Independence Day

Independence Day

Summary

Bangabandhu's moment in history

Syed Badrul Ahsan

7 March 1971

From Six Points to declaration of Independence

History has often moved minds. In a good number of instances, it has fundamentally altered the course of human destiny. For there is about speeches that certain quality which at once links the speaker to the crowds, the society, he happens to be addressing. That being a given, the oration that the Bengali nation went through on 7 March 1971, per courtesy of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, must surely rank as a moment that caused a sea change in the political character of the people of this country. Of course, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as he was known before a grateful Bengali people began to honour him as Bangabandhu in February 1969, had always had a flair for words. More than that, he was always in sync with the masses, spoke their language and articulated their desires. It was this quality which emboldened him into coming forth with what history now knows as the Magna Carta of Bengali aspirations, the Six Point demand for regional autonomy, in early 1966.

On 7 March 1971, though, it was Mujib the politician emerging on to new heights of leadership. The words he employed in those few decisive moments, the phraseology he went for in his articulation of the Bengali future swiftly catapulted him into the role of a statesman. There were also those others who spotted in the profundity of his speech the seer pointing out to an expectant nation a clear, well-defined path to the future. Go back in time, to the beginning of a speech that remains as memorable for its contents as for its sheer poetry. It was a power speech, one which clearly brought together the various strands of thought that Bengalis happened to experience at the time. Note the beginning: “My brothers and sisters” . . . the very opening that at once informs the people that their leader is one of them. Mujib then goes on to provide a brief yet telling picture of the history of the state of Pakistan in the years between 1947 and 1971. “It is the history of twenty three years”, he declaims, “it is the history of twenty three years of bitterness”. He moves on, “It is the history of Bengal, it is the history of a land soaked in the blood of its martyrs.” The crescendo comes soon, in a literal enumeration of history: “We shed blood in 1952; and despite winning the elections in 1954 we could not ascend to power. In 1958, through his imposition of martial law, Ayub Khan kept us enslaved for ten years.” You can feel the layers of time opening, unfolding as it were, with each telling of the tale. Bangabandhu then moves on to contemporary times: “When Mr. Yahya Khan took charge, he said he would give us democracy, he would give us elections. We took him at his word. And then the elections took place.” At this point, he appears to be taking a quantum leap, from the results of the elections to the intrigues already underway to keep him away from an assumption of power.

The West Pakistani politician Air Marshal Asghar Khan, having met the Bengali leader in Dhaka, told newsmen that Mujib was the last link between the two wings of Pakistan. Implicit was the thought that if Bangabandhu's right to power was thwarted, Pakistan would be on its way to destruction.

The pressure, therefore, was on Pakistan. And it was on Mujib on that steamy March afternoon in Dhaka. His oratory soared as he told his people of the disdain with which he had rejected Yahya Khan's invitation to a round table conference on 10 March.

“The blood of the martyrs has not dried”, he stated in that familiar firmness of voice. And then came the conviction in that voice, “Mujibur Rahman cannot step on the blood of the martyrs and join the RTC. What RTC?” That said, Bangabandhu then moved on to the operative part of the speech. He knew he could not go for a UDI, as had been done in Rhodesia in 1965 and in Odumegwu Ojukwu's Biafra in 1967. From the standpoint of history, Mujib knew, even if his more youthful followers did not, that it was not for an elected political leader to take the road to secession. Besides, he was the voice of the majority of Pakistan's people, the Bengalis. The majority did not secede. These were the facts. And then came the ground realities. On 7 March, in a state of alert over the possibility of a Bengali declaration of Independence, the Pakistan army stood ready to pounce on Bangabandhu and to mow his people down.

”As the sun began to sink in the west, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman pointed to the coming dawn of Bengali freedom. “The struggle this time”, he intoned, “is the struggle for our emancipation. The struggle this time is the struggle for independence”. The roar that followed was deafening. A million voices on that Race Course whooped for joy.

Syed Badrul Ahsan is Editor, Current Affairs, The Daily Star.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

From Six Points to declaration of Independence

1967

November

Former foreign minister and once Ayub loyalist Zulfikar Ali Bhutto forms the Pakistan People's Party.

December

Towards the end of the month, the Pakistan government announces the arrest of a number of individuals, all Bengalis. It is the first sign of what the authorities will later present as the Agartala Conspiracy Case.

1968

January

Early in the month, the Pakistan government implicates Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in detention since 1966, in the Agartala Conspiracy Case. Altogether 35 Bengalis, including civil servants and military officers, are charged with conspiracy to separate East Pakistan from the rest of Pakistan by force.

June

The trial of the accused in the Agartala Conspiracy Case commences before a special tribunal in Dhaka. Headed by Justice S.A. Rahman, the tribunal has two Bengali judges on it, namely, Justice Mujibur Rahman Khan and Justice Maksumul Hakim. On the first day of the trial, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman tells a foreign reporter, “You know, they can't keep me here for more than six months.”

October

As the Ayub regime prepares to celebrate its decade in power, political agitation breaks out across Pakistan.

November

Potshots are fired at Ayub Khan in Peshawar. The president is unhurt. But a few days later, the government arrests Bhutto and Khan Abdul Wali Khan under the Defence of Pakistan Rules. Within days of the arrests, Justice Syed Mahbub Murshed and Air Marshal Asghar Khan enter politics in opposition to the regime.

1969

January

Widespread unrest spreads in East Pakistan as demands grow for the withdrawal of the Agartala Case. In West Pakistan, agitation against the regime grows apace.

February

On the fifteenth, Sergeant Zahurul Haq, an accused in the Agartala case, is shot dead by guards in Dhaka cantonment. On the twenty second, the case is withdrawn unconditionally and all accused, including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, walk free. The next day, Mujib is honoured as Bangabandhu at a mammoth rally at the Race Course in Dhaka.

Between late February and early March, a round table conference takes place in Rawalpindi between the government and the opposition. The talks eventually collapse.

March

President Ayub Khan resigns and hands over power to the army chief, General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan. Martial law is declared all over Pakistan. Yahya stresses the creation of conditions conducive to the holding of general elections in the country.

1970

January

Political activities resume in Pakistan under a Legal Framework Order. The stage is thus set for general elections later in the year.

November

A devastating cyclone batters the coastal regions of East Pakistan, leaving a million Bengalis dead.

December

At the general elections on the seventh, the Awami League scores a sweeping victory, winning 167 of 169 seats in East Pakistan. Overall, the party secures a majority in the 313-seat National Assembly. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party ends up winning 88 seats, all of them in the Punjab and Sindh.

1971

January

Bangabandhu and the MNAs-elect belonging to the Awami League pledge to frame a constitution for Pakistan on the basis of the Six Point programme.

Toward the end of the month, Bhutto leads a PPP team to Dhaka for talks with the Awami League on power-sharing at the centre. They lead nowhere as the Awami League refuses to go for a coalition government.

February

President Yahya Khan calls the National Assembly into session in Dhaka on 3 March. Within days, Bhutto announces his decision to stay away from the meeting unless the Awami League modifies its position on the Six Points. The Awami League, for its part, dismisses the PPP's reservations.

March

In a surprise announcement on the first of the month, General Yahya Khan announces the postponement of the National Assembly session scheduled for two days later. The result is an outbreak of disorder in East Pakistan.

The next day, students at Dhaka University raise the flag of an independent Bangladesh on the campus.

On the seventh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman tells a million-strong rally at the Race Course, “The struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation; the struggle this time is the struggle for independence.”

Talks on resolving the political crisis go on from the sixteenth to the twenty fourth. Late on the twenty fifth, the Pakistan army launches its genocide in East Pakistan.

In the early hours of the twenty sixth, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declares the independence of Bangladesh. Moments later, he is arrested by the Pakistan army.

A government in exile: Birth of a Nation

Nurul Islam Anu

The emergence of Bangladesh as a sovereign independent nation is a fascinating event of contemporary political history. The amazing speed with which the liberation war was brought to a successful end stunned many inside the country and the world; it mesmerised skeptics; it puzzled political theorists and revolutionary pundits who believed in the traditional dynamics of successful revolutions. It defied traditional logic of time and date, nullifying many deeply held convictions about success of political struggles.

The event was overwhelming

The background of the political scene that made the struggle for political and economic emancipation inevitable is too well known to be repeated. The conspiratorial scheme of an insensitive minority to deprive the majority of its due share, the story of manipulative endeavour to perpetuate economic, political and cultural domination, form a classic component of the history of political repression. Invoking religion to sanitise the ugly scheme only added to its fragile character, and it collapsed.

It will be an attempt, in this column, to throw some light on the events that followed March 26, the formation of a government in exile in less than ideal conditions, and the tireless bold and inspiring political engineering that followed under the most complex of circumstances leading ultimately to the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation.

Revolutions or armed struggles do not occur in an ideological vacuum since that implies the absence of the critical motivating factor. Ideals inspire dreams about social reconstruction propelling human ingenuity to act, to suffer and to achieve. In the case of Bangladesh this was no exception.

The philosophical base of the struggle was prepared by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who brilliantly articulated the deeply held feeling of the Bengalis in the form of a political programme-the Six Point. This evolved over a long period of time passing through a chequered path of political repression, betrayal and conspiracy. He suffered repression of incredible magnitude culminating in the Agartala Conspiracy Case which glorified his defiant stand. Having supreme confidence in the content of the message, he took it to the furthest corner of Bangladesh, and a receptive crowd continued to be inspired. What made the message credible was its transparent sincerity backed by a desire to defend it even at the cost of the ultimate sacrifice. He spoke decisively when his thunderous voice roared on the 7th of March at the Race Course Maidan where a liberated Bangladesh was declared.

