same manner. And they can all be BOTH things simultaneously, as I explained in my prior post. It’s a question of perspective. And which jaundiced eye one is taught to view history from. For Bengalis they are `war criminals,` because they are on the `wrong side` of history, for Pakistanis they are `heroic defenders of the fatherland.` That is all there is to it. Holier than thou’s be forewarned, I am your worst nightmare, no matter which ‘side’ you’re on.

In any event, a thoroughly enjoyable discussion for me. Read previous post for full xplanation.

Regrets I cannot stay for tea,

All the best

Sincerely,

Omar Mirza

I will not stand by and watch idealized versions of fairytales being propagated in the simple

manner of Aesop’s fables with their simple moral axioms. Good Vs. Bad. The actors in history

were men of clay, not gods who fed on ambrosia. Those who continue this shameless course (Be they Bengali, Indian, Serb, Jew, Arab, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Pakistani, Balauchi etc) will find themselves confounded at every step. You people want to believe in some twisted version

of what you think constitutes, ‘the truth,’ if it makes you sleep more soundly at night, go ahead,

but don’t expect the world to swallow it uncritically too. Because everyone has their own personal, biased version of truth that suits them just like yours suits you. And how do you plan to advise us which version to choose? Sway us with morality or patriotism to your side! Because this is the last refuge of the scoundrel. It cuts both ways. Pah. I see Both sides Very clearly and neither the overall conduct of the Pakistan army nor the Bengalis behavior impresses me in the slightest. Both are culpable.

Omar Mirza

Conclusion:

You people want to fulfill some notion of justice? I’ll give you an idea of what justice is. Justice is the discretion of the powerful and the mighty. Nothing more. Take my word for it. What kind of justice do you think you’ll get? Putting old men on trial for what? As for name calling, ‘war criminal’ is name calling too.

For a long time, I have wanted revenge. Just revenge. Pure and simple. If anyone even knows the meaning of hate, it is I. If I could, I think I would personally with my own hands like to lop off the heads off every single Sikh living on the planet for the death of my grandparents in 1947 in front of my 12 year old father, whom they left for dead along with his eight year old brother (not Z.A Khan) in pools of their own blood in the train after slashing them with swords. Their 20 year old sister was abducted by the Sikhs to be raped and killed. We never even recovered the body. They never speak of it, but I know. But what good would it do? Even I am well aware that everything is not so clear cut. There were in fact decent people, Hindus who undoubtedly saved Muslim lives. My point throughout has been that people see the world as black and white when it is really shades of grey. Give me my family’s justice, for I can easily drink Sikh blood even today without a second thought, I am also fully capable of inflicting merciless agonizing death on those whom I hold responsible. So let me get my version of justice, then I’ll give you the justice you seek. Come on, lets go to it, an eye for an eye until the whole world is blind. Being consumed by hate for ‘animals,’gets you nowhere. Trust me. I know from experience. Both my justice and yours are equally perverted and twisted.

Forget about it. Move on with your lives. Or grant me my wish. The choice is yours. Trust me, I am not an adversary you EVER want to see pitted against you, Changez Khan had not my passion, in either battle or in a court of law or any other endeavor in life. I take no prisoners. Not even so called holocaust victims.

OMAR MIRZA

Mr Omar,

We have taken note of your statements against the Bhutto family. We have received postings at our official website about your statements and we have cross referenced them at this site. We advise you to avoid making such statements.

Party Functionary

Re: Omar

You seem to have a vivid idea of how people from another religion come to your house, rampage, kill , rape and then convert the members of the household. My guess is , your forefathers were converted just the same way by the people you call the heroes ``the mughals and the persian marauding tribes ``

no wonder you have such a recollection. Probably subliminal. Me. my conversion was peaceful. My grandfather was attracted by the equality that islam spoke off and hence he converted.

About my dangers from the RSS...let me tell you something. Where i come from, RSS can not even enter. The majority of people in this part of TN and Kerala are not Hindus but peace loving muslims and christians. We can take care of ourselves. And in this process even if something like what you said happens, we will not beg you for assistance. Like honourable muslims we will fight and if required we will give our lives. But rest assured that we will not look at people like you for help. You are the same kind who will first help in the name of the religion and then exploit because we are not mughals etc etc., i will not address any more mails to you unless i see some profanity in these pages from you.

