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

Pakistanis have shamelessly ignored the genocide of Bengalis. I guess it is easy to find fault in others and over-look our own - human phsycology.

A friend of mine who runs an organization that helps female victims of war and torture, has visited Bengladesh several times and worked with the women who were raped by the Pakistani jawans and had their breasts cut-off as well. If this is not genocide and ethnic cleansing then what is it?

Prof. Lee Rose of UC Berkeley in his book on Bengladesh has given detail accounts of atrocities committed by Pakistan. Gen Niazi (who was made the escape goat)in his book ``Fall of Dacca``, points out other culprits, such as Tikka
Khan (aka Butcher of Bengal, and then Butcher of Balochistan) and Arbab
Jehanzeb, Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, etc, etc, etc.

One of the culprits, Arbab Jehanzeb
(a Brigadier at that time)was recalled from Dacca by GHQ because he had
went way over board in looting and stealing, just before the fall. He was
demoted too, but then Zia made him Left. Gen. and appointed him the
Martial Law administrator of Sindh.

The fact of the matter is that most Pakistanis do not want to confront the
Bangladesh tragedy. And i think it`s about time!!!

The tragic thing is that some of the culprits were later involved in
massacring about 5-10,000 Balochs from 73-77. Their towns and villages were bombed with helicopter gunships and their wells were poisened.

Re: Jamal Hasan

An excellent article, much in the tradition of an oral history listing the crimes of the Pakistani Army during the December War of 1971. There is no question that Pakistan must confront the consequences of its actions and clear its national conscience by tendering an apology to the people of Bangladesh. In the words of the late Sir Winston Churchill, it was certainly not our finest hour and this moral stain has to be removed from the fabric of our national morality.

My only disagreement with the article was its attempts to compare the Pakistani crime, in Bangladesh, with the crimes of Nazi Germany during the Second World War. You can not, despite your best intentions, compare genocide. Genocide, by defination, is a crime against humanity and no one genocide is more worse than the other. The comparsion of genocides not only demeans the crime by suggesting that one is of a lesser evil than the other and thus, not trully worthy of our empathy, but it also devalues the human misery and emotional suffering endured by the victims.

Humanity should vent its aroused fury against any genocide committed, regardless of its geographic and historical orientation, and should not seek to balance the crime on a spectrum of morality. The evil of genocide should be seen through a prism of a Manchian perspective and not through varying scales of gray ambiguity. To do otherwise is to proffer a dubious pro forma logic of appeasement justifying our own inaction and a lack of humanity.

One interesting part is that US was on the side of Pakistan.

Re Ferozk:

I don`t think the writer is comparing two genocides, rather drawing a parallel.

Hi everyone

Hi everyone,

I am new to Chowk and am impressed by the uncensored atricles appearing in Chowk.

I have a question for all Bangladeshis :

How do you feel about India ?

Do u feel that India helped you in gaining freedom and accepted 10 million refugees in your bad times?

I have read many times in Paki newspapers that Banglsdeshis prefer Pakistan to India . Is that true ? If yes , is it just because Pak is an Islamic country ?

And a general question to everyone : What is this crap about Pan Islamic brother hood... Can`t you gusy be loyal to your own country ( Spcially for Muslims in India : some of whom proudly say they love Pak more than India and for Pakis who praise every country in the world but India (got this impression from newspapers) and always look up to those Arabs for help and stuff )

I dont know whether this question fits in here :

But do you guys really feel that Muslims in India are discriminated against. I think from my experience there is no suchj thing in India...

I will await your responses.

Jamal Bhai,
good to see you here but I disagree
with the linkage with Kosovo and former East
Pakistan.
As I have told my friends from Bangladesh on a
number of occasions, we the Pakistani and Bangladeshi public still do not know the WHY
of the Bengali Genocide of 1971. And it is my
firm belief that as more is learnt through the
Freedom of Information Act in this country (USA) as documents get declassified, the reason (if any)
of this disaster will become known.
What needs further study is that we DO know the deeds of the executioners but still do not know
of the collective crimes of our people that we paid for and WHO passed the verdict on us. And yes the Pakistani military carried out a very dirty job and LOST BADLY as it deserved but I am still not satisfied with what is known and with the criminals that freely walk the streets.
I will leave it at that for now but with a message
for fellow Pakistanis of my generation. It is
time that we look seriously into this subject and
demand that the Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report
be released to the general public. And further
on let us offer an apology to the people of Bangladesh.
What I am trying to say to Pakistanis is that
we should not make excuses like

``Oh Ji kutch nahi si bas Bhutto nay Ghaddari keeti``

Ras

It is human nature to see the same situation very differently depending on your point of view, and to filter out things that do not match one`s pre-conceived notions. So, one side`s oppressors are the brave sons of the other side. Nevertheless, a rapist is a rapist whether or not in uniform, and a man who kills other than for self-defence is a murderer whether or not he is in uniform. But this problem wont go away until we have some kind of global system of criminal justice whereby criminals have no place to hide. As a Pakistani, I can only say how sorry I am for the crimes committed by the army in 1971, and that no attempt was made to arrest and punish the criminals.