When the brutalities of 26 March commenced, the nation roared to defend itself, and that defiant spirit to be free engulfed everyone; a feeling of defiance was instantly ignited. Students in the schools and colleges, soldiers in the cantonments, common man in the villages, farmers in the fields, thousands crossing the border to join the Mukti Bahini, all owing their inspiration to the message of that political magician Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The whole nation stood prepared and inspired.

When the government of Bangladesh in exile was formed in the mango grove of Meherpur on the 10th of April, it represented the formal culmination of a long cherished desire to be free.

The establishment of the government in exile was an act of brilliant political strategy. Admittedly, the nation had to face 26 March without a definite operational plan to face it. The political leadership came to the quick realisation that the struggle had to be faced politically and the establishment of a legitimate political framework was an absolute necessity; because, that would provide the focus from which necessary political and policy directive would flow or even facilitate international alignment.

Even in ensuring this critically important task, the government at this fragile phase had to face the question of legitimacy; questions were raised whether this kind of political initiative by the existing leadership had the specific blessings of Bangabandhu, casting a shadow on the legitimacy of the move. For example, in the absence of any directive from Bangabandhu, to what extent was this kind of political initiative legitimate?

It was a sinister move encouraged by Khandaker Mushtaq and his lackeys mainly opposed to Mr. Tajuddin's leadership, and it had the ominous potential of affecting the morale of the entire liberation force, besides presenting the image of a divided initiative before the Indian political establishment and the world. It was a serious challenge before this new government, and the issue was resolved in the form of a consensus in a conference at Baghdogra, where the acting President Syed Nazrul Islam made an inspiring speech before the Awami League MNAs highlighting the bad consequences of this vicious move to link the legitimacy of the provisional government to the innate political desire of Bangabandhu.

Politically speaking, it was critically important to ensure the universal character of such a vast movement and accommodating all shades of political opinion in it. It is well known that the progressive elements, particularly the Left, had their misgivings about Awami League's political programme. While the Left, in its obsession with the concept of a class struggle, would only see in the success of Bangabandhu the triumph of a bourgeois movement, others would question his leadership with Maulana Bhasani as a potential challenger. These were confusing factors in the face of much needed cohesion.

The Awami leadership was bold enough to recognise the critical need for unity and resolved it in the form of the establishment of a cabinet consultative committee with Maulana Bhasani, Professor Muzaffar Ahmed and Comrade Moni Singh as members. This was an event of huge political significance. The Left's potential isolation was eliminated and its inclusion as a vibrant force was ensured. More importantly, the unity of Bangladesh political leadership became clear to the Indians; the possibility of adverse Chinese political maneuvering was marginalised.

Projecting the proper image of the liberation war before the international world was another challenge before the provisional government. The attempt of the Pakistani Government to depict the war of the liberation as a secessionist movement was massive, and the entire Pakistani propaganda machinery was geared to that. This was intended to confuse the international community and even the Indian political establishment. The challenge was faced with courage and imagination. The Bengali community all over the world, particularly the UK and the USA, unleashed a relentless effort in depicting the background of the struggle to a hitherto illiterate audience, supported by stories of atrocities committed by the Pakistani Army. Political establishment in the UK and the USA swung decisively in the favour of the movement overwhelmingly, with Nixon and Henry Kissinger being an embarrassed minority; for Nixon, the Church-Saxbe Act prohibiting arms shipment to Pakistan, was a bitter political pill to swallow.

Justice Abu Syed Chowdhury in UK, Professor Rehman Sobhan as a relentless crusader and Barrister Amirul Islam and late Mr. M. R. Siddique (not to mention many other distinguished names), played a valiantly admirable role. In this regard, the move of Khandaker Mushtaq to lead Bangladesh delegation to the United Nations was legitimately sabotaged because of his suspicious role as a supporter of a confederation scheme with Pakistan. Justice Chowdhury's leading the Bangladesh delegation to the United Nations was a severe blow to the prestige of Khandaker Mushtaq as foreign minister to carry out his scheme of a confederation with Pakistan, an exercise he kept indulging in without success.The implied threat to Mr. Tajuddin's leadership acted as a silent challenge to the provisional government throughout the entire nine months. The feeling grew out of a misconceived perception about his political ambition.

Mr. Tajuddin's political career was characterised by an unflinching sense of loyalty to Bangabandhu, and there is nothing in his role as Prime Minister of the provisional government to prove to the contrary. But this feeling, symbolised by late Fazlul Haque Moni, unfortunately cast a lingering shadow on the political content of Mujib Nagar Government, but did not seriously impair its effectiveness.Mobilsation of support of the Indian political establishment and ensuring international support were two critical components for the success of the war and the defeat of Pakistan Army. Many Indians believed that India was being unjustifiably brought into a situation where they had to face the twin opposition of the Soviet Union and Communist China. Henry Kissinger's erroneous theory of geo-political consideration, ruthlessly ignored a human tragedy of monumental proportion and compelling historical reality in Pakistan about the role of the majority in a democracy. Henry Kissinger's position was intellectually dishonest, a position he could not defend before the American people and the US Congress, both sympathetic to the people of Bangladesh.Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Gandhi tried to convince Nixon about the irrationality of the US position and was not successful. But it had the strategic component of a prior consultation making Mrs. Gandhi to take the boldest international initiative of her political career in invoking the Indo-Soviet Friendship Treaty as a countervailing threat against US and Chinese active opposition. The international scene was setup to support the war against Pakistan. The UN became an intense battleground of diplomacy with the Soviet veto standing as a shadow of threat to the US and the Chinese. The Indian permanent representative in the UN and later Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Mr. Samar Sen, played a brilliant role which is still worth remembering.The rest is history-Pakistani Army ultimately surrendering on the 16th of December in the historic Race Course Maidan.The Bangladesh war of liberation is a huge drama played on the international scene demanding the best from the participating players in terms of courage, wisdom, patience and political foresight.On the Bangladesh side Mr. Tajuddin played the game with consummate skill inspiring the entire liberation force, neutralising the conspirators and managing a complex game with patience and courage, with the senior Awami League leadership, Syed Nazrul Islam, Mr. Quamruzzaman and Mr. Monsur Ali, extending him all the political support he needed. On the Left, Maulana Bhasani, Comrade Moni Singh, Professor Muzaffar Ahmed showing considerable political foresight in standing beside Mr. Tajuddin.

On the Indian side, Mrs. Gandhi showed incredible political courage, galvanising the Indian political establishment behind her overall strategy, and Mr. Bhupesh Gupta of the Communist Party and Bhabani Sen and Indrojit Gupta, all extending her commendable support. The leadership of the largest democracy in the world stood behind Mrs. Gandhi in what could be the most dangerous move of her political career. The story of appreciation would be incomplete without mentioning the name of two brilliant bureaucrats and diplomats, Mr. P. N. Haksar and Mr. D. P. Dhar, who worked relentlessly to provide critical support to Mrs. Gandhi.

And above all, the countless unsung heroes who sacrificed their lives for a liberated Bangladesh, and those who fought gallantly for their beloved in Bangladesh, to them this column pays a most grateful and beloved tribute.

The author is a columnist and former civil servant.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

Revolt of Junior Tigers

Initial resistance of Liberation War

Major General M. Azizur Rahman, Bir Uttam ndc, psc (Retd)

Tall palm trees were laid along the walk-way within the palace compound. 'Junior Tigers' constantly hosted official as well as private visitors coming for picnic and sight seeing.

When dialogues were continuing between Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Yahya Khan, the military government of Islamabad was steadily reinforcing troops into the then East Pakistan. In the first week of March '71, Brigade Headquarters ordered 2 East Bengal to deploy a company in Tangail and Mymensingh and platoons in Gazipur Machine Tools Factory and Rajendrapur Ammunition Depot. It followed General Yahya's announcement of the postponement of National Assembly. The aim was to deplete the strength and scatter the unit at different locations so that their command structures became ineffective in the days of non- cooperation movement.

One of those days Maj (later Maj Gen) Moinul Hossain Choudhury, Bir Bikram and Capt (later Maj Gen) M Azizur Rahman, Bir Uttam of 'Junior Tigers' while visiting some friends at Dhaka heard that members of Police, EPR and East Bengal Regiments were likely to be disarmed for fear of an armed insurrection against the government in view of the prevailing situation. Whatever the substance of the gossip, that was good enough for 'Junior Tigers' to be extra vigilant and that ultimately paid off in foiling the mission of the Pakistan Army on 19 March 1971.

Dhaka was placed out of bounds for all ranks of Junior Tigers and movement between sub-units at different places was forbidden without prior approval from the headquarters. The battalion wireless communication was only with the Brigade Headquarters and all links with other Brigade units were snapped and the unit had only one magneto telephone connection with Dhaka Army Exchange. The Battalion was almost cut-off from the rest of the country. Since the beginning of the non-cooperation movement all supplies to the Cantonment were stopped. However, 'Junior Tigers' were not so badly affected, thanks to the sympathetic Bengali population towards the Bengali unit.

Lt Col Masoudul Hossain Khan, the Commanding Officer of 2 East Bengal Regiment, was told about the possible attempt of disarming the Battalion by the Pakistan Army, and immediate precautionary measures were taken to guard against any such attempt. Routine picket's strength was doubled. Round the clock, one company of troops was placed in stand-to (ready to move at short notice) position with drawn arms and equipment. After dusk one platoon (about 30 soldiers) was to be sent out and positioned away from the battalion location to guard against likely approach towards the Rajbari. Soldiers in civvies used to be at the cinema hall near the Joydebpur intersection about three miles from the battalion location to give early warnings in case there were any army movements from Dhaka.