P.S : if you are so bothered about being butchered by the hindus in india, you should leave america , for all you know, americans treat muslims worse than anyone else. And one day you will get the same from some Ku Klux Klan.

Note : I don`t even fully read your answers. I don`t even think they are worth it. Thanks for taking my advice and not speaking vulgarity though.

iconoclast

THE FALSE PRIDE OF THE IMBECILE DEFENDERS

OF THE ACCUSED WAR CRIMINALS:

RESPONSE # 2

M. Waheeduzzaman



Despite my pungent yet truthful commentary on Pakistani War Criminals and their imbecile defenders, I harbor no grudge against Pakistan as a nation and as people even though the mainstream of Pakistan society has thus far condoned “whatever” happened in 1971 in the then East Pakistan. I feel tormented when I realize that no one was made to account for in Pakistan for the atrocities their soldiers had committed in 1971. However, my comments have particular reference to those who were responsible for blueprinting g and committing atrocities in Bangladesh during our liberation struggle in 1971. My response has also direct bearing on those who have been defending the 1971military atrocities in 1971.

Despite my pungent yet truthful commentaries on the accused war criminals and their defenders, I would most respectfully submit that even the “accused” or “alleged” hard core war criminals should be afforded the right to self-defense and due process. The spouses, children (nephews also) and other relatives and friends of the accused war criminals have every right to defend the actions of their loved ones even though they might have “effectively” and “heroically” performed their assigned tasks as part of Pakistan’s genocide against Bangalees in 1971. I have no problem with that kind of fundamental rights of any human beings. Yet, I find it hard to comprehend how Pakistan society at large could condone or remain indifferent to 1971 genocide and ethnic cleansing for over period of almost 28 years. Is it arrogance? Is it false pride? Is it deliberate indifference? Is it lack of conscience? Is it something else? Although I can raise questions, I have no answers to these questions. It neither appropriate nor desirable on the part of a survivor of 1971 genocide to speculate on these questions. I think that only conscientious segments of Pakistanis can pursue these questions.

I sincerely believe that the “accused” or “perceived” war criminals of Pakistan must be held accountable for their deliberate planning and execution of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh in 1971. Their despicable actions in Bangladesh were both immoral and illegitimate. Any participant’s participation in any genocide or atrocities can’t be washed away as a “justifiable” action for saving the integrity of Pakistan with which Bangalees had severed the pre-existing political relationship through the Declaration of our Independence on March 25, 1971, the black night on which the brute military forces of Pakistan had unleashed a reign of terror on the unarmed Bangalees.

It is very hard to swallow the arrogance and falsehoods of those accused Pakistani war criminals and their enthusiastic defenders who have the audacity to justify the ghastly massacres of Bangalees during Bangladesh’s War of Liberation. It is also difficult to accept when the perpetrators of 1971 genocide demonstrate no sense of remorse or repentance for committing ghastly crimes. Should they choose, let the hate mongering and genocide loving segments of Pakistan “SALUTE” those “Pakistani heroes” who were responsible for turning the then East Pakistan into thousands of killing fields for millions of Bangalees. However, the inheritors and children of those depraved perpetrators of heinous crimes with tainted past for their barbarities on Bangalees are no ones to mischaracterize the victims of genocide

The nature and extent of the 1971 genocide and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the infamous “two-legged, blood thirsty Pakistani military wolves” [these are not rhetorical exclamations-- these words have become part of Bengali folklore and vocabulary because of the fact that the nature, extent and viciousness of those horrific crimes have yet to comprehended by mainstream of Pakistan society] over a period of nine months in Bangladesh have thus far been validated by numerous independently and professionally verified and umpired documents, books, dissertations, monographs, journal articles and contemporary newspaper reports. It is universally recognized that Pakistani War Criminals are those who were directly or indirectly involved in the design, implementation (or management, carrying out or execution) and monitoring of Pakistani Genocide in Bangladesh from March 25, 1971 through December 16, 1971.

