Operation Searchlight

saminsha #45:

you give new meaning to tunnel vision...simple!

A genuine question (maybe Sigalph can answer)

I have met a few Bengali(hindu) families who came over to India from Pakistan in 69-70. They stories they have are similar to those of `47. What is the story behind the anti-Hindu violence of 69-70?

#43 Urstruly

{{we take 3 million figure to be true then between end of March 1971 and middle of December 1971, in 9 months Pak Army must have:

- Killed 333,333 Bengalis per month

- which means 11,111 bengalis killed per day on every day of the nine months.

- which means 460 bengalis must die per minute

- which means 7 bengalis were being killed every second of the hour for 9 months.}}

Sahib, a day has 24 hrs, not minutes. The 3 million in 9 months figure works out to 463 per hour, 7.7 per minute, or one every 7.778 seconds.

{{Now keep in mind that Germans had established an elaborate system of logistics, storage, extermination, and disposal of Jews. Their expressed goal was to exterminate as many jews as possible in the shortest possible time. It is confirmed by the Eichman`s testimony and paper trail, who was the master mind behind the implementation of Hitler`s ``Final Solution``. Germans established a lean and mean machine to accomplish their object and even then their performance was 1/3rd that of Pak Army.}}

The ostensible goal expressed in the second sentence contradicts the reality described in the first (storage). If the Nazi goal was simply to exterminate the largest number of people in the shortest possible time, less emphasis would have been placed on storage and more on the machinery of extermination (gas chambers, ovens). Extracting labour out of weakened concentration camp inmates, making lampshades and soap out of their bodies, etc., would have been useless distractions from the rational goal of maximizing efficiency. It is hard to escape the suspicion that something else was going on. An insane experiment or laboratory expressing a particular world-view is the best description I can come up with.

To #36 by Romair on November 20, 2003 10:09am PT

“However, 71 war could have been avoided. In terms of leadership, I blame the Army leadership, Bhutto and Mujib. All could have negotiated a non-violent solution. Unfortunately, all had certain advantages in conflict. As a…………..”

As a Indian I can’t understand why the hell mujib had to negotiate. after all he get a majority and he had right to be prime minister and form cabinet and lad country. In India or elsewhere when any party get majority ruling party or who ever rules transfer power to
Winner party. Simple!

Even after 32 years not a single paki on chowk admit that their army or their country doing wrong and non arguable and non forgivable to Bangladeshi.every one had their own theory to prove that that was not only Pakistan’s fault.I think that`s called sleeping generations or brain washed one.

Punjabizulu

Since you put it that way.

The genocide of bengalis by Pak Army did happen along with other attrocities such as rapes and destruction of property etc. However, it is also true that the genocide and ethnic cleansing of non-Bengali i.e. Biharis and West Paksitani civilians living in East Paksitan also happened by Bengalis. Now keep in mind that attrocity of one does not justify others but in the name of fairness and justice and in order to come to terms with our loss and grief we must not hide one for the other. Only truth will set us free.

I also beleive that among the people who ran away to India to save their lives, almost half of them were Biharis who ran away from the unjustifiable wrath of Bengalis.

I also beleive that the Hindu propaganda of 3 million bengalis dead is absolute tripe and non-sense. Though I do not have any estimate of my own except an uneducated guess that somewhere between 100K to 150k bengalis died. But 3 mil figure does not fit the common sense. For example if we take 3 million figure to be true then between end of March 1971 and middle of December 1971, in 9 months Pak Army must have:

- Killed 333,333 Bengalis per month

- which means 11,111 bengalis killed per day on every day of the nine months.

- which means 460 bengalis must die per minute

- which means 7 bengalis were being killed every second of the hour for 9 months.

This does not appeal to the common sense since the primary objective of Pak Army was not to exterminate as many bengalis as they could in shortest possible time but their primary mission was to calm a violent situtaion down. So they did use violence as a tool of intimidation but not that of total extermination.


Now if we compare this number with 5,978,000 jews that died during the holocaust in four years of war the numebr of jews killed

- per month is 124,541

- per day is 4151

- per hour is 172

- and per second is 2

Now keep in mind that Germans had established an elaborate system of logistics, storage, extermination, and disposal of Jews. Their expressed goal was to exterminate as many jews as possible in the shortest possible time. It is confirmed by the Eichman`s testimony and paper trail, who was the master mind behind the implementation of Hitler`s ``Final Solution``. Germans established a lean and mean machine to accomplish their object and even then their performance was 1/3rd that of Pak Army. Therefore, I think Hindu propaganda is pure non-sense.

