Untold Facts

January 27, 2010: Watershed in the History of Bangladesh

The day – January 27, 2010 – will go down in the history of the South Asia as a black day on which five patriotic officers of the Army who saved Bangladesh from becoming the colony of India 35 years ago, were hanged. It was not surprising because the Prime Minister of Bangladesh – Hasina Wazed – is the daughter of the traitor – Sheikh Mujib – who was the President of the country against who the 15 August 1975 coup d’etat was carried out. It was vendetta, not justice; its shadow will loom large over the country until the legacy of the traitor is disowned and discredited in Bangladesh. It took Sheikh Hasina 35 years to discredit the heroism of the best sons of the soil as mere murders. It will not take that long to discredit Hasina – the lap dog of India - who has since become so bolds as to wear her father’s treachery as a badge of honour. It would not be long before Sheikh Mujib is seen as the worst traitor in the sub-continent since Mir Jaffer.

Bangladesh is the product of conspiracy and war in which India played the major part. India deserves credit for being able to recruit popular Muslim leaders of Bengal to betray their fellow Muslims to advance the objectives of India. Sheikh Mujib was a student leader active in the Pakistan Movement and he could have become the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1971 when he emerged as the leader of the Party with the largest number of seats in the parliament. He met President Yahya Khan and accepted his invitation in March 1971 to form the next government. But only a few days later he conveyed regret to Yahya Khan after his Indian agent handler came back from New Delhi and informed him that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had agreed to invade East Pakistan in support of his Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). Sheikh Mujib betrayed his constituency, refused to take office as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and followed the direction of his handlers from India. That truth has since been revealed in several books published in India and now his daughter – Prime Minister Hasina Wazed - has admitted that her father was a traitor (following story). The irony is that the politicians in Pakistan continue to sell the Indian propaganda that secession of East Pakistan was the ‘inevitable consequence of maltreatment’. What maltreatment? No one bother to ascertain or detail!

The senior most officer executed - Colonel Syed Farook Rehman – was like a son to me. I met him in Libya where he along with other officers who took part in the coup d’etat of 15 August 1975, had been given political asylum. A relationship of warmth and trust developed between me and Colonel Farook. He is the most fearless person that I came across in my life. The only person to benefit from his courage and fearlessness was the President of the country - General Ershad. He recognised the honourable role those young officers had played in loosening the shackles in which India held their country – Bangladesh. He allowed them to return to Bangladesh, whereupon they founded a new political party- Freedom Party. Colonel Farook contested presidential elections against General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, and secured respectable fifth of the votes cast. It was only after Mujib’s daughter – who had lived in exile in India for a long time – returned to Bangladesh; took the reins of her father’s party – the Awami League – into her hands and won the elections with the guidance and financial help of India in 1996. She had been campaigning on a platform to avenge the murder of her father. Most of those who had participated in the coup d’etat in 1975 left the country. However, the five (Colonel Farook, Lt Col Sultan Shahayar Khan, Lt Col. Mohyuddin Ahmed, Major Badrul Huda and Major AKM Mohyuddin) who were hanged on January 27, put faith in ‘indemnity’ provided by constitutional amendment. They were clearly wrong to have trusted the ‘judiciary’ to uphold that their action had been motivated by ‘high purpose’ and not ‘personal benefit’.

I feel sad that they were unable to articulate the ‘high purpose’ that motivated the action they took on 15 August 1975. It has since been clearly established that Sheikh Mujib acted under the guidance of and in collaboration with the enemy - India - to dismember his country. To remove a traitor – an Indian agent - from power is indeed ‘high purpose’. Now Prime Minister Hasina Wazed has admitted that her father was a traitor who worked with and for the enemy – India. It took her 35 years to so tire the people with rhetoric and propaganda and so undermine the institutions of the state that she could get away with murder. The execution of the five patriots on January 27 this year was indeed murder. The parliament reversed the ‘indemnity’ and a ‘special court’ passed the death sentences during her first term as Prime Minister. But she could not get high judiciary to bend to her will and reject their appeal. The military was also not willing to endorse their execution. Hasina had to wait until the Peelkhana mutiny and massacre by BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) of 25-26 February 2009, to terrify the people as well as the judicial and the military establishment to an extent that the ‘feared outrage’ that had prevented her from sending the five military officers to the gallows did not materialise.

This is the second instance of the Indian Intelligence (RAW) having won a victory far more substantive than any won by its military. The first was to absorb the independent state of Sikkim into India. Sikkim is a Buddhist country lying between Assam and Nepal that provided a route through low passes to Tibet province of China. Since India‘s imperialist rulers have always had an eye on Tibet as a target, they looked at occupation of Sikkim as a pre-requisite as it provided direct access to Tibet for military or clandestine operations. The methods India used in Sikkim were very similar to those in Bangladesh. India installed its protégé – Kazi Lhendup Dorji – as the Prime Minister of Sikikim, who set up a pro-India Sikkim National Congress (SNC) as an affiliate of the Congress Party in India. The SNC started a movement for the ‘abolition of monarchy’. Demonstrations against the King were organised by RAW in which Indian military personal in civvies took part. Eventually, the Prime Minister Kazi Dorji invited the Indian Army into Sikkim to remove its ruler – Chogyal Palden – on April 6, 1975. The country of Sikkim was annexed by India and the annexation was validated by a referendum – something that India refuses to hold in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