this was supposed to be about kosovo; however, the bengal parallel seems to be drawing fiery response. include me amongst the fiery responders!

the rape of bengal has continued for ages. it has to do w/ the richness of the land, the basically spiritual and peace-loving nature of its people and, most importantly, the highly-charged, super-talented bengali intelligensia.

the story goes back eons, but lets begin with the near-past.

the brits made their fortune playing one bengali against the other; they created laws that slowly but surely killed every lucrative industry in bengal. they played muslims against hindus, they played weavers against butchers, they practiced the epitome of their policy of divide and rule and reaped riches.

then came jinnah and gandhi. if ever a case was to be made by either, it was initiated in bengal. what`s that proverb the americans have ``where ohio goes, so goes the country?`` or is it omaha!? whatever! well, in the sub-continent, it was always ``where calcutta goes, so goes india``. congress and league played their power games on bengali turf - they won peace there, they lost lives there, they forced the gora to quit india from the platform, and when bengal was won, pakistan was made!

1971 is but a link in this ongoing chain. why blame only the army - why not the whole rotten fabric of governance? pak army atrocities are irreconcilable, but it does, afterall, boil down to ``bhutto ney ghaddari keeti``. it was his hunger for power that instigated the operation. add to that the treacherous and defiling manner in which we have ``mis``-taught history over the years - always caricaturing the bengali as the dark, undernourished dravidian and his western counterpart as the tall, muscular, aryan - the superior being. we were never taught the writings of tagore, we were never told of the rich culture of bengal. sure, we learnt of the gallantry of siraj-ud-daula but we thought he was a west pakistani residing in bengal - rather like a blonde, blue-eyed jesus!?? we also learnt about the super fine muslin produced in bengal, but we thought it was made in lyallpur and shipped to calcutta!

dont kid yourself, it isnt just about religion, it isnt about west and east pakistan - it was about west and east INDIA as well. the pandits of kashmir consider themselves (and their counterpart muslims of the area) better beings than, say, the punjabis of the plateau. the dilliwalas have similar aversion to the biharis. apartheid is a multi-layered phenomenon - would that it was as cut and dried as the pak army against the unarmed bengali. the wounds of history run deeper - much deeper. it has not ended with the severing of an arm, east pakistan. the chornicle continues with sikhs and hindus, sindhis and mohajirs, punjabis and - well- punjabis!! we must be the only idiot race in the world that cuts off its nose to spite its face.

until we make radical, painful changes to our education system, until we force ourselves to truly believe in the democratic system, until we put our money where our gaping mouths are and actually disqualify the marauding, looting, lying, cheating politicians of our country from election, and - yes - until we bring the butchers of any and every era to trial, we will continue to hate each other and find justification for our hatred.

i watched arbab jehanzeb on tv the other day. he is said to have the most beautiful garden in karachi - spends millions (hmmm, wonder where he got the millions!?) on it every year. with a soulful, wonderous look in his eyes he said to camera ``a thing of beauty is a joy forever``, or something asinine like that. i dont imagine he loses any sleep over his adventures in east pakistan! however, be fair - dont practice ``bher chaal`` when you lay blame; the likes of sahibzada yaqub khan resisted and were returned home. there are plenty of cases of pakistani soldiers protecting bengalis w/ their lives, and vice versa. there is always good where there is evil.

i am a punjabi, from a military family, and i apologise to every bengali for the atrocities committed in 1971 and before - from the bottom of my heart. as faiz so aptly put it:

kab nazar mein ayegi be-daagh sabzey ki bahar

khoon key dhabey dhulain gay kitni barsaton key baad

hum key thehrey ajnabi.......

Until now, I never realized how horrific the situation was in Bangladesh in those times. It is a sad reality that we in India remember 1971 only as a great victory for our nation. But the human face of the problem, the reason why India was forced to intervene has already been forgotten.

Satyavadi, I certainly cannot speak for all muslims, but I have just recently finished writing an article of being a muslim in India.

Hopefully, we can have a discussion once that gets published.

re: Nameless

Not only was the US on the side of the Pakistani army and arranged for indirect provision of arms, it actively encouraged China to join in.

Read the Henry Kissinger transcripts at

http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/nsa/publications/DOC_readers/kissinger/item2.htm

Note that this is opposite of what they have been saying all along. If I remember correctly Nixon said in 1986 that the reason for the USS Enterprise presence was to PREVENT China from joining the war. Barbara Crossette, the venerable NY Times correspondent, former editor of the foreign news section and author of ``India: Facing the 21st Century`` makes a lot of noise about this in her book apart from criticizing India for its *aggression * of Nepal, Maldives, etc.!!!

re: Narain

I agree with you completely. It is indeed unfortunate that we are so pathetic when it comes to remembering our past, justifying our actions or countering western propoganda. As a case in point, there was no noise in India about the recent Kissinger transcripts!! The Americans obviously will not talk about issues that embarass them.