The Battalion Adjutant had to execute and supervise all those measures. To allay any suspicion Pakistani officers were told that those alert measures were to guard the battalion from any subversive activities. Every day after dinner the situation used to be reviewed among a small group consisting of the Commanding Officer Lt Col Masoud, Second in Command Maj (later Maj Gen and Chief of Army Staff) KM Safiullah, Bir Uttam, Company Commander Maj Moin and Adjutant Capt Aziz. Till late in the night, guards, pickets and patrols were regularly checked by the Adjutant to ensure alertness among the soldiers. Other Bengali officers of the Battalion were Maj (later Maj Gen) Nurul Islam, Maj (later Lt Gen and Chief of Army Staff) ASM Nasim, Bir Bikram, Capt (Later Maj Gen) Ejaz Ahmed Choudhury, Second Lieutenant (Later Lt Col) Abdul Mannan, Bir Bikram, Second Lieutenant (later Maj Gen) GH Morshed Khan, Bir Bikram, Second Lieutenant (later Maj Gen) SM Ibrahim, Bir Protik and Lieutenant Najmul Hassan of Army Medical Corpse.

Things started moving fast. The historic address of Bangabandhu on 7th March at Ramna Park had an electrifying effect on the nation giving clear indication as to the future course of actions. It was just short of formal declaration of independence. During this period the departing Commander of Eastern Command Lieutenant General Shahebzada Yakub Khan, the new Commander Lieutenant General Tikka Khan and General Officer Commanding of 14 Division Major General Khadem Hossain Raja, visited 2 East Bengal Regiment at short intervals and addressed the troops. General Yakub, in his little more than a minute long speech, spoke in Bangla that he was proud of having commanded a formation in which 'Junior Tigers' was included and that he was confident this Battalion would keep up its tradition and heritage as it had always done in the past.

Suddenly, the battalion was asked to deposit all weapons of .303 calibre which were lying surplus to the authorisation after the unit changed to Chinese weapons, within 36 hours Earlier, for a year and a half the battalion had tried to deposit these weapons but had failed. The news of this deposit was interpreted by the civilians as an attempt to disarm the unit and about 40 road blocks were erected between Dhaka Cantonment and Joydebpur. The battalion was also not keen to deposit the weapons at the time in view of the prevailing situation and Capt Ejaz, the Quarter Master, tried to delay the deposit on different pretexts.

On the morning of 19 March 1971 a message was received from the Brigade Headquarters that Commander Brigadier Jehanzeb Arbab was coming to Joydebpur and would have lunch with the 'Junior Tigers'. The message contained instructions to clear the road blocks up to Tongi from Joydebpur with a company strength of troops while road from Dhaka Cantonment would be cleared by the troops accompanying the Brigade Commander. It was apparent that the Commander was coming with reckonable strength and the battalion was immediately put on full alert in case Pakistanis had some sinister plans for it.

Brigadier Arbab visited Joydebpur with more than one objective; however he had to return achieving nothing. On the morning of 22 March Lt Col Masoud was called to Dhaka Cantonment and removed from command. Lt Col Raquib a Bengali officer who was commanding 32 Punjab Regiment at Dhaka was sent as the new commanding officer of 'Junior Tigers', much to the consternation of all ranks.

March 19, 1971 was the day when the sign of defiance was demonstrated by a regular army unit against the Pakistan authority which ultimately culminated into a revolt. The unit then started preparing for the Liberation War; for them there was no looking back.

The author is a freedom fighter and was with 2 East Bengal Regiment during the War.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

Eyewitness account of first attack on enemy

Shahnoor Wahid

Dateline April 1971. We had taken shelter on March 28 in a quiet, picturesque village named Noagaon, under Araihazar thana, not far from the famous Babur Haat (Madhabdi).

Only a few days into April, perhaps 4th, we woke up in the morning with the sound of heavy vehicles moving through the Tarabo-Narshingdi highway. It was the most hated yet feared sound in 1971. The highway was only two miles from our village and as there was a wide open paddy field between it and our village, we could clearly see the military convoy rumbling past at a medium speed. For obvious reasons it was not rushing through unknown territory. Two or three smaller vehicles, including a Willy's Jeep and a quarter ton truck carrying some troops, were up ahead to send radio messages about the situation of the road to the main convoy behind. There were about fifteen heavy troop-carriers in the convoy coming one after another and one small jeep at its tail. The day was bright, therefore, visibility was hundred percent.

Then all sorts of weapons, including Chinese and .303 rifles, joined in and the sound made us feel as if we were right in the middle of a battle!

For a long time we thought some troops had entered the nearby villages and were firing on people. Our fear intensified when we saw men, women and children running towards our village from villages around Purinda Bazar. They left whatever they were doing to reach a safer place far away from the scene of the battle.

From our safe position, we saw the convoy stopping as soon as the first gunfire was heard. Enemy troops jumped down from their vehicles and took position on the ground against the shelter of their vehicles. But they did not open fire. Only the troops in the lead vehicles were firing at the Bengali resistance fighters who were attacking them from behind the mud houses and thick trees at the bend at Bagmara.

When we reached the place we saw the quarter ton vehicle and the jeep overturned in a small ditch by the side of the road.

The windshields and the metal body bore bullet marks. The locals told us that some Bengali men in khaki pants and white vest with the LMG and rifles had taken position behind the mud houses and large trees and opened fire on the two vehicles.

They thought the driver of one vehicle and one or two soldiers were killed in the ambush. They did not hear of any casualty among the resistance fighters.

Some elderly people who had seen the men go past their village thought they were Bengali soldiers belonging to EPR and members of the Police force from the Rajarbagh camp, who had come walking all the way from Dhaka. The men had asked them the direction towards the border. They believed the men had crossed the Jamuna River and disappeared.

It was a spontaneous resistance built up by brave Bengali soldiers at various places very early on after the crackdown of 25 March. The organised guerrilla warfare began months later.

The author is Sr. Asst. Editor, The Daily Star

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

London 71: The opening of diplomatic offensive

Mohiuddin Ahmed

Mr. Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury summoned me one evening in early August of 1971 at his home in north London to receive some fund for the operation of our proposed Bangladesh mission in London. I cannot remember the day exactly but it must have been a day between 10th and 15th of the month. I had resigned from my post of second secretary with the Pakistan High Commission in London on 1st August and so did MAL Matin, another second secretary, on 4th August. It was following our resignations to work for the Liberation of Bangladesh that Justice Chowdhury decided to open a diplomatic front outside India, to mobilise support in the big diplomatic corps also for our War of Liberation, with Justice Chowdhury at its head. It should be mentioned that he was already leading the campaign in an effective manner -- all over Europe and America, with headquarters in London. He had already an office at 11, Goring Street and now he wanted a diplomatic office also.

I had wanted to resign much earlier, on 10th April to be precise, when I had first met Justice Chowdhury at BBC's Bush House, where he had gone to give his first interview to Peter Gill of the Daily Telegraph. Justice Chowdhury had restrained me saying that he had to orgainse himself first and then at an appropriate time he would send me the signal to join him.

When in the middle of 1971, our Liberation War had gained momentum, he decided on the course of the diplomatic offensive in London where most countries of the world had representations and therefore a fitting place to project our cause and our sufferings in the hands of the Pakistan occupation army in Bangladesh.

With his advice and guidance we had in the meantime selected a place at Nottinghill Gate in central London. It was well connected by bus and underground train services and therefore easily accessible to our people coming from other areas of London and beyond. In the selection of this venue which subsequently became the Bangladesh centre and continues to be so as our acquired property, Mr Donald Chesworth, then the president of War on Want and one of the three trustees of our Bangladesh fund, played a mighty big role. The other two trustees were Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury and Mr. John Stonehouse then a Member of the British House of Commons. He was one of our British heroes in 1971.

Mr Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury had the personnel for his proposed diplomatic mission, he had a venue also, but where to find the fund to run the mission? At his instruction we had made an estimate of the barest minimum costs for rent, telephone, stationary and subsistence allowance for the skeleton staff, and it came to about £2500 a month.

We had Bangladesh Fund where to, so to say, all Bengalis of erstwhile East Pakistan were donating on a weekly basis. This fund by then had accumulated several hundred thousand pounds. But Justice Chowdhury would not make any expenditure out of this fund except for war purposes. He had assured me earlier that he would raise the fund for the diplomatic mission separately.

Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury had instructed me to ask Lutful Matin also to be present that evening at his residence.

At the appointed time of the day, we made it to his house separately from our houses in two different locations of London. Justice Chowdhury was living in this temporary house with his wife and their three minor children.

That evening we found another guest, Dr. Musharraf Hossain Joarder, apparently waiting for us at the residence of Justice Chowdhury. In between tea and snacks, Justice Chowdhury gave me in a sheaf of high denomination notes £5000.00 to meet the expenses of the diplomatic mission for about two months and asked Matin to give a receipt to Dr. Joarder for this amount. When I asked him who the donor of this amount we should mention in the receipt, he replied that it would be in the name of Mr Subid Ali.

The name, quite unknown to me and Matin, made us stare at each other for a few brief moments. Then I mustered some courage and politely sought some further information of this Mr Subid Ali from Justice Chowdhury. He dismissed us in one brief sentence, 'you will know about him in course of time.' So that was the end of the discussion on Mr. Subid Ali. Neither I nor Matin raised the subject again with Justice Chowdhury.

