Operation Searchlight

Thanks for the artcile, Tariq. We cannot make progress without admitting and accepting our mistakes. The events of 1971 were a national embarrassment that we should keep reminding each other. That is the only way to help our younger and coming generations to see through the fog of our self-glorification under a militarized society.

Like the Japs commemorate the atomic bombings every year, we should also commemorate Operation Searchlight every year in March to remind ourselves of our gory mistake as a nation, so that we stay clear of such mistakes in future.

Farhan

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Tariq and FarhanNazeer:

Agree with you. The tragedy in East Pakistan was ONLY due to the negation of basic rights of power for a people. The elite took the passive nature of a people for granted and continued to abuse them.

Today, just because the majority is termed as a `silent majority` the elite continues to take the people for granted. So lessons have not be learned and Faujiz have never owned up to their mistakes because they have intentions of continuing to take people for granted.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had the talents to be a great leader and do a lot for the dispossessed. Alas, his ambition and arrogance led him astray. He sabotaged democracy on his way to power and ultimately paid the price for his Faustian contract with the army Generals. The poor in Pakistan had the right to expect a lot from the ``Qaid-e-Awam.`` It is a pity that blind ambition led him to betray that trust.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had been ushered into the corridors of power by the infamous Iskandar Mirza and Ayub Khan. With such easy ascent to power, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had come to believe in the ``Divine Right`` of Pakistan`s ruling elite to rule the country without any accountability. Only the Generals and the Senior Civil Servants from West Pakistan were deemed worthy of consultation as social equals. That is why Bhutto found it so difficult to accept the election results that consigned him to playing second fiddle to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. And he was quite willing to conspire with the Generals to get his way after coming off second best in the elections.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto made common cause with the generals for their own ``common good``
that had little to do with the good of the nation. Each stood to gain by the exercise and at the expense of East Pakistan. Bhutto and the generals simply used each other to further their own cause by trying to scuttle the results of the 1970 elections by means fair or foul.

But Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was too clever by half. He thought he could use the military to advance his ambition without having to pay for the ``privilege.`` He did manage to become the supreme leader of a truncated Pakistan by spurning the opportunity to be the leader of the opposition in the Natiomnal Assembly of a united and democratic Pakistan. He couldn`t have failed to realize his mistake as he stood on the gallows waiting for the trap door to open.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto paid dearly for his crimes. But it is ironical that he went to the gallows for a murder that he may not have committed rather than for the 3 million for which he bore direct responsibility. And what is even more ironical is that he was sent to the gallows by the very men who shared, with Bhutto, direct responsibility for the murder of 3 million Bengalis.

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Bangladesh Memories

It should feel like just another December day but
For some of us it makes over 30 years with
A distant thought, much pain, it overwhelms even now
Bengal I still remember your scents, the richness and memories
Of the friends that one hoped to never leave so soon in life
Yet today as the memory cells struggle to revive
Just the names of people, and the hushed conversations in old Dacca where
We discussed the Beatles, ideals, preventing oppression and
The passion for politics, and a love of the life we shared
Spent catching never ending numbers of ``Puti`` or ``Ruhi`` fish,
Golden sunsets spent sitting on the shores of Dhanmondi lake with
The peaceful haunting sounds of ``Bansari`` flutes playing.

But the dreams of youth just could not last long
Like the Lychee seasons the sweetness came and was gone
As Lives were invaded by murder and death because
People who kill could not understand the concept of such a peace and
Still offer strange excuses for having carried out orders for ``our`` sake as if
The parting of ways with the humiliation of surrender wasn`t enough
Not forgetting that Pakistan was and is the country of our love but
Since there is yet no turning back the clock on such a partition of the hearts
Past the quarter century mark of a much lesser known Asian holocaust
A strange sadness forces this abstraction, this writing again today
To commemorate the painful and blood soaked birth of Bangladesh
Because the memories of eating fresh ``Cham Cham`` sweets in Savar
Mingle with the smell of death and gunpowder, yes the gunpowder everywhere
And all the bridges we hoped to build between us still nowhere
Waiting for a sincere apology to start the healing of many heavy hearts.

