Part-III
Kamran Zia
The question arises that despite many eminent personalities empirically challenging the figure of 3 million, why Awami League is intransigent in defending this gross exaggeration and why despite being in the govt for several times it has failed to silence the critics by conducting an impartial, open-to-media survey? In contrast, any one challenging the figure is convicted, for example, David Bergmann recently. His conviction ironically contrasted Bangladesh government’s own study in 1974 which questioned the accuracy of the three-million figure and yet Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal considered holding him in contempt for raising a question about this issue. His view is that no one knows the truth or has an accurate number. In his opinion the death toll from armed violence might well have exceeded 250,000 estimated by the 1974 Home Ministry study before it was shut down.
There are two reasons for Awarni League obstinacy. First, the reality is that in 1970s, Bangladesh Home Ministry discovered that most of those killed were Biharis and Bengali Muslims who stood for the unity of Pakistan. They suffered in the hands of Mukti Bahinis and were brutally massacred. The figure of 3 million helps Awami League in face saving and to cover their atrocities and genocide.
To cover up Mukti Bahinis genocide and rapes, the govt of Bangladesh initiated first step on February 28, 1973. On this day, ‘National Liberation Struggle (Indemnity) Order, 1973’ was enacted to provide for indemnity to those persons in respect of act done in connection with the national liberation struggle, the maintenance or restoration of order. The ordinance was enforced retrospectively from March 26, 1972. It declared that “no suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie in any Court against any person for or on account of or in respect of any act done during the period from the March 1 , 1971 to December 16, 1971 in connection with the struggle for national liberation or for maintenance or restoration of order up to February 28, 1972 “. Definitely the nature of the acts committed in connection with the national liberation struggle was extraordinary in terms of brutality; therefore, even having gained independence, the govt of Bangladesh was compelled to promulgate an exclusive Ordinance to protect them and stifle free debate in the country in the future. Otherwise, they would have honoured those killed by conducting impartial and open survey as was the case in Bosinia.
Awami League claims that Mukti Bahinis picked up arms as a consequence of Pakistan army operation on March 25, 1971. If this is true, then why the Indemnity Ordinance indemnifies the acts of Mukti Bahinis committed from March I, 1971 to March 25, 1971 i.e. before army operation, and from December 16, 1971 to February 28, 1972 i.e. the period after the creation of Bangladesh? Moreover, why the current proposed Law is covering the period from August 14, 1947 to March I, 1971? Ian Jack writes that at Khulna, there was a kind of genocide perpetrated by Bengalis against the non-Bengalis they worked beside in the town’s jute mills. The non-Bengalis were Urdu-speaking migrants from Bihar. On March 18, 1971, their fellow workers slaughtered large numbers of them, sometimes methodically in slaughter houses that had been set up inside the mills. Their bloated corpses clogged the rivers for days. After December 16, 1971, Khulna’s Bengali mill workers repeated their original atrocity of the previous year and sent thousands more non-Bengalis into the rivers. They were seen as traitors who supported the wrong side. A truth about the Bangladesh war is that remarkably few scholars and historians have given it thorough, independent scrutiny.
Sharmila Bose writes, it would be more accurate to accuse the Pakistan army of political killing. Many Bengalis remained loyal to the old regime and went unharmed. The army and its paramilitaries (who were mainly Biharis) were at their most genocidal in their persecution of Hindu Bengali men, whom they believed as a group to be disloyal. By contrast, many Bengali Muslim civilians attacked non-Bengalis purely on the grounds of their ethnic identity and/or for material gain. In terms of genocide, their guilt is much clearer.
