16 December – Bijoe Dibosh; the victory day for Bangladesh while Pakistanis remember this day as ‘the tragic fall of Dhaka’ happened. This was the day when nine-month long Bangladesh Liberation War (‘Muktijuddho’ in Bengali) ended in 1971 with the surrender of Pakistan army. All this war period is marred with senseless bloodshed, atrocities and hatred.
Bangladesh claims that around three million people were massacred by the Pak army; however, they have failed to find any mass graves during last forty years. Same time Urdu-speaking ethnic groups and West Pakistanis living in then East Pakistan were subjected to immense reprisal attacks, torture and devastation of properties.
There are so many unanswered questions and open issues pushed under the carpet, assuming these will never ever wake our conscious. Pakistan never accepted that it was the economical and political discrimination which sowed the seeds of secession among Bengalis. Refusal of a military dictator to honour Shaikh Mujib’s Awami League’s landslide victory in general elections of 1970 was just to close the fate of a united Pakistan.
Pakistan never accepted that it was the defeat of the theory that just a common faith can glue a country of diverse languages and cultures.
Pakistan never offered an official apology for the countless massacres carried out by its forces whether it was March 25 Operation Searchlight in Dhaka University slaughtering scores of students and faculty members or another infamous massacre of Bengali intelligentsia a couple of days before the surrender.
Pakistan also refused to accept a large number of East Pakistan based Urdu-speaking people who opted to remain as Pakistanis. Bangladesh never brought to justice its Mukti Bahini liberation force members who indulged in gross scale atrocities against non- Bengali population.
Sense of denial prevails in both countries which is not the solution. The real and primary perpetrators and instigators of these unfortunate events should be brought to justice. But maybe it’s too late as only historians can now try them in their analysis of the events of those dark days. Till that time it’s time to sleep over or indulge in another denial of rights to our own people.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arab
i am bangladeshi…i think ….it was misunderstanding b2in two brother…2 persons are main villain first and first Zulfikar Ali Bhutto(main) and then Yahya…
No matter how you descrive it but the truth is that a lot of ordinary people were killed by Pak Army and it was not cool.
I am a bangladeshi muslim.i love ALLAH,i love islam and i also love my country bangladesh,pakistan army have killed a lot of people in bangladesh, a lots of women have raped by pakistan army in bangladesh(formarly known east pakistan) in 1971……be a muslim….i think that muslim can not do rape,muslim can not kill innocent people…but pakistan army have done it ! are they muslim really? i think that pakistan army should learn about islam truly they should learn the holy quran. what is characteristics of muslim…? now a days pakistan army plays a role that they are servent of united states and britain…..and who kill the muslim in afganistan,iraq,palestain & want to kill people in iran,syria……muslim jindabad,,,,,bangladesh jindabad.
Dear Brother Masood Khan,
How many persons were killed by Pak ARMY counting is never possible. But the figure made 3 Million is approximate; could be higher or lower. How did you know that we failed to find any mass graves during last forty years. Brother, please collect maximum information before write anything. For your kind information, we found 196 Mass Graves before 1999 (Sorry I don't have after record), please see "http://www.kean.edu/~bgsg/Conference09/Papers_and_Presentations/MA_Hasan_Paper_Discovery%20of%20numerous%20Mass%20Graves,%20Various%20types.pdf" …..
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