Untold Facts

Embarrassment for Truth

Facing truth alone!
A press report published in a Dhaka daily on the 23 August (09) stated, “They (Pakistan) could naturally be embarrassed with our initiatives (but) the indication of maturity lies with the attitude of facing the truth with courage.” The quote so made was an obvious reference to the issue of ‘Trial of War Criminals of 1971.’ Some other dailies as well covered the news item with the same content

Senior citizen’s concern
As a member of senior citizens of Bangladesh in mid 70s and a leg in the grave, I should have nothing in response to the news item. Even so, I felt that as the matter is concerned with ‘facing the truth’ and I being a living witness to many of the related truths, may not let the subject pass without anything of my in response.

Why not Cr.P.C.?
First, we may take the specific question of crimes committed and the perpetrators of any specific crime. The 1973 crimes tribunal act known to be ‘amended in 2009’ and passed in the Parliament specified a few crimes in violation of human rights in 1971 in Bangladesh. Essentially they are not different from the original one enacted in 1973 involving looting, arson, rape and killing of innocent citizens. Well, these are criminal offences nothing to be condoned, and may well be tried as such under the age old Cr.P.C. Why should then be a Special Tribunal constituted for the trial?

Truth and fallacies
Well, it is well known that though there was and is a hype of independence war in 1971 the truth was that the period of nine months from March to December happened to be a period of civil war so far as all authentic international documentary evidences were concerned. The episode was further well known as the secessionist war waged by some people’s representatives of the then East Pakistan, not even majority, much less all, and in the absence of any clear cut UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) of the top leader who is documentarily recorded as had been having rapport with the Central Government of Pakistan in Islamabad for political power sharing (See, Impact International, London, 1987, Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan, 1993, Sarder M Chowdhury, The Ultimate Crime, 1999, etc.). Even if one would not believe this opinion, one can hardly escape the fact that it was civil war period for the people of the same country fought between themselves, one against the other, one group for independent Bangladesh and the other for saving Pakistan from dismemberment, and the dismemberment of the country having had armed intervention from the number one enemy since after 1947. The two groups had rogues on both sides and so they violated human rights of some of the opposite camps in the engagements. Which rogues would now be put to trial? Only the pro-Pakistanis of 1971? Why not the others?

Srilanka: both were perpetrators
Srilanka had a long civil war for 26 years that ended in May this year that cost human lives of nearly 76,000, apart from huge violation of human rights of even larger count of innocent people. When the war ended the winning side of Rajapakse wished to put the Tamil secessionists to trial for human rights violations, but the UN, the Human Rights Watch etc. humanitarian bodies stated clearly of their factual findings that both sides had violated human rights, and so both genres of perpetrators must be put to trial.

No reliable enumeration of truth
As there had not been any reliable enumeration for the violation of human rights and killings of innocent people in the then East Pakistan/Bangladesh as yet inside the country, not such anything done by Pakistan as well. The so called 3 million figure for those killed in 1971 has no basis whatsoever except obtained from the heaven of Moscow for use as propaganda rhetoric since early 1972. Even if the figure is taken to be a fact, what were the specific divisions of their ethnic figures? Bengalis, Biharis, Punjabis, Pathans, tribals?
However, some authentic enumerations have later on been made, two based in the USA and one based in India. None of them had figure of killed more than 300,000, one tenth of 3 million. The interesting common finding they all had that the pro-Pakistanis killed by the pro-Bangladeshis surpassed the figure of pro-Bangladeshis killed by pro- Pakistanis (See, Sisson and Rose, Harvard, 1990, Small and Singer, New York, 1982 and Sharmila Bose, India, 2005). Some eyewitness account of the non-Bengalis killed in thousands and in gruesome ways in 1971 has lately been recorded by Advocate Saad Ahmad (2006) and quoted by F.M. Kamal (London, 2009).

Other relevant truths
If one would relevantly look into other facts of the early 1970s, one may well recall that Major Zia’s declaration of independence on the 26th/27 March 1971 did in no way made Bangladesh legal so far as De Jure legitimacy was concerned. Well, De facto Bangladesh came into being on the 16th December immediately after surrender of the Pakistan Eastern Command to Indian Army General Arora. But the necessary De Jure legitimacy lacked. One incident in record was that as long as after over two years of de Facto Bangladesh, Algerian President Boumedine though dashed at the Tejgaon Air port (Dhaka) he did not touch the soil of Bangladesh but stayed in his own plane for the Bangladesh top leader then saddled in power rushed to the plane to accompany him to Lahore for attending the OIC conference for seeking formal recognition by Pakistan or De Jure founding of Bangladesh outside the frame work of federal Pakistan. Until then Pakistan government had no scope to recognize Bangladesh not only for internal pressure but also for lot of pressures of other powerful countries including China, Saudi Arabia, etc. for reasons of their own and for real Indian total hegemony in active operation against the entity of Bangladesh. I knew of many expatriates East Pakistanis seized as late as in early 1974 the London Pakistan High Commission campus for withholding recognition of Bangladesh for they detested secession. They could have been some eccentrics, but they were not ignorant that the East Bengal Muslims for obvious historical reasons had the largest dedicated contribution in terms of free and fair vote casting in 1946 general election in founding Pakistan in 1947 that they could hardly forget about in midst of huge follies of the political leaders in about 23 years.

Pawns of one set alone?
The real truth about 1971, to make the long story short, was that both groups had some rogues who committed wrong and so the rogues of both sides not though without belief in their own cause, not excluding the failed liabilities of the political leaders concerned on to the account. Why must then the pawns alone of one genre, not all other, put to the dock?
One would, however, reasonably make a hunch that such one sided propaganda orchestrated as facts may not help either party but the enemies from within and without.

Author: Dr.M.T.Hussain