I want the champions and defenders of war crimes to know that it is neither malicious nor slanderous on the part of the victims or survivors of 1971 genocide to accuse or characterize or perceive any “active participant” in the 1971 genocide as “war criminal” even though the final determination is contingent upon the verdict of a legally constituted court of law or tribunal for war crimes. It needs to be clearly understood that that there could not be any genocide in Bangladesh in 1971 in the absence of participation of Pakistan’s murderous military forces. Therefore, it is the legitimate right and invariably a moral duty of any patriotic Banglaee to condemn those Pakistanis who were responsible for blueprinting or committing those horrific crimes. Those war crimes need to be accounted for. No Pakistani war criminal should go unpunished. Such demands from the victims or the survivors of 1971 genocide have both moral and legal grounds.

Although the war criminals could not be prosecuted to the fullest extent of International Laws for the genocide they had committed in Bangladesh for insurmountable pressures from powerful allies of Pakistan, there has been no dearth of independently verifiable evidence against those who had committed those heinous crimes. Thus far hundreds of credible eyewitness accounts and personal memoirs of atrocities, rapes and murders that were committed by marauding Pakistani soldiers have been compiled and printed in Bangladesh. Many survivors of 1971 genocide are still alive even though they have been licking their deep wounds and scars which the Pakistani soldiers and their officers had inflicted upon them in the name of defending the integrity of so-called Pakistan.

I am not at all amused when the twisted defenders of their war crimes characterize our freedom loving people of Bangladesh or their sole spokesman in 1971 Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (SMR) as ghaddars (traitors). It is totally unacceptable if a defender of Pakistani genocide dares to equate the freedom loving valiant freedom fighters of our liberation war with genocide loving brute military forces of Pakistan. As survivors from Pakistani genocide, is it too much to expect more truthful appraisal of their crimes in 1971 from the defenders or inheritors of Pakistani killers, rapists, child molesters, arsonists and tormentors ? I totally reject the patronizing notion of those who suggest that genocide was committed by both sides (Bangalees and Pakistanis). Such statements are devoid of any relevance to the truth. The victims of 1971 genocide, ethnic cleansing, rapes and other horrific crimes can’t be blamed for those crimes against humanity which were systematically perpetrated by the brute forces of the then Pakistan.

Thanks for your time. I do sincerely appreciate for perusing my commentary.

Respectfully submitted,

M. Waheeduzzaman (Manik)

Re: Reply # 184

Mr. Mirza, in reply#184 I posed six questions to you regarding Lt. Col. Z.A. Khan`s activity in occupied Bangladesh. I knew beforehand that you would avoid answering those questions. Now I see that I was proven right.

Consider this forum, if you will, a court where Z.A. Khan is now being tried for committing crime against humanity during the first four months (March through June 1971) of army crackdown Comilla, Feni, Chittagong, and Chittagong Hill Tract. Also consider yourself to be the lawyer defending the retired Brigadier. I am representing the Bengalis as their lawyer. Would you please ask Brigadier Z.A. Khan the following question?

Why was Lt. Col. Z.A. Khan sacked in June 1971? Also, why did the military authorities in Dhaka ship the Lt. Colonel so hurriedly to West Pakistan?

Please consult your client (Z.A. Khan), get the answer and then tell blurt it out. Like a good trial lawyer I will have a follow up question.

Re: The Anonymous PPP Party functionary

Sue me! :)

I`ll enjoy that one. As for Statements against the PPPs leadership, these are amply corraborated by the actions of Pakistani courts rectly, and also by the N.Y Times in the not so distant past, as well as by Mrs.Bhutto`s own statements incriminating herself in the National Assembly during her second term in office.

I think Mrs. Bhutto should start worrying about whether interpol will be picking her up soon or not at her residence in England.

Omar Mirza

OMAR1974 wrote in posts # 215 & 216

``The truth is that Mujib was BOTH, `a liberator` and `a Traitor`. And you can apply this analogy to all the Pakistani Generals as well, in the same manner. And they can all be BOTH things simultaneously, as I explained in my prior post. It’s a question of perspective. And which jaundiced eye one is taught to view history from. For Bengalis they are `war criminals,` because they are on the `wrong side` of history, for Pakistanis they are `heroic defenders of the fatherland.` That is all there is to it. Holier than thou`s be forewarned, I am your worst nightmare, no matter which side you`re on.

