The disaster that struck Pakistan on December 16, 1971 has few precedents in the history of nations. But whereas a national tragedy of such magnitude should be a source of eternal shame, such feelings have totally escaped the Pakistani intelligentsia and elite. Before this, Pakistan never had such a pariah status in the international community. At the time, the news of the ‘genocide’ of Bengalis was making headlines in international media. President Yahya Khan’s interview with French daily Le Figaro in October 1971 appeared with an apology from the chief editor “for the violence of the language of the president”.
It was a cold morning on December 17, 1971. When I entered the Pakistani embassy in Colombo, as a young ambassador, I saw hundreds of Sri Lankans sitting on the lawns. The high commissioner, in a brusque official tone, asked me to meet them. The 500 or so Muslims were sobbing and crying over the Dhaka surrender.
I sat for a while, consoling them. When I went back to the high commissioner, he was entertaining another Pakistani diplomat en route to his posting in Kuala Lumpur. The commissioner asked me to bring him the gradation list of the Foreign Office to ascertain his seniority after the exodus of the Bengali officers. No expression of grief or loss. The tragedy was seen as holding promise of quick upward mobility in the service, following the departure of Bengali diplomats.
This was not the only instance of our elite’s indifference. A retired general had planned a big bash to celebrate his daughter’s birthday on December 16. After the news of the fall of Dhaka, some officers meekly suggested that the celebration was improper but were chastised by the ambassador for their impudence.
The fact is that West Pakistani leaders regarded East Pakistan as a millstone in the neck of the federation.
The following paragraph from former chief justice of Pakistan Muhammad Munir’s book,From Jinnah to Zia (Vanguard 1980), is instructive.
“When I joined Ayub’s Cabinet… every day was spent listening to long speeches of East Pakistan members of exploitation of East Pakistan…. None of the ministers or members of the Assembly, whether from East Pakistan or West Pakistan, rose to rebut these allegations. I spoke to Ayub… and asked him whether it would not be better… to ask East Pakistan to take their affairs in their own hands. He suggested that I should talk about it to some influential leader from East Pakistan. One day while I was talking to Mr Ramizuddin who had been a minister in Bengal or East Pakistan I broached the matter…. He said, ‘look here we are the majority province and it is for the minority province to secede because we are Pakistan.’ The matter ended there and complaints in the Assembly continued as before.”
Readers can judge for themselves who wanted separation and who wanted secession.
Our 1971 debacle
December is cold. Its nights are long and the days are sun-starved. Every December, since 1971, I get into an unexplainable mood of depression. That year, I had stepped into my teens and was like any other young lad, passionately in love with my beloved country, Pakistan. It was during this time that my ‘ideals of Pakistan’ being a ‘citadel of Islam’ were crushed to a cold death. The unnecessary war of December 1971 with India, saw the dismemberment of the then, largest Islamic state and the event heralded in me, a new awakening — religion was not a binding force, anymore! The youthful and emotional ‘idealism’ of a unified, single Ummah caved into a dismal pit of anger and denial.
Asghar Khan in his book, We Have Learnt Nothing From Historyaptly remarks, “The verdict of the electorate (1970 elections) was unexpected and baffled not only the political pundits but also the contesting parties…The Bengalis had been known for their massive support to a single political organisation, once they believed it deserved their confidence…Amongst the provinces that later formed a part of Pakistan their contribution to the battle of the ballot was most valuable and their sense of patriotism probably the most developed”. So how was it, that the most patriotic segment of the country decided to revolt and secede?
Refusal to accept the results of the 1970 elections by the political parties of the western wing, who had the tacit support of the power-drunk generals, paved the way for the long-simmering hatred to surface with full might and venom. The military struck with all its might in March 1971, not realising that no army in history had ever won against its own people.
On December 17, I remember watching the six o’ clock English news on PTV, whereupon the fall of Dhaka — the humiliating spectacle of a ceremony of surrender at the Dhaka Race Course Ground — was shown to an aghast, shocked and miserably demoralised nation. In recent history, no army general had ever been stripped of his badges, in full public view. And here General ‘Tiger’ Niazi (may Allah bless his soul) who, a day earlier, had said “Dhaka — over my dead body” was signing the instrument of surrender! I cried bitterly, avoiding eye contact with other family members. We were all devastated. East Pakistan had been lost, Jinnah’s dream and effort lay in shambles.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, despite his histrionics and dramatic performance at the UN Security Council, seemed like a God-sent messiah to us, when he said: “We will make a new Pakistan”. He lifted our courage and morale for which he deserves full credit. He restored respect to the armed forces by declaring in every speech Pakistan lost a political battle, not a military war.
