The role of Pakistan, Bengalis, and India
This is the last and final part of the series of articles. In the first part, factors leading to the “Fall of Dhaka” were examined. In the second part the last week, it was proved that the claims by Awami League regarding the number of Bengalis massacred in genocide and the women raped by Pakistan Army are highly exaggerated.
Before we conclude, it is essential to examine the prevailing fable that Sheikh Mujib, despite securing maximum seats in the 1970 elections was denied power by conniving West Pakistani politicians. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto et al were ambitious but the truth can be gauged from the news report of APP correspondents interviewing Sheikh Mujib in Dhaka post elections, congratulating him on his victory. They inquired of the Sheikh’s future plans after he would assume the mantle of premiership of Pakistan. His response was that he would rather be the “Father of a Nation (Bangladesh)” than just a Prime Minister of Pakistan. The die had already been cast.
Let us also delve deeper into the myth of Awami League’s majority in the 1970 elections and its overwhelming representation of the Bengalis. Election Commission of Pakistan documents reveal that the voter turnout in East Pakistan was 56 percent while the disinterested electorate in East Pakistan comprised 44 percent. Of the overall votes cast in East Pakistan, Awami League actually received only 42 percent of the votes. The question therefore arises how could only a 42 percent mandate achieve independence without external (Indian) support? If this was not true and a sizable population of the Bengalis did not support the idea of secession, and continued to regard the Pakistan regime as the legitimate government, why would Sheikh Hasina Wajid’s government now be putting its own citizens to trial for “treason” and sending them to the gallows? What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If the rebels were fighting for a ‘noble’ cause for freedom, then in the same vein, the cause of those Bengalis supporting the regime was equally ‘noble’ as it was to sustain the unity and integrity of Pakistan they had sworn allegiance to.
If anyone needs to be tried, it is India which had been planning the dismemberment of East Pakistan for ages. Indian secret agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was created with the main task of destabilising Pakistan. The deliberate intervention of India in fomenting political trouble in Pakistan was in direct contravention to Article-4 of the UN Charter. Indira Gandhi had triumphantly claimed to have taken revenge for 700 years of Muslim rule and at the fall of Dhaka and declared “today we have sunk the Two Nation theory of Pakistan in the Bay of Bengal”. More evidence was provided by the confessional statement of Indian role in the mutilation of Pakistan by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Bangladesh in June 2015, which is self-indicting under international law. India had planned to exploit the discord between two wings, hence the drama of “Ganga” hijacking on 30 January, 1971, was orchestrated to ban Pakistan’s overflights and deny logistic support to the East from the West.
Indian intervention has been admitted by Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw in his memoirs. Manekshaw discloses regarding his meeting with India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in April 1971 when she divulged her intent of dismembering East Pakistan and asked Manekshaw for the impending invasion of East Pakistan. FM Manekshaw requested for 7-9 months preparation time which was granted by PM Indira Gandhi.
Just when Pakistan Army was on the verge of having controlled the armed insurgency by Bengali Mukti Bahini, being supported by India, the Indian armed forces initiated war in East Pakistan on 21 November, 1971, on the pretext of Bengali refugees crossing into India. If this principle is to be applied today by other states as well, should Pakistan invade Afghanistan or Europe overrun Syria?
Now let us look at some ground realities regarding Pak-Bangladesh relations. Pakistan and Bangladesh can either be friends or stay indifferent to each other. One thousand miles of hostile Indian territory still separates Pakistan and Bangladesh and it is not physically possible for Pakistan to interfere in Bangladesh affairs or vice versa. Bangladesh is enveloped by India which foments troubles like water issues, border skirmishes, smuggling, drug trafficking and numerous other problems. It would be prudent for Bangladesh to resolve its problems with India rather than act as a proxy for India and hurl insults and accusations at Pakistan, which tends to gain nothing from the instability of Bangladesh.
True that Pakistan bears some blame for pre-1971 atrocities and omissions but the grievances of economic poverty disparities, low representation of Bengalis in administration, industry and armed forces etc were related to inter-province disparities and were not peculiar to East Pakistan and persist even today.
Currently Pakistan has approximately two million illegal Bengalis on its soil but has never made them a scapegoat for the turmoil in Karachi or its war against terror while Bangladesh is busy profiling Pakistani visitors and workers and harassing them with a vengeance.
If the genocide claim is to be taken as correct then from 25 March to 16 December, 1971, (257 days), the causality rate on the average comes to 11,000 per day, which is highly questionable as no neutral source ever reported or confirmed the atrocities at this mass scale. Apparently, Sheikh Hasina Wajid has banned any discussion or questioning the Awami League version of the alleged genocide just as the Jews have barred any debate on the Jewish holocaust claims.
If Hasina ponders even for a moment, she should pragmatically take cognizance of the fact that no distinction can be made between the liberation fighters, innocent Bengalis, and how many were killed by the Indians, Mukti Bahini or Pakistanis. By persistently blackballing Pakistan, the atrocities will not go away as they were not one sided.
The time has come for both Pakistan and Bangladesh to do some soul searching and move forward. And that would be the best closure rather than continuing to rake old wounds.