Leaving 1971 behind?

There is no question that as time passes and new generations come to fore, relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh will improve further, as they should. If the UK and USA, from a rather eerily similar history. can become best buddies within a two generations of their war, why not us? What will change is the personal dimension of the equation, not the history as some revisionists hope.

These revisionists try to muddy the issue by desperately trying to find moral equivalency between the horrible actions of the Muktibahini elements and the episode that Pakistan`s own top journalist called ``the ugliest genocide in history``. Kind of like equating the vengeful executions and atrocities of Occupied Western Europe`s partisans and the Nazis. No doubt that murder is murder is murder, however, the respective COLLECTIVE guilt is hardly comparable.

Same with assigning blanket equal blame to Bhutto and Mujib. I`ve incredible respect for the late ZAB and rather little for Mujibur Rahman. But Mr. Bhutto was clearly far more responsible for the breakdown of talks in 1971. His insistence of `two majorities` and `grand coalition` and similar assorted nonsense was simply egregious in a lawyer trained at Berkeley. The Awami League had won a majority, not just a plurality, in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly; to deny the Assembly the right to convene for just that reason was pretty stupid. Would the Bengali majority have overrreached? May be but then Yahya Khan and the Punjabi dominated military were right there to provide safeguards, weren`t they?

Were I a betting man, I`d have wagered money that had the Assembly convened in 1971, there would have been no Bangladesh as we know it. Perhaps a looser Federation or even a United States of Pakistan but no Bangladesh.

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Re # 8 Temporal

Point well taken.

You are very kind, thank you. Haven`t returned in five years now but I suspect that I am not too popular there with the Islamists. Quislings of 1971 sit in the government of the country today--what a sight!

The atrocities committed by the Bengali hooligans between 1st and 25th March 1971were mainly concentrated on Chittagong which saw the destruction of Ferozshah and Shershah Colonies built in 1958-59 for the poorer section of migrants. The other place under attack was Railway Colonies of Chittagong, namely Aam Bagan, Wireless and PahaR Tali. Looting, and Raping was carried out generally and over a thousand people were tortured and killed.
This was not an organised effort, it was a spontaneous reaction to the years of ill treatment at the hands of the non Bengali administrators- both civil and military.
There were many attacks in the rest of the province after the army action on 25th March. This time the mobs were led by Mukti Bahini to create chaos and confusion for the civilian Government. The total killings of non-Bengalis was considered to be around 35000, but no official figures are obviously available. While the looting and killing was going on, there were many many acts of saving the lives of the non-Bengalis by the bengalis, which have not been reported in the papers for some reason. The most notable family that was saved from the rampaging mob was in Pabna, where the entire family of Jamiluddin, the manufacturers of Ramna Cigarettes and many other industries, were safely transported to Dhaka by their neighbours and local Awami League Leaders. Five Punjabi army officers, the CO and four lieutenants of 1st East Bengal Regiment posted at Jessore were captured by the Bengali Junior Officers and soldiers for execution. They were saved by the bravery of the Second-in-Command, a young Bengali Lieutenant who took control of the prisoners and walked them nearly 30 miles in the night to hand them over to a Pakistani Platoon on a reconnaissance mission. That young lieutenant is a federal minister in the current Bangladesh Governement.
Many of the non-Bengali Railway employees were saved in Chittagong by another friend, whose father was the Industries Minister of Pakistan in Ayub Khan`s cabimet, and he himself is in the present cabinet of Khaleda Zia.There was a Bengali Doctor who was the Medical Officer of M.V. Al-Shams, which used to ferry between Karachi and Chittagong. During these dark days, escaping from East Pakistan to the safety of West Pakistan was not an easy task.This Bengali Doctor in three trips between Karachi and Chittagong, smuggled in over seventy non-Bengalis to his ship and brought them over to Karachi. Ironically his 18 year old brother in Mymensingh was shot down by Pakistan Army for trying to save the life of a Bengali woman who was running away from a group of pakistani soldiers in civvies.
There have been many unknown heroes and villians in this piece of sad history. Nothing can justify the killings on both sides. It was total madness.

Urstruly

So let me get this straight. Was there, or was there not, a genocide perpetrated against the Bengalis?