As planned earlier, and now that we had the fund also for minimum two months, the diplomatic mission was inaugurated in the morning of Friday 27th August with a large crowd blessing us. It brings tears to my eyes when I remember that some Bengali members of staff who were still with the Pakistan High Commission in London had the courage and patriotism to be present in that August morning to express their solidarity with us.

Late Anthony Mascarenhas, who became world famous by publishing a report of about 10 thousand words on the genocide in Bangladesh in the Sunday Times of London of 13th June, prayed for our success in a speech in the inaugural function. So did Simon Dring, who had exposed Pakistan army's brutality on our people on the night of 25th March, in a long report published in the Daily Telegraph on 30th March. This was the first eyewitness account of a journalist on the scale of terror and mass killing in Dhaka to move the world.

That morning we all were deeply moved, because we had made a successful beginning.

We had also amongst us Mr. Abul Fateh, Pakistan's erstwhile Ambassador to Iraq, protesting the genocide on the Bengalis. He had also resigned from his post and flown to London on 21st August via Kuwait with the help of the Indian missions in Baghdad and Kuwait. He was the first of the two Bengali ambassadors we got by our side in 71, the other being Mr. Abdul Momen, who was Pakistan's ambassador in Argentina. He had also flown to London on 11th October 1971 giving up his ambassadorial post.

Pakistan's High Commissioner in the UK, Salman Ali, that day early in the morning, had gone to the British Foreign and Commonwealth office, to protest the opening of Bangladesh mission. Mr. Joseph Godbar, the Minister of State, dismissed him saying that the Bengalis were not violating any British law and the British government was not recognising the Bangladesh mission; therefore the Pakistani High Commissioner did not have any point to complain about. The following day British newspapers gave the opening of our mission good coverage as also the visit of Pakistani high commissioner to the British foreign ministry.

It was 6th January 1972 evening; I was doing some work at my desk in the Bangladesh mission at 24, Pembridge Garden when I was summoned by Justice Chowdhury at his office on the same ground floor.

Mr. Chowdhury would be leaving for Dhaka the following morning. In the meantime we had observed our victory day at our mission on 16th December in the presence of a huge media crowd. Mr. Chowdhury for most part of first three weeks of December was in New York, attending the Security Council and General Assembly debates of the United Nations.

When I entered his room, Mr. Chowdhury motioned me to sit. I took a chair and saw a stranger on another chair next to me.

Mr. Chowdhury opened the talk. “Do you remember you had asked me who Mr. Subid Ali was when I had handed over £5000 to run this mission?” Yes Sir, I do member that evening in early August last year, I replied.

“Here is Mr. Subid Ali now sitting beside you. His real name is Mr. Zahurul Islam. He has been living in London for the last few months anonymously with the help of Dr. Joarder. He had fled Bangladesh feigning illness leaving behind his wife and children. Dr. Joarder has been keeping him in the Backenham Hospital under his care as a patient.”

I did not member that I had seen Mr. Zahurul Islam before. But that evening, in my first ever meeting with him, I bowed my head to him in deep and profound respect for that big grant he had made for our diplomatic mission. More important than the amount was the gestures of his patriotism for Bangladesh and love and respect for Mr. Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury to whom he had extended support in many other forms in those days of our trials and tribulations in 1971 in a foreign land.

In retrospect, I am certain that the money was well spent on this diplomatic mission. The British government did not recognise Bangladesh or its mission until after our victory on 16th December. This recognition came on 4th February, 1972. Nevertheless, this newly opened mission had become the address of all Bengali diplomats who were resigning from their posts in different capitals of the world. By the end of 1971 about 20 Bengali officers and staff had joined us in London.

Bangladesh Independence War on the diplomatic front

Syed Muazzem Ali

Our Independence war is the finest moment in thousand years of our history, when the peace-loving and unarmed Bengali, through indomitable spirit and courage, fought and achieved freedom and independence from alien rule. Our people from all walks of life, in response to the clarion call by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, fought the war on every front. While our valiant soldiers and freedom fighters fought the war on the battlefield, our journalists, educationists, film makers, singers, actors, cultural activists, civil servants and administrators confronted the challenges in their respective areas.

Far away from home, some courageous Bengali diplomats posted in Pakistani Missions abroad also joined the liberation war, publicly severing their links with the Pakistani authorities and declaring their allegiance to Bangladesh. Diplomats, who live in their insular world, normally do not take such steps which invariably jeopardize security of their near and dear ones back home. However, some bold sons of the soil, commonly known as “defecting” diplomats, had opened a diplomatic front to our national struggle.

The diplomatic offensive had three specific goals: first, to build international public opinion in favour of our cause of independence and to ensure international assistance to our suffering humanity who had taken shelter across the border; second, to isolate the Pakistani regime by projecting the atrocities and crimes against the humanity which they were committing in Bangladesh with a view to cutting off all foreign economic and military assistance to the Yahya regime; and third, to create the necessary condition so that the friendly countries who were supporting our cause could take a more firm and decisive action to expedite our independence process.

In this era of globalisation, we see renewed global concern for democracy, freedom and human rights. But only three and half decades ago when our people wanted to establish their inalienable democratic and national rights, they had to suffer worst crimes against humanity. Despite sympathy at the public level, there was no global action to stop the genocide in Bangladesh. China had viewed it as a “dismemberment” of their ally Pakistan, while the Arab countries had viewed it as a “break up” of the largest Muslim state. Even some South Asian neighbors were apprehensive that our independence might jeopardise the “strategic balance” in the region. The Nixon administration, unfortunately, had viewed it in the context of their cold war rivalry with the then Soviet Union which had supported our cause. Further, President Nixon and his National Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger were using Islamabad as a conduit for establishing diplomatic ties with Beijing, and they were not concerned about the sufferings of the people of Bangladesh.

Given these complex scenario and severe resources constraints, our government in exile, took some time to come out with a definitive strategy in the area of diplomacy. However, soon thereafter, a policy was worked out to challenge our enemy on the diplomatic front, and New Delhi, Calcutta, Washington DC, New York and London emerged as the main centers of our diplomatic offensives.The two Bengali diplomats who declared their allegiance to Bangladesh on 6 April 1971, even before the formation of our Government, were two junior diplomats, K.M. Shehabuddin, Second Secretary and Amjadul Huq, Assistant Press Attaché at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. Later, Humayun Rasheed Chowdhury, Counsellor, and all other members of the staff joined the Bangladesh Mission in New Delhi.

On arrival in London on 10 April, he severed all links with the Pakistani authorities and declared his allegiance to Bangladesh. The Mujibnagar Government appointed him roving Ambassador on 21 April.

Subsequently, as other Ambassadors were appointed, Justice Chowdhury was given the task to lead the diplomatic offensive in UK and in other West European countries. He also represented Bangladesh at the UN in New York.

Among the Bengali diplomats in the Pakistani High Commission in London, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Second Secretary was the first to declare his allegiance to Bangladesh on 1 August.

Bangladesh Mission was set up on 27 August and other High Commission officers who joined the Mission were Habibur Rahman, Education Officer, Lutful Matin, Finance and Accounts Officer, and Fazlul Huq Chowdhury, Assistant Press Attaché. Afterwards, Counsellor M. M. Rezaul Karim joined the Mission.

At the Ambassador level, AFM Abul Fateh was the first Bengali Ambassador to declare allegiance to Bangladesh, on 29 August. He was posted in Baghdad at that time. Initially, he joined the London Mission but was later called to Headquarters. Fazlul Karim, Second Secretary in Cairo, M. U. A. Jaigirdar, Third Secretary in Lagos, and Syed Amirul Islam, Third Secretary in Tunis, severed links with Pakistan Government and were asked to move to London.

Ambassadors Khurrom Khan Panni and Abdul Momen, who were heading the Pakistani Embassies in Manila and Buenos Aires respectively, declared allegiance to Bangladesh in September and October, and were given special assignments by the Government. Mustafizur Rahman, Second Secretary in Katmandu, Waliur Rahman, Second Secretary in Geneva, S.M. Maswood, Press Attaché, Q.A.M.A Rahim, Third Secretary in Tokyo and Mohiuddin Ahmed, Acting Trade Commissioner in Hong Kong, declared allegiance to Bangladesh and were asked to open Bangladesh Missions in those capitals.

However, the largest diplomatic offensive, other than in Calcutta occurred in Washington DC. On 4 August 1971, all the Bengali diplomats and members of the staff of the Pakistan Embassy en masse severed links with Pakistan and declared their allegiance to Bangladesh. They also worked as a team for the cause of the independence of Bangladesh. In this group were Enayet Karim, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission, S.A.M.S. Kibria, Political Counsellor, A. M. A. Muhith, Economic Counsellor, Abu Rushd Matinuddin, Counsellor (Education), Ataur Rahman Chowdhury, Finance and Accounts Officer, and Syed Muazzem Ali, Third Secretary. The three locally recruited Bengali officials, Sharful Alam, Sheikh Rustom Ali, and Abdur Razzaque Khan, and all Bengali members of the staff joined this group. With their “defection”, not a single Bengali was left in that Embassy.

Syed Anwarul Karim, who was Minister and the Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations in New York, also decided to join the Washington group, and, being the senior most among the lot, led the group at the Press Conference at the Washington National Press Club. Subsequently, he headed the Bangladesh Mission to the UN in New York. But the man who “defected” first in the USA was A H Mahmood Ali, Vice Consul in the Pakistani Consulate in New York. Ali had declared his allegiance to Bangladesh on 26 April 1971.