By

Ras Siddiqui

(For my buddies of the Class of 1971, Saint Josephs Dhaka and
Section 11K Karachi Grammar School (71))

re nakhok # 5

``Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto paid dearly for his crimes. But it is ironical that he went to the gallows for a murder that he may not have committed rather than for the 3 million for which he bore direct responsibility. And what is even more ironical is that he was sent to the gallows by the very men who shared, with Bhutto, direct responsibility for the murder of 3 million Bengalis. ``

Mr. Bhutto is dead, thanks to a judicial murder by the very army he defended against the most credible charges. But so many who had a direct finger on the trigger, so to speak, are alive- Rao Farman Ali and `Tiger` Niazi (pussycats are tigers too) are just a few of those. Why is there such silence in the Pakistani media about their alleged war crimes?

sigalph235:

...Why is there such silence in the Pakistani media about their alleged war crimes?...

bhai, billi kay galay maiN ghunti kOn bandhay ga?

...we must remind ourselves every single day that it is the same occupying army... still occupying what was west pakistan...

btw your thank you meant a lot for me...i don`t think i adequtely thanked you for it...

...do you often return?...am looking for a way to find out and get in touch with sadia...

rgds,

t

I happened to revisit Dacca in 1999. As Bangladesh came into view, I was overtaken by a strange feeling. It was like coming home after a long time. At the tarmac, I knelt down and kissed the soil. That night I ate and drank everything; the Jackfruit, Ghab,Tari, Starfruit and rice on bannana leaves. My hosts were surprised. I told them that it was my home coming.

Holy Cross School Dacca was my first school.

It was a beautiful land with lovely people. Once I got lost in Tunghi and a beggar was kind to escort me right upto the school from where the Nuns escorted me home.

Alas! it was all our own doing

I happened to revisit Dacca in 1999. A Bangladesh came into view, I was overtaken by a strange feeling. It was like coming home after a long time. At the tarmac, I knelt down and kissed the soil. That night I ate and drank everything; the Jackfruit, Ghab,Tari, Starfruit and rice on bannana leaves. My hosts were surprised. I told them that it was my home coming.

Holy Cross School Dacca was my first school.

It was a beautiful land with lovely people. Once I got lost in Tunghi and a beggar was kind to escort me right upto the school from where the Nuns escorted me home.

Alas! it was all our own doing

Re: #7

Why is there such silence? Because many Pakistanis (read: Punjabis and Muhajirs but a few Pathans also) think that the Army did nothing wrong. The only thing they did that was ``wrong`` was that the Army lost. All that I`ve ever heard was about the disgraceful surrender, not about the killings. Which, incidentally, did not number in the millions but about three to five hundred thousand deaths from all sources, according to the Indians. I am not trying to downplay the importance of this, `even` thirty thousand deaths are thirty thousand too many.

Bhutto does bear responsibility, along with people like Peerzada, Rao Farman Ali, Niazi and Hamid Khan BUT what about the killings on the other side? What about the pogroms against the Biharis? Why pick on just one side when there is so much blame to go around? The Indian estimate of between (probably) three hundred thousand and (maybe, but not likely) five hundred thousand deaths includes thousands of Biharis killed by Mukhti Bahini ``freedom fighters`` and not just extra-judicial killings by the Pakistani Army. There was certainly a widespread breakdown in Army discipline as far as extra-judicial killings go but this was in the middle of a full-scale civil war. I am not condoning the killings. Officers in those units should have been courtmartialled, starting with GoC Eastern Command, and dealt with severely for irrevocably staining the honor of the Army. BUT, there is always a but, there were some extenuating circumstances. The initial few days aside, the Army was facing massive, well armed and well trained opposition. The Indian propaganda picture of a brutal Pakistani Army running amok and slaughtering unarmed Bengalis wholesale is tripe. What do you think happened to all the units of East Pakistan Rifles and East Bengal Regiment who mutinied and killed their West Pakistani officers? Their equipment and training was as good as that of the troops they opposed.

Between April to November 1971, the Army suffered about 4,000 battle deaths. This indicates pretty heavy fighting, not a series of one-sided executions. The truth, while not exactly favorable for the Pakistani Army, is infinitely more nuanced than the Indian/Bengali propaganda picture that emerges out of 1971. The incredible brutality of the initial ``crackdown`` convinced virtually all observers that whatever ``news`` the Indians and Bengalis reported was accurate.

Why did Bhutto defend the Army and not purge it in 1972? Show trials and then executions of Yahya, Peerzada, Niazi (after repatriation), and a few dozen other generals? Two simple reasons:

1) He knew that his own role in the entire mess would come out (including his behaviour at the UN).

