Qammer Abbass Anka
“Three things cannot be long hidden; the Sun, the Moon and the Truth”
(Buddha)
The partition of India was an Achilles’ heel for top Indian politicians and post partition rulers. Rahul Gandhi of Indian Congress Party at public rally in Bareilly while campaigning for state elections in Uttar Pradesh in April 2007 remarked, “You know, when our (Nehru) family commits to a task, it also completes it. In the past too, members of the Gandhi family have achieved the goals they have initiated like the freedom of the country, dividing Pakistan into two, and leading the nation into the 21st century”.
The confession made by Indian National Congress further got substantiated when Narendra Modi in his last visit to Bangladesh not only confessed India’s and his own active role in amputating United Pakistan but also took its credit and felt proud over it. It was a confession long awaited to correct the wrong perceptions and absolve Pakistan for fake allegations of atrocities. During the said visit, Modi proudly admitted India’s role in fighting along Mukti Bahinis against Pakistani Armed Forces in 1971. While receiving the award of ‘Liberation War Honour’ on behalf of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Modi said, ‘I was one of the crores of Indians who dreamed of an independent Bangladesh’. Modi’s confessions were further corroborated by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who said during the award ceremony, ‘In 1971, when the entire Bangladesh, under the leadership of Bangabandhu, waged the war of Liberation against the occupational forces, we were fortunate to have India beside us’. Public confession of Modi is sufficient to refute the toxic Bangladeshi propaganda against Pakistan.
Indian efforts finally leading to disintegration of Pakistan are spread over a wide span of 24 years. The partition of the subcontinent in 1947 was not willingly conceded to by extremist Hindus of India. They opposed it tooth and nail and only gave in when there was no other way out. The holocaust that followed in which one million people lost their lives and around four million had to flee their native land leaving all their property behind left deep scars on both the communities. The agony was too severe to be endured by Indian top leadership and they had decided to undo the perceived ‘wrong’ that had been inflicted on them. They perceived it as vivisection of Mother India and forceful division of Bharat. Hindu leaders believed a ‘handful of converts’ had succeeded in creating the two-nation theory and that they could not be allowed to get away with it. According to Rushbrook Williams, “Ever since 1947, Pakistan has been deeply conscious that influential sections of Indian opinion have resented the mere fact of her existence, and have made no secret of their hope that the entire subcontinent will one day be reunited under the rule of New Delhi. Pakistan is determined to survive; many people in India want her to break up”.
Indian dream to disintegrate Pakistan could not remain hidden from international opinion makers. Many eminent scholars and prolific writers have narrated Indian conceived design and its recounting analytically in their publications. Disintegration of Pakistan in 1971 carries behind a comprehensive lethal Indian plan, whereas, the immediate socio-political factors leading to fall of Dacca were mere the last nail in the coffin. In fact, the stage set by India in the shape of 1971 war was the final drop scene of the episode.
Kamal Matinuddin while quoting excerpts from Gosh, Sucheta’s book titled ‘Role of India in the Emergence of Bangladesh, writes “Mahatma Gandhi, the revered leader of the Hindus of India, and internationally, acclaimed as the ‘Apostle of non-violence’ told the Congress party in East Bengal in July, 1947 that the Congress Committee in East Bengal must never look upon Bengal as divided’.
Similarly, S. Radha krishnan, a former president of India, felt that the division of the country was a grievous wrong which India was made to suffer. He felt that the leaders agree to the Partition against their better judgment and the advice of Mahatma Gandhi. He is also reported to have said “re-union of the two successor states of British India was necessary and inevitable.
Even our founder Quaid-e-Azam was fully cognizant of the Indian propaganda aimed at arousing the sentiments of Bengalis against West Pakistanis. In his speech, broadcast by Radio Dacca on 28 March, 1948, on the eve of his departure from East Bengal, Mr. Jinnah asked his Bengali listeners whether it was not a ‘sinister phenomenon’ that the very ‘political agencies and organs of the Indian press’ who were against the creation of Pakistan have ‘suddenly found with a tender conscience for what they call the just claims of the Muslims of East Bengal.
Eminent journalist Qutubuddin Aziz in his Book titled ‘Blood and Tears’ narrates, “Seizing it as the golden opportunity of the century to undo Pakistan, India used the Bengali rebels, it had trained and armed, for the war of attrition against Pakistan in its Eastern Wing for some nine months. After using the Bengali guerrillas as cannon fodder to soften the Pakistani defences in East Pakistan, Indian tanks, guns and troops rolled over the border on November 22, 1971 to accomplish India’s armed grab of East Pakistan and the establishment of its client state of Bangladesh. India’s Bengali surrogates, who operated the Indian-propped, Calcutta-based Government of Bangladesh, were installed in Dacca as the new rulers of Bangladesh on December 17, 1971 by the victorious Indian Army. Sheikh Mujeeb while assuming the leadership of new Bengali state publically declared that for the past quarter of a century he had been working for the separation and independence of Pakistan’s Eastern Wing”.
There is no dearth of credible and documented evidences of India’s active involvement in creation of Bangladesh. Indian Lieutenant General JFR Jacob, a senior Indian Army officers who actively participated in the Pakistan-India war in 1971 in his book titled ‘Surrender at Dacca- Birth of a Nation’ writes, “On the request of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, the Government of India directed the Indian Army to provide assistance to the Mukti Bahinis who controlled areas of East Pakistan contiguous to our borders. This guerrilla operation was code named as “Operation Jackpot”.
Despite having credible evidences, until off late, India has been brazenly denying her role in disintegration of Pakistan in 1971 which led to creation of Bangladesh. The tragedy of 1971 was not the sole result of political factors; rather it was India which had been working closely with separatist elements in East Pakistan to launch proxies to achieve the end state. Moreover, India’s denial for her role in creation of East Pakistan has always been supported by pro India lobbies within Bangladesh, especially The Awami League which managed to keep the international community totally blind on the ground realities.
Today Bangladesh is alleging Pak Army for atrocities while totally absolving the actual culprit, India. Her unfounded allegations overwhelmingly supported and bloated by India are not only portraying Pakistan in bad light internationally but also stirring suspicions in minds of our Bangali brethren. Our Muslim brothers in Bangladesh must understand conspiracies and real Indian objectives behind creation of Bangladesh. The enemy is still busy in destabilizing Bangladesh to punish the Muslims wherever they live. What else is conspiracy, proxy war and state sponsored terrorism?