The “Mass Defection” had profound impact in Washington DC and beyond, especially in view of the fact that the Nixon administration had fully sided with the military regime of Yahya Khan. The US Congress and the vast majority of American people, however, did not share the apathy of their administration and openly supported the Bangladesh cause.

On 12 August, 1971, the Mujibnagar Government sent a ranking elected Member of the National Assembly, Mustafizur Rahman Siddiky, to head the Mission in Washington DC. The Bangladesh Mission was soon set up in downtown Washington DC. Its main job was to lobby with US Senators and Congressmen to stop all military and economic assistance to Pakistan and they succeeded in their mission when the Saxbe-Church amendment was adopted by the US Senate in November 1971. Earlier, with the Gallagher amendment, the Congress also adopted a similar bill to suspend all assistance to Pakistan.

The other principal jobs were to regularly brief members of Washington press corps, address various educational institutions and think tanks, appear on radio and television interviews, and coordinate with our most articulate American friends who had set up the Bangladesh Information Center in Washington DC. The Center was founded by William B. Greenhough and other doctors who had been working at the SEATO Cholera Research Laboratory (CRL) in Dhaka and some of them were eyewitnesses to the carnage that took place in Dhaka.

The Mission also coordinated with various Associations formed by our expatriates in various cities. The largest concentration of our expatriates was in New York and they played a crucial role throughout the war. The Mission also maintained “unofficial” contacts with the State Department, AID and World Bank officials and worked round the clock.

The Pakistani forces could not sustain the war even for two weeks in the face of blitzkrieg type of attacks launched by our freedom fighters and Indo-Bangladesh joint forces, on them. Bangladesh was born.

The author, a former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, was one of the “defecting” diplomats and founding members of the Bangladesh Mission in Washington DC in 1971.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

Cultural inspiration of the non-cooperation movement

Ramendu Majumdar

The foundation of Bangladesh is rooted in Bengali culture. There is no denying the fact that the seeds of our independence movement were sown in the language movement of 1952. Within a year of so called 'freedom' in the framework of Pakistan, the dream of a free country for the majority population of Pakistan ie, the Bengalis, was shattered. Bengalis refused to abide by the alien cultural dictates of the West Pakistani rulers who first tried to make Urdu, the mother tongue of the minority population, the state language of Pakistan. What happened in response to that move is our glorious history now. Bengali nationalism got a new boost with the establishment of the rightful place of our mother tongue. Next came the movement for economic freedom. The Six-point movement of Awami League and the Eleven-point movement of the students received huge mass support. Many valuable lives were sacrificed in these mass movements and it became obvious that the ultimate solution lay in an independent Bangladesh. Economic exploitation and denial of cultural rights in the name of religion reached an unbearable state.

The general election of 1970 gave a clear mandate in favour of Awami League led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to form the central government of Pakistan. But when that was also denied on some pretext, the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, witnessed an unprecedented Non-cooperation movement from March 1 to 25, 1971, though the movement was formally declared on March 3 by Bangabandhu in a rally at Paltan Maidan. Earlier, on March 2, Bangabandhu, while condemning the killing of unarmed persons at Farm Gate categorically said that, 'Bangalees could not be suppressed any more and they would not tolerate exploitation as a colony or as a market.'

Never in the history of this land were people so united under the leadership of one person. One wonders whether we will ever show such oneness in future. It was perhaps our best of times. The seventy-five million people of the then East Pakistan were tuned to a single music of fire. What an orchestration!

There was hardly any section of the population which didn't take part in the Non-cooperation movement some more actively than others.

Similar statement was issued by thirty-three leading film directors, producers, actors and music directors on March 5.

The prominent signatories were Abdul Jabbar Khan, Khan Ataur Rahman, Salahuddin, Iftekharul Alam, Rosy Samad, Razzaq, Kabori, Abul Khair, Golam Mustafa, Altaf Mahmud, Zahir Raihan and others. Later, on March 12, the film exhibitors decided to close down all cinema houses during the non-cooperation movement.

On March 5, the writers and artists held a rally at Central Shaheed Minar under the chairmanship of Dr. Ahmed Sharif and renewed their pledge for the independence of Bangladesh.

March 7 was a red-letter day in our national history. Bangabandhu delivered his much awaited speech which could be termed as a 'political poem' in an unprecedented gathering of independence-seeking people. The speech served as a pointer to all quarters to prepare themselves for the D-day. In fact our independence was declared on that very day.

Dhaka Radio made all arrangements to relay Bangabandhu's speech directly from the Race Course. Immediately after the speech began, the army authorities snapped the direct link and the speech was not broadcast live. In protest, all the employees of Dhaka Radio came out of the station and the transmission came to a stop. On receiving assurances from the authorities that the recording of the speech would be broadcast on March 8 morning, the employees returned to their work the next day to put the speech on air. This was a bold step by the Radio employees which inspired the non-cooperation movement to a great extent.

As army officers were posted in Dhaka Television, it was mandatory to show the Pakistani flag with the national anthem at the end of the transmission. But the Bengali employees of Dhaka Television secretly decided not to show the Pakistani flag on March 23 (Pakistan Day). Instead of ending the transmission at the usual time of 11 pm, they carried over the programmes for another one hour and a half and the announcer ended the transmission saying that, 'Today is 24th of March. Here we end tonight's programme.' This was a very bold decision too on the part of the TV employees.

The artists staged demonstrations almost daily in the Bangla Academy premises and on the streets. On March 8, the protesting artists declared that it was felt that to inspire the ongoing movement, pro-people music, drama etc. were necessary to be broadcast from Radio and Television. So the artists decided to participate in the Radio-TV programmes from March 10 on condition that all the programmes were to be in line with the movement and if a total hartal was announced, the artists would go back to their boycott programme.

On March 15, the TV drama artists in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Abdul Majid pledged their support to Bangabandhu's call and decided that no programme, detrimental to the people's movement could be telecast. Among others, Syed Hasan Imam, Farid Ali, Showkat Akbar, Altaf and Roushan Jamil spoke at the meeting.

The legacy of staging theater of protest which started from Munier Chowdhury's 'Kabor' in 1953 at the Dhaka Central Jail got a new momentum during the days of non-cooperation movement of 1971. In independent Bangladesh the artists, particularly, the theater activists, have been the torch bearers of that struggle to make our country a land free from all kinds of oppression, hunger and exploitation. The glorious days of 1971 will always sharpen our struggling sprit.

The author is a renowned theater and media personality.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

Forever ring the bells of freedom

Sharmeen Murshid

They sing for the millions fleeing home in camps on the borders, for the young freedom fighters who will soon go on to their next operation and who may never return. They sing for the people of India -- country that so kindly gave refuge to millions of homeless. They sing for the victory of humanity.

The troupe was called Bangladesh Mukti Shangrami Shilpi Shangsthya.

One day, when Lear Levin, the American film maker, suddenly walked into the lives of these young people from the singing troupe, he was intrigued and inspired. He watched them travel on a truck going from camp to camp singing songs of hope and freedom. He was attracted to the group and began to follow them, record their activities.

Lear wanted to know what they were singing and asked for a phonetic reproduction of the song and a translation from this teenager. And this was the translation she gave Lear for use in his film. Lear never managed to finish that film. The rushes were discovered after 25 years and brought back to Bangladesh and a documentary film was made from it by Tareque and Catherine Masud. And with it, returned the worn out exercise book in which the translations of the songs of freedom were written for the world to know. It was returned to the "little girl" who was of course not so little anymore. Lear had preserved it well.

They sang:

Balo balo re balo shobe balo re Bangalir joy

Bangladesher nadir buke ei boli gaan gahiya ja …

And the little girl translated thus:

"Oh speak all, about the victory of the Bengali, and sing of its joy, as we sail the rivers of Bengal.

Bengal is rich with golden paddy, with flowers and fruits -- there is no want and there is no worry. Let us all sing of its joy as we sail the rivers of Bengal.

Our rivers filled with fish and trees covered with fruits, in this incomparable land of Golden Bengal, what have we to worry? So, as we sail the rivers let us sing of the joy of Bengal."

Pak poshuder marte hobe cholore nao dheiya

Nowka ebar chale moder judher shaman loiyya…

She writes: "This song and the previous song is sung and written in the typical folk style. The words such as 'hey hey heyya' or 'heyya re heyya' is phrased in such a way that you almost feel that a boat is being rowed in rhythm; and it gives a feeling of continuation. The boatman in our country, sing out such phrases, while they fish or sail. This is a revolutionary song."

"It [the song] says, come let us kill all the 'Pak animals.' Let us with arms set our boat to sail. Let us pick up our oars and sail fast and hard. The terms 'dhaiya dhaiya' and 'maar maar koriya' emphasise the fast flowing of the boat."

"Just watch the way the Pak animals run at the sight of the Bengalis. So come let us row hard … this time we will finish them ... so let us sail on …"

Phul khelbar din noy oddo

Dhongsher mokhomukhi,

mukhomukhi amra,

Chokhe ar shapner nei knono moddo

Kaat phata rodh shekhe chamra …

Phul khelbar din noi oddo

Eshe gaechhe dhonksher barta

Duujoge poth hoi hok durbheddo

Chine nebo joubono atta.

"Now is not the day for playing with flowers, for we are faced with destruction.

Dreams are no more in our eyes. The scorching sun parches our skin …

Listen to the siren of the chimney and to the song of the hammer and sickle …

Years of oppression,

The tears of the oppressed bring shame in every breath

No more will there be fear from death

Wear, wear, wear

Oh wear the garb of war!"