Sarmila Bose is assistant editor at the widely-read, Anandabazar Patrika, and a niece of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Writing on the 1971 war, she said something that we, today, would do well to heed: “There is much for Pakistan to come to terms with what happened in 1971. But the answers don’t lie in the unthinking vilification of the fighting men who performed so well in the war against such heavy odds, in defence of national policy. Rather, in failing to honour them, the nation dishonours itself”.
Oh! deathly cold December, thou shall always be in mourning.
In-depth: What students are being taught about the separation of East Pakistan
However, despite the clarity of the national curriculum, students interviewed by Dawn.com seemed confused as to the reasons behind the 1971 war as well as many of the facts associated with it.
According to the school textbooks, the need for self-autonomy was crystallised by Ayub Khan’s apathy towards East Pakistan during the 1965 Indo-Pak War and the discrimination towards Bengalis in every sphere of the region’s administration: economical, political and military.
His self-proclaimed ‘Decade of Improvement’ left Bengalis impoverished, unprotected and voiceless.
‘Two-thirds of Pakistan’s foreign currency was earned by exporting East Pakistan’s jute for which the Bengali growers never received a fair price and West Pakistanis made up 95 per cent of the military of which the upper echelons were forbidden to Bengalis’ reads the text.
After years of subjugation, it was the rejection of the six-point plan, the incarceration of 35 prominent leaders for the Agartala Conspiracy and finally the refusal of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (backed by Yahya Khan) to form the opposition party, that finally sparked the armed conflict.
The lack of relief provided to East Pakistan after the 1970 Bhola cyclone, which killed an estimated 500,000 people, further highlighted the helplessness of this then overlooked region of South Asia and catalysed the Bengalis struggle for self-autonomy into something much more tangible, independence.
However, despite this clear (if somewhat one-sided) account of what happened, almost all the students of class 10 interviewed by Dawn.com said that Bangladesh went to war ‘for our mother tongue,’ a major frustration, but never a part of Mujibur Rahman’s six-point plan. Somehow, the 1952 Bangla Language Movement seems to have been directly connected with the fight for independence.
Similarly, there is an equal amount of confusion on the numbers killed. All the students without fail stated that three million people died in the nine-month struggle. Another ‘fact’ that is not mentioned in the text books.
“My teacher told me that almost three million people died,” said 15-year-old Surzi.
“I heard on TV that three million died,” said 16-year-old Priti.
While the government is teaching one thing, it would appear that the teachers, parents and the media are teaching another.
Could resolving this difference in historical understanding be key to ensuring that future generations grow up in a cooperative environment helping both Pakistan and Bangladesh move forward as a region?
For 17-year-old Shebab the answer is clear. “I am proud of my country and the people that fought for its liberation. However, I feel this hatred towards the Pakistanis.”
“I don’t think we should forgive them. Other reputable sources concur to the rape, the murder and the destruction of Bangladesh,” he said.
You can understand why the Bengalis might feel aggrieved.
‘We have earned our freedom [from Pakistan] through nine months of bloody struggle’ begins the concluding chapter Losses of the 1971 Liberation War of a class ten history book being taught in classrooms across Bangladesh.
‘They [the Pakistan Army] destroyed educational institutes, industries and public property. Bridges, roads and railways were also destroyed as were the sea ports at Chittagong and Mongla. The federal reserves were empty and all military and non-military aircraft were taken to West Pakistan.’
‘On 16 December, a completely economically and in every other way destroyed Bangladesh started its journey as a free and independent state.’
However, it gives a rather one-sided picture of popular Pakistani opinion.
“It fails to mentions that there were people in Pakistan who were sympathetic to our cause. I don’t believe in hating a whole nation because of something the national leaders are the army generals decided to do,” said Arman Islam, a mother who read the school text books for the first time today.
“Besides, when has a fight for independence not been bloody? Is there really any need to teach such hatred to our children?” she said.
Pakistani textbooks focus on conspiracy theories on 1971 war
While the findings of Pakistan's Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission on the 1971 Indo-Pak war were never made public, students at the Matric and Intermediate levels of school (Classes nine to 12) "are being taught conspiracy theories and a factually incorrect version of history", according to an article on the website of the Dawn newspaper.