I wish to know because already we have had the veracity of this account called into question. I am not an Indian nationalist making mischief....I genuinely wish to know.

Unfortunately, in South Asia, countries behave differently, and use opposing principles, when they are in a weak position, trying to gain independence, and when they are in a strong position, trying to suppress someone else’s rights and independence.

71 is an issue that Pakistani keep passing the blame onto others, internally. It is very convenient to pass the blame to the Army or to the politicians. It absolves the common citizen of the crime. However, in my opinion, the blame for all civilian suppressions, ultimately, goes to the citizens of the country carrying out the suppression. Soldiers do not volunteer to go into civil wars. They hate them. They are in a lose-lose situation. Either they end up killing civilians or the civilians kill them. Even the hardest of psyches cannot handle this. This can be seen by the behavior of Americans in Vietnam, Soviets in Afghanistan, Indians in Kashmir and Pakistanis in Bangladesh.

Soldiers are sent into civil wars, by the State, with the support of its population.

I have always felt that Bangladesh and Pakistan should have been two separate states from the get-go. History has proven this to be correct. Bangladesh would have separated, eventually - if not in 71, then 81 or 2071 - unless a massive transformation of the political structure took place on the West Pakistan side.

However, 71 war could have been avoided. In terms of leadership, I blame the Army leadership, Bhutto and Mujib. All could have negotiated a non-violent solution. Unfortunately, all had certain advantages in conflict. As a matter of principle though, Mujib had the most correct stance. Mujib should have been allowed to form the national govt. of Pakistan. Bhutto should have accepted him as the leader. If West Pakistan was unwilling to accept Mujib’s six points (which were quite independence-oriented), then West Pakistan should have just let Bangladesh separate peacefully. With a free trade agreement and free movements of people, two politically separate countries are practically one, anyway.

It is interesting to see that in both Pakistani wars, 65 and 71, the faces of an Army leadership and Bhutto are prominent. Both were actively involved in starting the wars. The Army Generals got what they deserved and were eventually ousted. However, Bhutto benefited, personally and politically, immensely from both wars. Had 65 and 71 not occurred, Bhutto may have been just another mid-sized politician, unknown in Pakistani history, like many ex-foreign ministers. He successfully used the results of 65 and 71 to catapult his political career. This would indicate that he was interested in the wars occurring – first as federal minister planning the war. And then, in 71, as the main political leader.

Bhutto was like the opportunist and cunning VP who deliberately assists in taking his company into a loss. He then blames everything on the CEO, in front of the shareholders. And launches a successful campaign to become the next CEO.

I generally agree with Fuzair’s assessment that terrorism from the Bengali side occurred also. I had a colleague whose whole family was killed, in front of him, by the Mukti Bahani. Once a civil war starts, terrorism invariably enters. However, terrorism is always more from the occupying State (since it has all the armament) than from the occupied people. Which was the case in 71 also.

So, in the end, all West Pakistani citizens of that time, need to take the final responsibility for 71. That is where the main blame lies. All other parties, i.e. Mukti Bahani, India, Mujib, Bengali soldiers in the Pakistan Army etc. deserve individual blame in certain specific situations, but they were not the overall cause.

At the same time, I think the new generation of Pakistanis has accepted blame. One sees it openly in the national press. On this site, hardly any, if any, Pakistani blames Bengalis for it. They view it, correctly, as a freedom struggle and not a terrorist struggle (despite the Mukti Bahani terrorism). I think this indicates quite a bit of introspection on the part of Pakistanis. And I think Bangladeshis should appreciate that about the new generation of Pakistanis, who were too young to have comprehended 71, when it was occurring. And I think Bangladeshis do appreciate it. The relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh, amongst the new generation, are far better than what normally exist between two countries that have fought a civil war.

Within the context of South Asia, I think Pakistani introspection is even more impressive. Especially since, most freedom struggles in South Asia, are still labelled terrorist struggles by the populations of the countries whose State armies are actually carrying out the suppression. I think Pakistan has evolved beyond that and it can be seen by the difference in interactions on this site, on similar issues, between Pakistanis and those from some other countries.

arjunm

I would like to know, how it is done - cut n paste from a book, that is, especially from a book in urdu.

Temporal`s article is titled ``Sadia Afroze Ali``; there was quite an interesting discussion on this subject on that thread.

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