This and many more …

I was that little girl.

The return of this withe red exercise book brought back the memory of nine months of history. Nine months of struggle of thousands of families -- the struggle of my family -- to survive, to fight back. It was a wisp of history in my hands.

My parents were prominent in their own professions. Father, Khan Sarwar Murshid, Professor of English, at Dhaka University, was at the vanguard in resisting the "Pakistanisation" of our education, culture and language. Noorjehan Murshid, a first woman Parliamentarian since 1954 from Awami League and an activist in 1952, 1969, 1970 and 1971 movements.

My two brothers and sister and my own self -- all students -- were forced to leave the country. Our parents were wanted by the Pakistani occupied forces, dead or alive, and we were literally pushed out of our home into the wilderness, moving from village to village, finally finding a short respite in a small village by the borders of Tripura.

We paid our last respect to our motherland and kissed it goodbye, not knowing when we would be able to return, if at all. Not that this story line is any different from the hundred others… only, it is the story of a family where every member was blessed with the opportunity to fight for freedom. That was not a once in a lifetime opportunity but "a once in a many lifetime" opportunity.

My parents joined the exile government. I remember, my father was a member of the planning commission and represented the Provisional Government at various meetings and used to draft all the speeches for the Prime Minister, Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed (which later would be translated into Bangla by Professor Anisuzzaman).My mother, apart from her role as a party member, was a roving ambassador for the Bangladesh Provisional Government, mobilising political and public opinion.

My elder brother, Ferdous Murshid, joined publicity department of the Bangladesh High Commission to bring out the English bulletin for circulation world wide, giving updates on the war. My sister, Tazeen Murshid, read the news on Shadhin Bangla Betar, compiled news from the front, and assisted in the development of a an archive for an information bank under the guidance of Mr. Jamil Choudhury. My younger brother, Kumar Murshid joined the Mukti Fauj in sector nine and fought under sub-sector commander Captain Beg.

Only I was left. And naturally, I wanted to join the war. But no one would take me. So, alas, I joined the music squad, Bangladesh Mukti Shangrami Shilpi Shangsthya and put all my heart in it. All our work was to become a part of our war heritage.It is difficult for me to separate the "music story" from the "Murshid story" in my story of the War of Liberation. The Murshid story is a microcosm of the total story of the War of Liberation of 1971. The politician, the ambassador, the planner the writer, the media, the singer, the warrior, the martyrs -- all of this existed in the microcosm. Fourteen members from our extended family had added their names to the list of martyrs.In May 1971, Sanjida Apa, Wahid Bhai, Jamil Choudhury, Mustafa Monowar had already begun to bring together young people, many of whom were their students in Chayanaut, to form a singing squad that would raise funds, spread the message of freedom and keep the morale of our homeless people flying.

Everyday the group would rehearse at the Lenin Sharani. Wahid Bhai was the guru. And what a teacher! Today he too is gone leaving behind a trail to follow, a legacy to live up to. The power of the song would live on.

The troupe would be divided into smaller groups traveling to different areas by train, by bus, by truck, holding shows to raise funds in different parts of West Bengal, visiting refugee camps, war camps and singing our heart out to keep the moral up. The singing troupe was a campaign, spreading the message of the war in Bangladesh. Once the troupe traveled to New Delhi, by bus, held musical events, raised funds and submitted an appeal to a minister of the central cabinet.

Ironically, today, we are having to learn communication and advocacy strategies from donor experts to "develop" our country … but I had already learnt my lesson.

The legacy and the liberating power of the Music stayed on with me.

That day we sang for a free land, a liberated Bengali nation. Today we sing for the liberation of our souls; for democracy; for dignity of the woman and the liberation of the man who takes away that dignity; for the child so that she can be a child; for a free society that is still chained to injustice, oppression and greed. And that's a hard song to sing, but …

The Song of Freedom must ring on … melodious and clear, only the singers will change and a new generation of pathfinders will be born.

The author is a sociologist and CEO, Brotee.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

Night of infamy!

Dr M Enamul Hoque

Bangladeshis (hitherto people of East Pakistan/East Bengal) are more or less known for their sharp intelligence and acute sentiments, and possibly because of that they observe February with a month-long programme relating to the 'Shaheeds' of 21st February 1952 as the International Mother Language Day. Following February comes March, which is again observed as the month of Liberation.

There are various other auspicious occasions like 'Flag Hoisting Day', 'Charter of Independence Day', and 'Non-cooperation Day'. But of all these, perhaps 25th March, the Black Night, is mostly remembered by the elder ones, while 26th the Independence Day, by people of all walks of life.

General Rao Farman Ali here and General Hamid there, along with other evil geniuses hatched plans to subjugate Dhaka, the capital, first and the whole province in due course by the infamous 14 Division, later joined by the support groups flown from West Pakistan. And this was titled as “Operation Search Light”.

As per analysis of the whole episode the very first onslaught was fixed for zero hour of 25th March having three main targets Rajarbagh Police Line, Peelkhana-EPR HQ and Dhaka University campus.

On that fateful night Rajarbagh had about 2000 armed police, while Peelkhana about 2500 EPR. Reportedly, the occupation army was given six-hour deadline to secure the city, by the Eastern Command HQ, with the support elements of 57 Brigade. 22 Baluch Regiment suddenly attacked EPR and subdued and disarmed the disorganised resistance, while 32 Punjab assaulted Dhaka University area, killed unarmed students of the halls, specially Jagannath and Jahurul Haque Halls and murdered many professors too.

The police at Rajarbag, aided by the AL volunteers, put up a stout resistance but were eventually overcome and most of them captured. Pakistani forces used artillery and armour liberally, disregarding civilian safety altogether. The city was secured before dawn, but history shows that the seed of independence achieved through 9 month's liberation war, was sown on that midnight when countless innocent people's blood reddened the streets of Dhaka in general and Rajarbagh, Peelkhana and the University campus in particular.

As the days went on, the occupational forces started expanding their strength beyond Dhaka city and gradually to the outlying districts. C-130 Hercules planes were transferred to Dhaka for the operation which was being monitored by General Peerzada, General Gul Hasan, Major General Mittha, Major General Qamar Ali Mirza, Brigadier Harrison, Col Salahuddin, Cunning, surprise, deception and speed were emphasised as crucial for success. Use of free and greater force, search and arrest of civilians, specially in educational and minority inhabited areas, were also authorized. 'Suspects' in custody were brutally killed, assaulted, raped on the plea of patriotism of Pakistani idealism.

We celebrate 16th December our Victory Day with pride, but we the “Miscreants,” in the language Pakistani hordes, can never forget those who sacrificed their lives to keep us alive as human beings. My earnest appeal to all concerned men and women is not to distort the history, rather help to disseminate the correct picture to our posterity, so that they feel proud of their predecessors who set the 'Dawn of Independence' after the 'INFAMY NIGHT' of 25th March 1971.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

Rethinking the history of Independence

Rashid Askari

The history of our Independence is an ever-incomplete history. None but a fool can claim to have a complete history of an event. The process of history is as such evolutionary, which takes different courses by different hands at different times. No wonder, it may repeat itself before being fully recorded. Historians, however, have reassured us not to worry about getting the true history of something, for, it may be brought out even fifty years after the event occurs. But it sometimes may be too late to make positive use of a history because the history-mongers take its advantage banking on the forgetfulness of the public memory. That is what happens in general and what has happened in our case in particular.

The history of our Independence, even after three decades of achieving it, is still in jeopardy. People in power are giving different government editions of the one and only history of our Independence. The process of distortion had reached such an extreme point in the last five year during regime of the alliance government that even the real architect of Independence was about to be replaced in the pages of history written by the hired hands of the government. They wove many fantastic stories cunningly concealing real facts and tried to beguile the impressionable youth into believing in the forged and fabricated history.

As a matter of fact, there has been a trend to falsify the globally acknowledged accounts of our Independence history ever since its inception. This tendency misrepresents not only facts but also the very spirit of Independence. The entire gamut of our liberation struggle was prompted by a wholesome nationalistic fervour and aimed at having a secular democratic state farthest from religious sectarianism. But the then anti-liberation forces who have later on worn a pro-liberation robe to escape public wrath slant the true Independence ideals. They try to draw some distant theological motives behind the Independence War in order to drum up popular support in their favour. They are deceiving the devout Muslims of our country who are by all means in favour of religious harmony. These pseudo-religious culprits are trying to avenge their terrible defeat at the hands of pro-Independence people. They disfigure history of Independence and twist its principles. Their success is our national failure.

The history of our Independence is a history of its friends and foes. And the history of its friends and foes is an unending history. It cannot come to a full stop. We don't know the whole history of its friends nor do we know the total annals of its enemies.

We know the history of the greatest and the great war heroes with glorious appellations. But do we know the history of the many anonymous heroes who have fought for their motherland and passed away in silence? Do we know the names of freedom-loving rural folks who, out of extraordinary patriotic zeal, attacked the enemy with bamboo sticks and fell easy prey to counter attacks? Do we know the young maid who kept the occupation army amused by her histrionic gestures at night enabling the freedom fighters to pounce on them? We do not know how the unknown boatman drowned five enemy soldiers and went down in history quite silently. There can be a whole lot of living examples of people and their deeds which have not found expression in the recorded history.

There is a song about them “Hoitoba itihashey tomader naam lekha robena”( maybe, your names won't be written down in history). But as the song assures, this great debt can never be paid back.