The Pakistan Studies textbook for Classes nine and 10 fails to mention the role of late premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto or the Pakistan People's Party in its section on the 1971 war and lists the "role of Hindu teachers" and "international conspiracies" among the reasons for the "Fall of East Pakistan".
"A large number of Hindu teachers were teaching in the educational institutions in East Pakistan. They produced such literature which created negative thinking in the minds of Bengalis against the people of West Pakistan," the textbook states.
The section on "international conspiracies" states: "About 10 million Hindus were living in East Pakistan. India stood at the back of these Hindus to protect their interests. India wanted to separate East Pakistan to strengthen the economic position of the Hindus.
"Many Hindus acted as spies for India. Russia was against Pakistan because Pakistan had allowed America to establish military bases in Pakistan."
"On the other hand, America also wanted separation of East Pakistan. Under the circumstances Russia openly supported India's aggression against Pakistan."
The article noted that Pakistani historians and academics "have long decried the white-washing of the state curriculum" and it was "appalling" that the government is "yet to make changes in the syllabi being taught to Pakistan's future generation".
While the Pakistan Studies textbooks for Classes 10 and 11 mention the role of the Mukti Bahani and India's support for the group, they are an "incorrect version of the story behind the creation of Bangladesh", the report said.
Both textbooks make no mention "of the documented atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army - which includes rapes, targeted killings - against the Mukti Bahini and the genocide of the Bengali population".
The textbooks fail to mention the number of civilian deaths in East Pakistan in the period leading up to the creation of Bangladesh.
Nor do they "mention Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's inflexible stand on sharing power with Mujib-ur-Rehman's Awami League", the report said.
Abbas Hussain, director of the Teachers Development Centre, described this version of history "a farce".
"We give our children hocus pocus in textbooks." Asked how teachers feel about teaching students such material, Hussain replied: "Most teachers have classroom schizophrenia, where the children and teachers are in a sort of conspiracy that there is a real world outside the classroom and there is a fictitious world in the classroom and you jolly well obey that!"
Noted academic Pervez Hoodbhoy said: "Forty years later, Bangladesh has many disputes with India but it shows not the slightest inclination to reintegrate with Pakistan.
"If Pakistan's school books actually taught honest history, they would be explaining why East Pakistanis felt exploited and fought for their independence. Instead, our children are taught cock-and-bull conspiracy nonsense."
Victory Day of Bangladesh
Victory Day is a national holiday in Bangladesh celebrated on December 16. On this day in 1971, the Pakistani Army surrendered to the Indo-Bangladeshi High Command in Dhaka, ending the 9 month-long Bangladesh Liberation War and 1971 Bangladesh atrocities.General AAK Niazi, the Commanding officer of the Pakistani Armed Forces located in East Pakistan, surrendered his forces to Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora, the Allied forces commander.
On this day of the 16th of December all Bangladeshi are celebrate throughout the world our extremely costly freedom.There will be many functions, ceremonies and remembrances that may bring tears to many and smiles on many faces In this briefer-count.
All most all govt offices and most of main roads are decorated with light and flag nicely for victory day.
Bangladesh crowds gather to celebrate the 38th anniversary of its glorious victory over Pakistani occupation forces. On this day in 1971 the nation achieved its independence after a nine-month long Liberation war. Dhaka, Bangladesh. 16/12/2009
The nation celebrates the 38th anniversary of its glorious victory over Pakistani occupation forces in 1971. On December 16 1971 the country achieved its independence as well as the Bangladesh name which came after a nine-month-long Liberation War.
People paid homage to the martyrs placing wreaths at national mausoleum and the national flag has been hoisted atop all government, semi-government and other important establishments. On this day in 1971, the nation under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won a victory over Pakistani occupation forces with a vision of establishing a democratic and secular country.
General AAK Niazi, who commanded the Pakistani occupation forces, surrendered to the allied forces of Bangladeshi freedom fighters and Indian forces at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka on December 16 with 93,000 soldiers following a miserable defeat in the war that broke out in March 1971.
Failing to learn
The creation of Bangladesh because of our own faults must, therefore, make us reflect whether we have learnt our lessons or whether we are still engaged in pursuit of narrow parochial games, blind to the baleful consequences for the overall interests of the nation. Before we find any answers, let us keep in mind that not a few outsiders, and not always nurturing malicious thoughts about Pakistan, have been calling us a failing, or even failed, state having lost all chances of recovery. Even kindlier observers raise their eyebrows at the way our leadership is conducting itself.
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