2) He knew he would need the Army to break heads for him, the same way they did for Yahya. Just look at how quickly the Army was called out in Baluchistan.

nakhok

Three million lives? Are you sure about that figure? Is that not a little exaggerated?

Arjun

There are numerous examples in post 1947 Indian history in which corrupt elites have remained unpunished and unnacountable despite their sponsorship of violent atrocity. It may give an Indian nationalist some satisfaction to point out to SOME Pakistanis, who might point their fingers at India, that their hands too are blood spattered. But lets clean our own house first and ask why those perpetrators of atrocity remain free and unpunished in what is after all, a democracy with tried and tested institutions. Plus, it is distasteful to use these things as spears to throw at each other.

I do admit that it was the West Pakistan`s injustice and its because of the attitude of West Pakistanis that East Pakistan came into being. Over here i am not trying to defend Zulifqar Ali Bhutto because there are few confusions i need to get sort out. One point which i cannot comprehend that every one blames Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for the creation of Pakistan. May i ask those people that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for contender for the post of PM , he was not the countries Martial Law Dictator, he did not have nay powers in his hand to abuse them against East Pakistanis. Just because he was not abe to resolve with the leaders of Awami League, its unfair to put the blame on him for the murder of 3 million bengalis. When all the powers were in the hand of Yahya Khan and it was his army who commited atrocities, why every one blames this ZAB for all this.
If u peole feel it fair that ZAB was responsible then Mujib-ur-Rehman was equally responsible because he too was the part of parley. He could have budged that ok we are ready to call assembly session in Lahore. Just because that no assembly session will only be called and Bangladesh and not budging on those 6 points, its unfair to hold ZAB responsible for that whole episode.
It was Yahya Khan and his whole army very responsible for this episode besides ZAB`s only share that he was not able to resolve the whole issue.


In the end few word about ZAB:

ZAB did many things wrong like extermination of institutions, nationalization of industries, arrogance with people but he also gave a lot to this nation in better terms which this nation will owe to him for centuries.

He was the one who gave voice to poor. Before that poor did not have the voice and courage to stand and fight for their right and it because of this voice which this man gave to poor his brainchild party PPP still get majority of votes in this country on the name of ZAB.

One admits it or not, Pakistan was never superior in forces in context of manpower, technology etc and it clear by the fact that we lost all the battles to India that is 1965 and 1971. Pakistanis did depend the country in 1965 war beyond their capacity just because of their valor and spirit of shadat but we were the ones who had to move first and asked to stop the war because of not enough weapons and ammunitionleft behind. In 1971 we lost half of Pakistan.
Has anyone ever wondered that why India now doesnt dare to attack Pakistan, its because of the ZAB atomic Bomb. If he had not did so, this country would not be anymore because of India. If anyone denies this fact we have examples of Kargil and 13 Dec Indian Parliment attacks. These were two times when we just inches away from war and India could not do so because of ZAB. Alas it was the same army which now proclaims that we can depend each of border does so because of that ZAB. i would like to recall one of the maxims of ZAB ``This country will eat grass but will make atomic bomb``

We people marvel that why Muslim world does not unite together and fight everyone together. It was this ZAB who did try this and was finally assasinated because of it. Go and ask anyone who was mature enough and had seen that Islamic Summit called by ZAB and the spirit with which most of the muslims country head gathered. As far as example is concerned from where does this money came to Arab countries? It was ZAB who taught the heads to use your oil as the Islamic Bomb and put whole west on halt because oil embargo to all the west. Because of his advice oil prices were hicked upto 300% and west could not do anything.

It was because of his arrogance that this person went to gallows. Exempler of his arrogance is that even he got his mentor and senior Federal Minister roughed up by the FSF personnel just because he said that i cant wait for the king of Larkna. That was one point which send me into dilemma wether ZAB was a great man or not.


The stamp of ZAB is ingrained on my heart and will never vanish. This thing proves the observation that people in Pakistan either love him or hate him and there is no middle ground.
May Allah forgive me if i said any thing wrong.

I welcome further comments on my perception of this person and thanks for readings my comments.

Imran M. Hafeez
Islamabad
imran_vc@hotmail.com

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FIGURE OF 3 MILLION BENGALI DEATHS TRUE

these ppl talk abt right of self determination of kashmir.shame.