As we do not know the whole account of the friends of Independence, so do we not know the full history of the enemies of our Independence. We know only the ring leader, Golam Azam and his notorious accomplices who are accused of war crimes. But there are thousands of war criminals whose names have not yet been expressed. Moreover, there are millions of pathological Golam Azams among the present generation who are against the secular spirit of Independence. They are the shadows of their master, the inveterate anti-independence man. They are the enemies of our Independence, enemies of our people.

As the history of the friends of Independence should not come to a halt, so does the history of the enemies of Independence. In fact, the history of the enemies should be written with more precision which is feasible too. Because, the friends are enormous in number. Actually all freedom loving people of Bangladesh in 1971 are the friends of Independence except for the Pakistan occupation army, their local allies, the Razakars, Al-Badr, Al-Shams etc. People who directly took part in the bloody war against the marauding army or indirectly supported the great pro-people cause are the friends. People from the present generation who take pride in the supreme sacrifice of the valiant people of earlier generation in the war of Independence and rejoice at their overwhelming victory and vow to stick to their ideals are the true friends of Independence. But the enemies were few and are still few. They are the people who like to distort history and pervert the ideals and want to turn back the wheels of history and get back to a psycho- medieval land like Yahya's Pakistan or Mulla Omar's Afganistan. So the formal indictment of the arch enemies of Independence is as urgent as the glorification of its friends.

This was the biggest ever mistake in our national life since Independence not to have tried the war criminals which has always been a popular demand. People still are seen fulminating against the general amnesty for the war criminals by Mujib Government. But the amnesty never meant acquitting the major criminals. Mujib regime ended with more than eleven thousand war criminals in custody. The war criminals virtually got an undue indulgence right after the August tragedy in 1975. That was the beginning of an inauspicious era in post-independence Bangladesh. The war criminals were cordially invited to active politics, let alone their trial. And quite unexpectedly, this was done by a man who read out the note of Independence Declaration on behalf of Bangabandhu and later fought valiantly in the war of Independence as one of the eleven sector commanders. Such an equation is an ever-disquieting matter to the pro-liberation people in Bangladesh.

The matter did not end there. The great war hero's party in collaboration with the war criminal's came into power. People with great astonishment see the war criminals sitting on the Treasury Bench and riding in cars with national flags. What a disgraceful sight! A sheer dishonour to the martyrs of the Independence War! But this is a reality.

Who is to blame for this? We tend to pass the buck to each other. What's the use of that? The anti-liberation forces are still showing audacity. We have had enough of their impertinence, but how to stop it? A public voice has been raised recently demanding their trial. It is never late to try war criminals.

To underline the virtues of the war heroes and intensify people's love for them, there should be a way of expressing public hatred for the war criminals. Alongside the sublime image of the martyr's memorials, the Shahid Minar, and the National Memorial in Savar, there should be places holding the horrid images of the Razakars, Al-Badr, Al-Shams where people can express their hatred for the enemies of Independence.

Therefore, the history of Independence should include both the war heroes and criminals. The juvenile textbooks should categorically juxtapose the glorious names of the war heroes with their heroic deeds and the ignoble names of the war criminals with their heinous activities. This will teach the youngsters whom to love and whom to hate. This love-hate attitude is very necessary these days when the enemies of Independence are gaining upper hand allowing militancy and fanaticism to stalk through the country; the freedom fighters are not being properly taken care of; and the dream of a secular democratic country has not been fully realised. Some, however, advise to let bygones be bygones. We beg to differ with them. The friends of Independence are not unduly lovable to us. Similarly, the enemies are not unjustifiably hateful. We would like to go the way shown by the friends and hate the enemies at least to the point of bringing them to justice. Fresher victory of the friends and further defeat of the foes are both inevitable.

The author is writer, columnist and Professor of English, Islamic University, Kushtia.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

Paying tribute to war heroes

Dr. Binoy Barman

We must pay glowing tributes to the war heroes who brought us our liberty, a liberty in political sense. We shall remember them in and out of season, during March and December as well as other times, sprinkling all our love contained in the depth of our hearts for them. We shall write and recite poetry in their names. We shall compose lyrics and put them in tunes. We shall weave stories and dialogues praising their heroic deeds. We shall paint their raised hands and determined faces with the colour of our emotion. We shall build sculptures with the strength of our bones. We shall engrave their smiles and tears in stones. Thus, we shall not only make them happy but also make ourselves happy.

Whom do we call war heroes, by the way? They are all those who aspired for a sovereign country and worked for it, who took up arms and fought against foes in battlefield. And those who were tortured, raped or killed during the nine fateful months, those who gave the freedom fighters shelter and food, and nursed the wounded and those who were displaced and lost their possessions in the war, and those who talked and sang for 'a flower,' and those from inside the land and outside the land. All their earnest efforts took the war to victory and earned them the honorific, 'war heroes'. The present generation and the generations to come will remember their contributions with profound respect.

People from all walks of life took part in the war of liberation. The fighting band comprised students, teachers, farmers, labourers, businessmen, doctors, engineers and all other professions. They were imbued with the spirit of liberation and put their life at risk. They all truly loved their motherland and hated the oppressors. They desired a free breathing space for them and for their progeny. They wanted to have a land where all could live in peace and happiness, in what would be called 'Sonar Bangla'. They united themselves and in due course forged greater unity with the friendly foreign force, which quickened the pace towards the coveted destination.

It is a historical reality that India helped us actively in achieving what we call Bangladesh now. It helped diplomatically and militarily. Together with freedom-loving Bangladesh Liberation Forces, it formed the allied force, which defeated the occupation army.

Shoulder to shoulder with the Bengalis, the Indian soldiers fought bravely and many of them died in the battlefield. The land of Bangladesh was washed with their blood. Our sense of gratefulness obliges us to remember them along with the Bengali war heroes during the days of celebrations. Their contribution to our freedom is very valuable. They do not deserve to be forgotten.

A section of people, try hard to portray the war as a wrangling between India and Pakistan, branding the former's role as a conspiracy against the unity of Pakistan. This kind of portrayal is a far cry from the truth. It is the distortion of mentality and the distortion of facts. India stood beside Bangladesh as a friend responding to the call of the distressed humanity. They did their job, and did it quite well with the full sense of responsibility. The surrender of General Niazi in the Ramna Racecourse was witnessed both by the victorious Bengalis and the Indians.

Those who now attempt to distort history are the ghosts of Niazi. Their words are the parody of Ayub and Yahya, and their local collaborators. They cannot forget the pangs and pains of defeat in 1971. They now say there are no 'Rajakars' in Bangladesh and no war of independence ever took place here. They oppose secular ideology and want to establish theocracy in the country. They chant slogans in the 'Larkey lengey Pakistan' style and still show allegiance to their 'fallacious belief'. They terrorise people by exploding bombs, killing judges and free-thinking writers. They are the war criminals in the garb of gentlemen.

It is time we ask ourselves if we are being negligent in honouring the war heroes and despising the war criminals. Are we throwing flowers to the former and stones to the latter? Are we giving equal importance to the heroes from home and abroad? Discrimination is not desirable at all. By virtue of participation in the battle, all are blessed entities and, if killed, martyrs of 1971. If we fail to show equal respect to both of them, we will be ungrateful as a nation. Honouring others for their contributions will only glorify our freedom and uphold our dignity as a nation.

In recent days the sector commanders have united to oppose the opponents of independence. They now want to discard the fundamentalist forces from politics and bring the war criminals to book.

They are quite legitimate in their demands. They are campaigning with the common people on the one hand and negotiating with the government on the other. They seem to be resolute in their movement. There are hurdles in the way, of course, but they know how to overcome them. They demonstrated their skill in 1971. Now they will have to show it again, in time of dire need.

War heroes are the bravest sons of the soil. Many of them are dead and some are still alive as senior citizens. We must take care that they get all our care. They have made us proud forever with their legendary heroism and supreme sacrifice. Not only in March and December, we shall remember them every day and night, every morning and evening. We shall remember them every hour and every moment. They deserve to be remembered in every breath, which we owe to them so dearly.

The author is Assistant Professor and Head of English Dept, Daffodil International University.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

Lost but not forgotten

Saushan Rahman

Every night when I would go to sleep, my mother would tell me stories of our liberation war. Those stories were my introduction to my history. Every time she would end the story with a note, "I hope that my children do not have to see what we saw." Gradually as I grew up, I switched from my mother's bedtime stories to history books, with the hope of more information. Sadly, the books did not have the information that I was looking for. While I was looking for the experience of people who had witnessed all the brutalities, I would end up finding all the political facts.

Among many other people, my parents witnessed the devastation of March 25, which they both refer to as the darkest night of their life. My mother's version of the story is, "It was 11'o clock. I was in the dining room talking to my sisters and brothers. Around 11:30, I heard a noise. It took me a while to realise that it was the sound of a gun. My heart began to beat fast as if it was competing against the speeding bullets of machine gun. We ran to the veranda and saw our father standing there. The pitch-black sky had suddenly turned crimson. It was not dawn, but the vicious flame that engulfed parts of the city. The deafening sound of heavy artillery buried the screams of helpless people. I blocked my ears with my hand to stop the noise, but the sound seemed to get inside my head and won't get out. My father asked us to go inside. The whole night I, along with my sisters and brothers, stayed in the corridor between my parent's bedroom and the dressing room, too afraid to come out. Our house was close to Dhaka University halls. We were all worried that soon the army might attack our house. Fortunately that did not happen, and we survived. That was the longest night of my life. That night, time had stopped."