In any event, a thoroughly enjoyable discussion for me.``

RESPONSE: This is quite a come-down for the avenger O. Mirza who had threatened Mr. Jamal Hasan/Chowk with law suit unless they issued immediate retraction and apology for the article. He had used his half-baked legalese in ample measure to sound convincing. Mr. O.Mirza had been strutting and posturing on Chowk. He had assured the readers that Brigadier Z.A.Khan has an able lawyer in his nephew O.Mirza who will extract a quarter million dollar from Mr. Jamal Hasan for defamation and slander.

Well, the bottom line is that Mr. Jamal Hasan/Chowk has not bothered to respond to the threats. They haven`t retracted a thing. And they haven`t apologized. In other words, they have called Mr. O.Mirza`s bluff. Essentially Mr. Jamal Hasan is telling Mr. Mirza, ``Go ahead, go to court and make my day.`` Mr. O.Mirza has now been reduced to wailing that the detractors have little to gain by calling Brigadier Z.A.Khan a war criminal or dragging that old man to court.

He is peading that Brigadier Z.A.Khan may be a traitor to Bengalis but he should be seen as a liberator by the Pakistanis.

I have no doubt that Mr. O.Mirza is quite capable of seeing both a liberator and a traitor in Adolph Hitler. That is indeed his prerogative. But he cannot expect others to see the world through his eyes. Adolph Hitler is a monster in the eyes of most people. There is little that Mr. O.Mirza can do to change that perception.

Furthermore, Mr. O.Mirza is wrong to say that the Pak Generals may have been traitors in the eyes of Bengalis but that they were patriots and liberators in the eyes of the Pakistanis. That is rubbish. The generals are traitors in the eyes of all Pakistanis. It was their ambition, greed and thievery that led to the 1971 genocide. The Pakistani army officers had a vested interest to portray the tragedy as a struggle against Hindus and India. And when that strategy failed, the army officers went on to portray it as a struggle against Bengalis who were painted as ``bad Miuslims,`` ``ghaddars,`` ``descendants of Mir Jafa`` and so on.

The nephew (O. Mirza) and the daughter (Muneezae Alam Khan) have continued to mouth those invectives in a dishonest bid to prove that the Pak army was fighting the East Pakistanis on behalf of the West Pakistanis. The army officers were fighting for themselves. They were fighting to maintain their grip on power and on their ill-gotten wealth. They were fighting to make sure that a disproportionate share of the country`s wealth continue to be funneled into the coffers of the army.

The Awami League had won a majority in the National Assembly much to the consternation of the top brass in the army. The Awami League was the enemy because it was bound by its election promises to stop issuing blank checks to the thugs in the army. The Awami League was the enemy because with the help of parties like the NAP, it was in a position sent the generals back to the barracks where they belonged.

The Pak generals were an evil lot. They were willing to go to any length, even genocide, to preserve their power and privileges. It was downright dishonest and devious that these generals claimed that they were fighting for West Pakistanis against East Pakistanis in the hope that the people of West Pakistan would wink at their heinous crimes.

Mr. O.Mirza is continuing with the same tradition of subterfuge when he claims that the generals are liberators in the eyes of Pakistanis. Nothing can be further from truth. The Generals, Brigadiers and Lt. Colonels who perpetrated the crimes in East pakistan were traitors, period. They did it for feathering their own nest. They did it at a heavy cost to the country. It was the ambition, the greed and the thievery of the army officers that led to the genocide.

The army hasn`t changed much in the last 27 years.

Honesty and integrity in a Pakistani military officer continues to be the exception rather than the rule. They continue to rule the roost with an iron hand.

It is to Pakistan`s interest to make sure that the war criminals do not escape punishment. Otherwise, every Pakistani, be he a Sindhi or a Baloch, a Ahmadiyya or a Zikri, will continue to run the risk of the same fate that befell the Bengalis in 1971. The war criminals do not represent the ordinary Pakistanis. War crime trials are necessary, not for revenge, but for justice and for the good of all Pakistanis.

Re: mnkhan58 A Trial!:)

Why was Lt. Col. Z.A. Khan sacked in June 1971? Also, why did the military authorities in Dhaka ship the Lt. Colonel so hurriedly to West Pakistan?