In Bangladesh, the Army had emerged as a strong institution willing and able to oppose and resist Indian domination. There had been three military coup d’etats in Bangladesh – all of which were successful - and the two led by the Army Chief - General Zia ur Rehman and General Hussain Muhammed Ershad – became the vehicle for new political parties to be created that won popular mandate in free elections. Naturally, the military of Bangladesh is seen by India as an impediment to its hegemony and by Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League as an obstacle in it collaborative rule. RAW came up with a plan to ‘remove the obstacle’: 1) to rig the elections to give the Awami League (AL) a landslide victory; 2) to use the AL members to incite a mutiny by BDR (which is border police) against their officers (who are seconded from the Army); 3) to use AL workers( even ministers) to facilitate the smuggling in of professional killers from abroad and arrange their exit while the Prime Minister herself provided time and opportunity for them to ‘complete the task’ by opting for prolonged negotiations keeping the Army from timely response to save the lives of their comrades and the honour of their wives.

History has seen many mutinies by soldiers against their officers but the officers were always of a different race or religion to that of the soldiers. I cannot recall any instance in history where soldiers engaged in the rape of the wives of their officers before murdering them. Fifty seven Army officers were killed in the Peelkhana Mutiny and Massacre in two days which is two more than during the 1971 insurrection and war. This is the most vicious mutiny in the annals of history; it is also the most diabolical because the allegedly popular elected government was complicit in every stage – planning, execution, exit and cover up. The people as well as the officials in Bangladesh know the facts, thanks to the Internet. But no one is willing to risk giving evidence. They are literally scared to death. It is widely believed that if any one expressed doubts about the AL version of events, he would invite the ire of RAW and be murdered like the Army officers and their wives held hostage in Peelkhana. It was in this environment of fear that the five patriotic officers were executed - eleven months after the BDR Mutiny; just over a year after Hasina became the Prime Minister for the second time.

The execution of the five officers is bound to be seen by the AL and RAW as the final triumph over the people of Bangladesh who, they believe, would have to comply with their every whim and wish and be punished for even the mildest protest. That India succeeded in getting patriots to the gallows and traitors into power, is a huge failure for Bangladesh as a country. It is not a failure of the ‘five martyrs for freedom’ who suffered long incarceration before being hanged, or their dwindling band of supporters; it is the failure of the society that allowed that to happen.

The colonization by India of Bangladesh is now complete. Prime Minister Hasina Wazed is complying with India’s orders unafraid of any institutional (the military or the judiciary) constraints or robust political opposition. She is now so confidant that India would be the overlord of Bangladesh for ever that she has now admitted that her father worked for India. She clearly thinks that she must henceforth work overtly for India and be rewarded with rule by ‘Mujib Dynasty’ in perpetuity. The military has been restrained in performing its statutory role to safeguard the national interest as RAW has demonstrated that its hold over Bangladesh is tight. No wonder the senior officers of the military are afraid they might be murdered by RAW agents or dismissed by the Government if they are suspected to be patriots unafraid of India.

The politics of Bangladesh is bound to become more polarised into ‘lackeys of India’ and ‘Muslim patriots’. The latter are bound to see Sheikh Mujib as a traitor worse than Mir Jaffer. (Mir Jaffer also became the ruler of Bengal as reward for cooperating with the British). The judiciary in Bangladesh has shown that it will also obey India’s wishes which is ensured by Hindus as Judicial officers at all levels including the Supreme Court. The people noted that the SC Bench, which upheld the death sentences to the five martyrs, had two Hindu members. It is a case of kangaroo court justice as it was ignored that those officers had acted as commanders of their units and should have been tried by a court martial. Until 1996, these officers had lived and worked in Bangladesh where they were seen to be patriots who saved their country from tutelage of India. That is why they had been given pardon and immunity from prosecution.

Hasina Administration has shown its obsequiousness to Indian interests also by handing over ULFA leaders to India even though there is no extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh. With the Armed Forces and the Judiciary so intimidated ‘new realities’ are being created quick and fast to prevent any future government of Bangladesh to be able to say ‘no’ to anything that India asks. The construction of Tipaimukh Dam is one; agreement to allow India to connect the ports of Bangladesh by rail is another. The people of Bangladesh are bound to reach the same conclusion that Colonel Farook and fellow patriots reached in 1975. They had concluded there was no way to stop the Indian protégé – Sheikh Mujib - except by physically eliminating him. By being complicit in Peelkhana massacre Hasina has now reinforced the legacy of slaughter with the help of and at the behest of India. She is not merely the ‘daughter of a traitor’ but a traitor in her own right. The attempt to remove her may entail slaughter much more widespread over much longer time. It would be foolish to forecast her fate. But her days are numbered. ++

The above is the Editorial of LISA Journal, London, UK Issue No 14 - (April-June 2010)