Official sources reveal that some 300 Mukti Bahinis were involved in genocide and rapes of Biharis as well as Pakistan supportive Bengalis. Some of the names have already appeared in the media recently. For example, Mujibur Rehman s/o Mishrutulla Mondol, village Armotta, PS Adamdighi, Distt Bogra, M.A. Gafur s/o Late .Jonab Ali, Dharmasave Cross Road, Khulna Town, Mustafizur Rehman Siddiqi s/o Haji Mohammad Hussain Chaudhary, village south Rahmantnagar, PS Sitakund, Distt Chittagong, Motahar Hossain Talukdar slo Nalimuddin Talukdar, Liaqat Ali Road, Sirajganj, Pabna, Mohammad Azizur Rehman Advocate slo Late Akimuddin, resident of Moharnmadpur Union Council No II, PS Tahakurgaon, Dinajpur, Shah Mehtab Ahmed s/o Late Haji Serajuddin Shah, village U ttar Palashbari, PS Chirr-Bandar, District Dinajpur, Quamuruz.zaman s/o Shamsuddin Ahmed, village Kanchannogar, PO & PS Jhenidah, Jessore, Atwar Rahman Talukda r s/o Haji Jesiruddin Talukdar, Village Mathurapur, PO Jabaripurhat, PS Badalgaehi, Rajshahi, Abdul Hamid s/o Tayabuddin Haji, Village Kamlapur, PO Nikh Dhampara, District Mymensigh, Khundker Abdul Hafeez slo Abdul Wadud Kundker, Village Mohishkhola, PO and PS Narail, District Jessore, lmajuddin Pramanik s/o Hajrat Ullah Parmanik, Village PO Chaksaila, District Rajshahi, Dr. Moinuddin Ahmed s/o Dr. Kalimuddin Ahmed, Village Manakasha Sadartole, District Rajshahi, S M Yousaf s/o Late Kasimuddin Ahmed Shah, ViIIage Mokleshpur, PS Biral, District Ahmed Dinajpur, Nurul Huq slo Abdul Majid, Village Hajipur, PS Begumgong, Noakhali, Mohammad Hanif s/o Late Maulvi Ibrahim, Village Kajikapur, PS Begumganj, District Noakhali, Siddique Hussain s/o Khayer-uddin, Mouza Bakhtarpur, PS Kotwali, Rangpur, Abdul Hakim s/o Mafujuddin Sheikh, Hasanabad, District Rangpur, Quamaruddin Ahmed s/o Late Haji Md Ibrahim, Nutanasti, PS Panchagarh, District Dinajpur, Dr Zikrul Haq s/o Dir Ziarutullah Ahmed, Natun Babupara, PO and PS Saidpur, District Rangpur.
Mukti Bahinis prepare to bayonet Muslim Bengalis who supported Pakistan’s unity.
The second reason for Awami League to be over protective in defending its distorted narrative is that encouraged by the prevailing political environment in Bangladesh, many Awami Leaguers, wishing to draw political and monetary mileage from the regime, have started speaking truth. Startling revelations about their alliance with Indian intelligence agencies since 1947 to break Pakistan are coming to fore. This requires altogether a different story, which I will cover sometimes in the future. These revelations are challenging the Awami League narrative of Pakistan army operation or political and economic exploitation of East Pakistan by the West Pakistan. In addition, the Ministry of Liberation War has so far been able to identify only sixty seven women raped during the war, that too without much evidence. To silence the critics, the Awami League, obvious choice, is recourse to draconian laws. The truth is to rewrite the history from its perspective; the Awami League has suppressed the freedom of speech in Bangladesh. Never the people of Bangladesh felt as helpless as under the present regime. The UK daily Guardian writes in its editorial dated April 8, 2016. Mature countries should interrogate their history and accept diverse interpretations of how they came into being, particularly when a nation has broken away from another. Time passes, a cooler understanding of events prevails, and the propaganda and exaggeration taken for fact in the heat of conflict can be discarded. History cannot be changed but it can be reassessed. In contrast, the Awami League govt is resorting to state censorship to block objective research.
On its part, the govt of Pakistan has until now remained circumspect. Seldom has Islamabad commented on the events related to 1971. This circumspection is ascribed to its policy and desire to look forward and not to hurt the sentiments of the common man in Bangladesh, since many of them look up to a strong Pakistan even today. However, this policy has hurt not only Pakistan but also majority of Bangladeshis. It’s time that the authorities should come out of slumber to help Bangladeshi friends and start challenging Awami League’s distorted narrative. This can be done best by declassifying the historical records, disclosing remaining names of 300 Mukti Bahinis who committed genocide and offering a joint inquiry and survey of those killed in 1971. The issue of conducting open inquiry of those killed should be raised at all international forums. Pakistan owes this to those who sacrificed their lives first for the creation of Pakistan in 1947, then for its unity in 1971 and are still dying for its ideology while facing sham war crimes, to which entire world is criticizing, of course except India. There is also a need to expose Awami Leaguers conspiratorial acts from August 1947 to March 1971 to break the largest Muslim country of the world. The only parallel in history to their role is that of Mir Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur. His conspiracy defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah in the Battle of Plassey and as a result he became the first Nawab of Bengal with the military support from British East India Company but his rule brought downfall of the Muslims and started British imperialism as well as eventual British domination of the subcontinent. It is also the time that Pakistan should start seeking apology from Awami Leaguers for repeating this role and betraying their forefathers who created Pakistan.