Reply: I thought you had read the book. The entire book i mean. I also know what your assumption is, you spelled it out before. But your inference is unjustified as related to any allegations made against him. The details are in the book, if you care to figure out why by reading carefully. I think its obvious from the entire book, taken as a whole, that Z.A Khan was an outspoken man, who never shied from confrontation if he felt his superiors were behaving like asses and jeopardizing the lives of his men unnecessarily just to get their faces in the newspaper. Unfortunately for you, this only goes to show that he was an honorable man, a man of principles, as do a number of other incidents described within it that have nothing to do with his time in East Pakistan at all. Any other inference you may care to draw is wholly based on your overactive imagination and without basis.



regards,

(grin)

In post # 218, OMAR1974 wrote:

``Forget about it. Move on with your lives. Or grant me my wish. The choice is yours. Trust me, I am not an adversary you EVER want to see pitted against you, Changez Khan had not my passion, in either battle or in a court of law or any other endeavor in life. I take no prisoners. Not even so called holocaust victims.``

RESPONSE: Why does Mr. O.Mirza continue to rant and rave? He has already been granted his wish. He had threatened Mr. Jamal Hasan/Chowk with a quarter million dollar suit unless the article was withdrawn and an apology offered to the so-called defamation victim, the infamous Z.A.Khan. Mr. O. Mirza boasts that Changez Khan had not his passion in a court of law. He boasts that he`ll take no prisoner.

But Mr. Jamal Hasan/Chowk has remained unmoved. They have thrown down the gauntlet. The ball is now in the Brigadier`s court. Mr. Jamal Hasan/Chowk has essentially told the nephew, Mr. Omar Mirza, ``Go to court, be my guest, make my day.``

Hopefully, Mr. Omar Mirza will soon realize that such bravado was as imprudent as it was unwarranted for a unworthy cause like that of Lt. Colonel Z.A.Khan. The nephew`s time will be better spent studying for the Bar Exam. And believe me, the uncle will heave a big sigh of relief. A day in court is the last thing that the uncle is looking forward to, and for very good reasons.

Re: All

Atrocities were committed on both sides of the border during partition. It is irrelevant to compare who suffered the most. And even if such a comparison is indeed made, the results are debatable. However let me add that My family too suffered a very sad phase during those times. Murders, lootings, and rapes were committed in my family too by Muslims who were neighbours and friends of my family till the other day. Muslim neighbours and servants who had carried the daughters of the household on their shoulders till the other day, raped them and murdered them when the frenzy became high. Remember Lahore was a Hindu majority city till then. Those Muslim mobs probably felt that their religion condoned their behavior. However, It is just plain stupid if i hold the grudge against another muslim just because he belongs to the same faith as those who committed the rape and murder. Heck, such rape and murder are being committed on all grounds, religion, sects, money, power, politics and what not. Sunnis do it against Shias, Iranians did that with the Iraqis, the Iraqis did that with the kuwaitis, the Serbs do that with the Albanians, the Pakistanis did that with the Bengalis and almost every sect of people appear to be guilty of these acts. Look at how the taliban treats its own citizen even in todays world. Whom will these innocent women in Afghanistan hold a grudge against. ? I don`t want to be a part of the lunacy which is sometimes being perpetuated as an eye for an eye. I do not think it makes sense in dreaming of taking revenge and drinking blood of all the people belonging to a different religion at all. If so, who would take revenge for all those massacre ever perpetuated till date.

Having said that, while it is difficult to label a whole group of people as guilty of genocide just because one of them was indeed guilty, it need not apply the same way when one person is accused of the same guilt.

Hence, one can point a finger at an army officer and accuse him of war crimes. However one cannot point a finger at all pakistanis and blame them of war crimes . That would be simply untenable.

And my understanding is that all the Bangladeshis posting in these columns, do not accuse all the Pakistanis guilty of crime, even when some of the participants accused all the Bangladeshi`s as unworthy, untrustable and traitors and criminals.

Again, at the risk of repeating myself, the burden of proof has to be provided by the Bangladeshis. So if they accuse the colonel of war crimes they need to provide concrete evidence . And till now, this has not come out. So atleast in my view, there seems no evidence of war crimes on the colonel`s part based on these discussions.

But then, talking of lopping off the heads of all the sikhs for some unpardonable crimes committed by a few of them in the past is downright ridiculous. And saying that one is capable of lopping off the heads of all the sikhs is chestbeating at its wildest imagination. What else can i say ?

Rishi

To FerozK (post #228):