This is the line that I found, "25 e Marcher raate Pakistani hanadar bahinee Bangaleeder upor otorkito akromon chalay, ebong hotta kore oshonkho niriho manush k." (On 25 March the Pakistani occupation forces launched a sudden attack and killed large number of innocent people). Funny, how an incident can be reduced to only 16 words!

In conclusion I would like to add a personal note. We have all heard the rhyme "Khoka ghumalo, para juralo, borgee elo deshe" when we were children. Maybe it is time we changed it to "Khoka ghumalo, para juralo, Pak bahini elo deshe." This change will at least mark the point that the heroes might be lost but they are never forgotten. We, the post liberation war generation may not know as much as we should know about them, but we certainly do want to know more about them.

Saushan Rahman is Editorial Assistant, The Daily Star.

© thedailystar.net, 2008. All Rights Reserved

The night of 25th March, our Independence and thereafter

Shamsher Chowdhury

25th March 1971 marked the beginning of actual occupation of the people of the then East Pakistan by the Pak Armed Forces and also signalled the beginning of the systematic genocide of the Bengalis.

The onslaught of the main operations started with the people of the Capital of the then East Pakistan that lasted for nine months ending on the 16th of December the same year.

The operations in the city began at Zero hours on the night of the 25th/26th of March 1971. Soldiers with armored vehicles and mounted guns began to move into strategic points from the early hours of the evening with the main focus being the areas surrounding the University of Dhaka. I came out of my house located on the Central Road near Hatirpool at about 6 in the evening. As I approached the Hatirpool Bazaar, I saw fear and uncertainty writ large on the faces of the people who were rushing away in different directions. Little did the people of Dhaka know then what was to come in the hours ahead. I saw a group of young men of the locality frantically digging trenches on the streets in a bid to block entry of the soldiers into Dahnmondi and New Market approaching from the West. By about nine in the evening the streets wore a deserted look.

Right from midnight we could hear the sudden outbursts, volleys of gunfire amidst cries and shrieks of people coming from all around our house; particularly from the areas surrounding the University of Dhaka which was located hardly a kilometer away as a crow flies from where we lived.

The horror continued relentlessly right through the early hours of the morning. Throughout the night my mother was chanting verses from the Holy Quran under the rays of candlelight. The ferocity of the onslaught of gunfire seemed to lessen as I listened to the call for the Fajar prayer from a nearby mosque.

This was the beginning of the genocide by the Pak forces that was to continue through entire nine months of occupation. Throughout the long nine months every now and then members of the occupation forces with the help of their collaborators intimidated, kidnapped people and took them to unknown destinations never to be heard of thereafter. It was a reign of terror. People like me all over the country continued to live in perpetual fear of death. People came out of the house only on emergencies to earn their daily living and that too in a state of fear. Often neighbours did not talk to neighbours. People, unless essential, did not even call each other over the phone for fear of their conversations being tapped would result in serious consequences. This was indeed like the German Occupation of cities and countries with the Gestapo at work during the Second World War. People came to know of the magnitude of the brutalities only after the surrender of the Pak forces on 16th of December when the occupation forces finally surrendered and laid down their arms.

If anything, we have succeeded in creating a band of rich and affluent, those who live for themselves having no sense of obligations to the rest of the society, while the rest of the people continue to live in a “straight jacket” of poverty.

While we call ourselves independent, we cannot even move a feet forward without the kind advice and directive coming from the diplomatic community of some well-known and powerful countries of the world. As a nation I must say we have indeed become poor both in body and mind. We have lost our dignity and self-respect as a nation.

With the above backdrop I have decided that come this Independence Day I shall confine myself to the limits of my humble home, engage myself in meditation for the emancipation of my tormented soul. I shall also pray for the restoration of the rights for all people of the country including their economic emancipation. I find that there is no better way of celebrating this Independence Day.

Trial of war criminals

Mohammad Amjad Hossain

Two significant points have emerged from the recent comments made by certain personalities on holding trial of war criminals. One school of thought belonging to the anti-liberation group has denied any wrong doing during the war of Liberation in East Pakistan and claims that no genocide had ever taken place. Another school of thought asks why the issue was not addressed in the last 36 years.

War crimes can be committed during international conflict or internal armed conflict. Over a period of time the concept of war crimes has developed under the auspicious of the Nuremberg trials based on the definition in the London Charter that was issued on August 8, 1945. Along with war crimes the charter also defined crimes against peace and crimes against humanity, which are often committed during war.

Much of the happenings in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, between 25 March and 16 December, 1971 by the government of Pakistan were generally condemned by responsible international public opinion throughout the period as amounting to crimes against humanity and war crimes. Both the London Times and the Guardian of April 18, 1973 recommended that some Pakistani officers, who had committed bloody and appalling murders in Bangladesh, and also the organizers of murder and rape, be held to account in a fair way.

There is no denying the fact that unprecedented crimes against humanity were committed in East Pakistan by Pakistan army, auxiliary forces like militia and civil forces formed by Razakar, Al Badar and Al-shams.

I would like to refute the claim that genocide did not occur during the period of liberation war in Bangladesh. According to Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (article 11), the acts intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group comes under the purview of genocide. In Bangladesh, the Pakistan army, auxiliary forces in collaboration with civil forces like Al-Badar and Al-Shams intended to identify a religious minority group as pro-Awami League and therefore a target to be destroyed. The first attack on Jagannath Hall of Dacca University on March 26 was a glaring example of what the administration intended to do.

Professor Nuru Ulah of East Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology, videoed the massacre of Hindu students from his residence which was located opposite the hall. I had the privilege to see the video along with Robert Payne, renowned writer, poet and biographer with whom I was attached as host officer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1973 for a period of two weeks. During the meeting between Bangabandhu and Robert Payne, I informed Bangabandhu about the video which, I was told that on seeing Bangabandhu became emotional, and requested that the video be placed in the National museum. The video could be an evidence of massacre of a minority religious community.

This writer was involved in preparation of documents for war crimes trial on the basis of foreign news reports, statements by world leaders and interviews of the wives of shaheed intellectuals-Professor Munier Choudhury, Sirajuddin Hossain, News Editor of Ittefaq and BBC stringer Nizamuddin. These were included in the publication, “War, Death and Destruction,” which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought out along with photos of killing of Rajarbagh police and many others on Buriganga River. These photos were bought from a student of Engineering University (now possibly Architect) Anowar Hossain who was the only photographer who braved the turmoil in Dacca to take photos of the killings.

The book, “The rape of Bangladesh” by Anthony Mascarenhas, who was on a conducted tour in East Pakistan from Karachi, gave vivid picture of the genocide in East Pakistan. Another moving picture was depicted by Archer Blood, US Consul General in East Pakistan in his cable to the Department of State on April 6, 1971.

As regards the allegation of not constituting cases against war criminal and crime against humanity, let me place the fact that the government of Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman, immediately on return from Pakistan jail, initiated actions against war criminals following passage of the Collaborators Act of 1972 by Jatiya Sangsad and the International Crime Act of 1973. Special Tribunal order was promulgated on January 24,1972 to try those collaborators who had assisted the Pakistani army. Under the Collaborator Act, around 26000 people against whom no serious charges were levelled, were pardoned following general amnesty declared by the Bangabandhu government. Shah Azizur Rahman and Justice Maqsumul Hakim were among them. Ironically, Justice Maqsumul Hakim was one of the presiding judges at the tribunal of Agartala Conspiracy Case. Another 11,000 were in jail, including Nazami and Abbas Ali Khan. Notorious persons like Golam Azam, Farid Ahmed and Mahmud Ali were debarred from Bangladesh citizenship. It is wrong to assume that those who committed crime against humanity or war crimes were pardoned. Thousands of criminal were in the prison and cases were being processed.

In pursuance of Delhi Agreement in April, 1973 between India and Pakistan and following recognition of Bangladesh by Pakistan one day before Second Islamic Summit in Lahore on February 23,1974, a tripartite agreement between Bangladesh, India and Pakistan was signed in Delhi in April, 1974.

This agreement set aside the holding of trial of war prisoners. Therefore, it is travesty of truth to say that the issue was not addressed during the last 36 years.

Many war criminals around the world are being subjected to trial at national and international level. For example, former President Slobodan Milosevic of the Republic of Serbia was put on the dock at the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague on a charge of crime against humanity, violating the laws, custom of war, grave breach of the Geneva Convention and genocide. Several thousands ethnic Albanians were killed and a similar number of them were driven out in 1997. This episode happened in Kosovo. Indeed, this heinous act is identical to the situation in East Pakistan which was a province of Pakistan like that of Kosovo in 1997. If we look back at the crimes committed by Pol Pot regime in 1970 that would lead us to compare it with the situation in East Pakistan. UN backed genocide Tribunal has now put in the dock former Foreign Minister of Cambodia Ieng Sary and his wife on charge of war crimes and crime against humanity. In September last year, Nuon Chea, his second in command, was arrested and who will face trial on same charges.

There are many other examples of holding trial of war criminals and crime against humanity. Chilean dictator Augusta Pinochet and Liberian President Charles Taylor comes to my mind.

There is no reason why the people who committed crime against humanity and war crimes in Bangladesh should not be tried. It will be travesty of justice and dishonour to the freedom fighters who sacrificed their precious lives for Bangladesh, and sentiments of sector commanders and freedom fighters that are still alive, if justice is not meted out to the war criminals. I agree with Irene Khan, General Secretary of Amnesty International that the government should form the tribunal to put the war criminals in the dock. If necessary, the government may seek assistance of the United Nations.

The author is a former Bangladesh diplomat.

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