“We defeated them (Pakistan) in 1971. They are a defeated force.”
These spontaneous remarks of Bangladesh PM, Sheikh Hasina while addressing the media in Dhaka on December 5, 2014 are perhaps the best tribute that can be paid as the anniversary of Bangladesh Victory Day (December 16) approaches.
In 1971 Pakistan lost not only more than half the country but also the raison d’etre of its creation – the ‘Two-nation’ theory that was buried in the lush rice fields of the new country. Pakistan had tried hard to prevent the separation, perpetrating in the process possibly the worst genocide in the history of mankind. In the face of the will to freedom of the Bengali nation, nothing that the Pakistan Army could throw at them, made a difference.
It was Anthony Mascarenhas a Pakistani journalist whoseSunday Times article published on June 13, 1971, gave first-hand graphic details of the genocide:
“The Government’s policy for East Bengal was spelled out to me in the Eastern Command headquarters at Dacca. It has three elements:
1. The Bengalis have proved themselves unreliable and must be ruled by West Pakistanis; 2. The Bengalis will have to be re-educated along proper Islamic lines. The – Islamization of the masses – this is the official jargon – is intended to eliminate secessionist tendencies and provide a strong religious bond with West Pakistan; 3. When the Hindus have been eliminated by death and fight, their property will be used as a golden carrot to win over the under privileged Muslim middle-class. This will provide the base for erecting administrative and political structures in the future.”
To date, this has been the darkest chapter in the annals of the Pakistan Army – defeated, humiliated, accused of perpetuating genocide on fellow countrymen, captured as POWs.
It was bewildering for the man on Pakistan’s streets. Led to believe right till the end that Pakistan was winning the war, the sudden, meek and abject capitulation, the surrender and loss of half the nation was unbelievable.
While Bangladesh was born in 1971, the germ of the idea of separation was much older. Every humiliation -cultural, linguistic, political, economic heaped by West Pakistan, were nails in the coffin of unity.
Today, of course, time has dimmed the memory in Pakistan of what they had done. It was rudely awakened recently when Imran Khan announced December 16 (later changed to December 18) as the date for his all-Pakistan dharna.
However, in Bangladesh, the genocide has seeped into the collective consciousness of its people. Even those born after 1971 are as passionate about it as those who lived and survived those dark days. As the spontaneous Shahbagh movement of 2013 showed, it continues to be the single most emotive issue in the country.
The reason? Despite four decades, Bangladesh still has not had closure of the terrible trauma of its birth.
How can there be closure when those who have been identified in popular perception as perpetrators or collaborators of the heinous crimes, still strut around scot-free on the streets of Dhaka?
It is to the credit of the Sheikh Hasina government that it set up the International War Crimes Tribunal (ICT) to try those Bangladeshi nationals accused of perpetrating and abetting the mass killings. The first casualty of the trials was Qadar Mollah, the butcher of Mirpurwho was hanged on December 12, 2013 afterhis appeal had been turned down.
As on date several other Jamaat leaders, including Motiur Rehman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Mujahidetcare on death row, are awaiting their last journey.
It is only when justice for the horrendous crimes committed by at least some of the perpetrators is seen to be meted out will the country begin the painful journey towards closure of its traumatic birth.
Indian support, of course, was pivotal and provided the coup de grace that mid-wifed the birth of the new nation.
After Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight on March 26, 1971, 10 million refugees took shelter in India putting a massive strain on Indian resources. When news of the genocide started trickling in, the Indian government repeatedly appealed to the international community but to little avail.
Despite this, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressed full support for the Bangladesh independence struggle.
Gradually, plans were implemented to effectively counter the genocide with armed action. Recruitment and training of the Mukti Bahini was started and guerilla action initiated. The pre-emptive airstrikes launched by Pakistan on December 3, 1971 provided the opportunity for full-scale operation both in West and East Pakistan. In 13 days, Dhaka had fallen in perhaps one of the world’s shortest yet decisive wars.
Has Pakistan, and especially its army, learnt the lessons of its defeat in 1971?
The unfortunate answer is no. As Christine Fair notes in her ‘The Pakistan Army’s way of War’ the only lesson that it learnt was the need to be more powerful to hold the country together and to dominate the civilian government even more. The fact that it was centralization and the curbing of democracy that was responsible for the break-up in the first place continues to escape the army.
As we remember the martyrs, Indian and Bangladeshis, on December 16, 2014, it is heartening that the relations between the two countries are on the upswing while Pakistan continues to try and live down the memory of when it lost more than just half a country.
The views expressed in the above article are that of Mr. Salim Haq. By Salim Haq
—ANI