No one could forget the dreadful dark days of 1971 when Bangladesh freedom fighters of Mukti Bahani were involved in a bloody confrontation with the Pakistan army. Blood bath, atrocities, mass killings were something happening on both sides of the conflict, almost on daily basis. No one can deny that the army with full support of religious parties was involved in eliminations and massacres as has been recorded by the Hamoud-ur-Rehman Commission later, appointed by Pakistan government to probe the conflict.
But stating and keep insisting that Pakistan army killed three million Bengalis can’t be logically comprehended. However that’s the Bangladesh government’s official line since independence, not ready to permit any one to question this figure. This is what happened with the award-winning British journalist, David Bergman, who has been found guilty by a Bangladeshi court of contempt while questioning the official figure of three million deaths. He was declared imprisoned till rise of the court and was ordered to pay 5000-Tikka (65 dollars) or face seven days imprisonment (in jail).
Bergman wrote a blog in 2011 that annoyed the special court set up by government to try those who not only collaborated with Pakistan army but were also involved in crimes against humanity. Since then several of the Jamat-e-Islami leaders have been imprisoned or sentenced to death. Regardless of Bangladesh government’s position on death toll, my question: where were these three million people buried? Neither the Bangladesh government nor the international media ever unearthed any mass graves after the conflict. Where did those three million bodies go?
An illogical position unnecessarily casts doubt on the real atrocities which were meted out by all parties — Pakistan army as defending the country and by Mukti Bahani as freedom fighters. It’s time to forget a dark past and reconcile with today’s realities. No use in digging up the graves and awakening the ghosts of Pakistan-Bangladesh separation.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