Ashish

Dear Mr. Hasan,

My name is Wajid Hasan Shah. I wanted to express my sincere appreciation & gratitude to you for writing the article: ``Balkan Tragedy: A Re-enactment of the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh,`` which I just read.

Aside from having the name Hasan in common, I also share your sentiments on the matter of our Independence War, though, unfortunately, many do not.

My father, Shah Mohammad Farid, is a Muktijodha who was Sub-Divisional Officer of Rajbari/Goalondo at the time. He, along with several fellow friends and

officers (including Toqfique-E-Elahi Chowdhury, Bir Bikram, Syed Rezaul Hayat --who are current Secretaries in our Government) revolted; my father was

captured while fighting the Pak Army on April 17th near Goalondo Ghat. Despite being a civillian officer, he was tortured. Some other civillian officers who were tortured were not lucky enough to make it through the war alive. I mentioned one such person (Shamsuddin Uncle) in my letter to the Josephite 1989 batch mail-server, from where your article was sent to me.

Thank you again. I will also forward you a poem (that is soon to be publiched back home) on my feelings about the traitors to our land, if you want me to. I am also including a copy of my reply to your article that I sent through the list-server...

Sincerely,

Wajid Hasan Shah

The following is the letter I sent through the Josephite89 list-server:

Naurose,

Thanks for sharing that. My father is a Muktijodha who was tortured by the Pak Army in 1971. I have heard of many other people, including civillian officers, who weren`t as lucky to make it out alive. Biplob (who was Agrani room-mate)`s father, Shamsuddin Uncle, was put into a ``bosta,`` which was then hung from a tree and then he was beaten mercilessly for two days. When the bag was taken down and he was taken out, his once black hair had turned white...

I really feel that these Pak military officials, along with Golam Azam and other Razakars, Al-Badars and Al-Shams should be tried. For how can we forgive the people who breathe the air of our country yet choose to

betray her very people? Even 50+ years after World War II, the Israelis still pursue Nazis. Unfortunately, we choose to forget the past. I am not suggesting that we forgo building our future in the process, but we should NEVER let their crimes go unpinished...

Woe to the traitor to Bangladesh! (Perhaps you remember this -- Benjamin Sir

gave us this sentence on a voice test, and no one got it right -- the correct answer was/is: May woe befall the traitor to Bangladesh.)

Bangladesh Chirojibi Hok!

Sincerely,

Wajid

Re: maliani # 3

I accept your conclusions that the author was not trying to draw a comparsion, but in the same token, it is a mistake to draw parallels with Shoah (Holocaust).

The point I was trying to make is that the crime of genocide should stand on its own and should not be equated with another to draw attention to its scale of tradegy. That creates a ``trip wire`` or a level of threshold which offically legitimizes it as such once a certain level of misery has been attained.

Also, I would generally caution people to refrain from drawing conclusions, of the Kosovo genocide, with the Jewish experience in Shoah, because the two, though horrible, are not the same. There is no historic parallel to the Shoah and nor can there be one.

Greetings! - Thank you for that very interesting article! Violence, aggression, and war, in any shape or form are wrong in my opinion. However, I do not know if we can compare Kosovo with BD of `71?! Both sprung from what seem to be different roots. I am going to have to think some more about this, and I appreciate your write up making me think! :-)

mariam

To : Jamal Hassan

Thanks to internet we can have a genuine people

to people contact conveniently. I think in these times it is important to have such a contact in order to understand another human as a human being like me rather than what his religion, colour, caste, nationality is. We must understand that

the more we passionately defend our so called differences we`ll never think twice before attacking the other. In our sub-continent I think that is what plagues our mind and will probably remain an impediment to our unity. Some of us don`t realise that on a personal level that is fascinating but together enmasse we must emphasise and strengthen our commonality. That is the only way we can stop oppression and sufferings of victims.

And a case in point is creation of Bangladesh. The myth of Muslim brotherhood and that only Muslims can understand Muslim issues was exposed.

Instead of appreciating and equally encouraging the differences of people and language of East Pakistan the rulers of Pakistan who mainly comprised people from West Pakistan tried to dominate and impose their language and beliefs on the other side. I would like to believe that most ordinary citizens of West Pakistan did not approve the actions of these rulers but they (especially intellectuals) should have collectively revolted against them to show solidarity with their brothers from the East instead of falling in line with their government propaganda. Perhaps it would have helped to lay at rest that at the ground level one side is genuinely concerned about problems of the other.

Though being an Indian I have a lot of respect for Mr. Jinnah who I think had made maximum effort to keep Undivided India together but because of differences with the Congress was compelled to realise Pakistan, but there was no doubt about his secular credentials and his vision of modern Islamic state of Pakistan. If only he lived longer and genarations of Pakistani`s would have forcefully followed his vision, then Pakistan would have been a model Islamic state for others to admire.