Agartala Conspiracy confession, what does it mean for our history

[khair_ctg]

couldn't careless about the congress or Hindu mahasaba, but I am disheartened to know that the Muslim league rejected it, i am utterly disappointed, it was wrong of them to do so, we deserved what we got in 71, rejecting this proposal by the Muslim league was an injustice to the Bangladeshi people & i apologize for that, it was not fair & Bangladesh lost a lot of land & i believe Muslim league is guilty of this, & the anger of Bangladeshis is totally justified , i agree with you bro, i think you have some valid point regarding you notion of partition was wrong
bitter & i hate it, as i love my Pakistan but none the less the "truth" must prevail & as i said it, no matter how much i dislike it but unfortunately , you do have a valid point regarding the partition

regards

sorry you're mistaken to say ML "rejected" Hussein Suhrawardy's proposition. opinions of just two Bengalis, Khwaja Nazim-ud-Din and Mohammad Akram Khan, were trumped by the official/unofficial declarations of support by the majority in the party, including from Mohammad Ali Jinnah, which formed the stance of the ML party on the proposition of united Bengal (MA Jinnah apparently also favoured inclusion of Assam and other surrounding areas). 1940s Bengal was much different from 1900s Bengal... Congress and Mahasaba was dominating politics among Hindus and were the main opponents of United Bengal in 1940s. the "anger" you mentioned cannot be just confined to now-Bangladeshis...

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\12\story_12-11-2006_pg7_2

 

[khair_ctg]

cross posted:

Mujib was not pro-India until after 1971, after he was freed from jail in Pakistan. I just found out from Major Dalim’s book, Ami Major Dalim Bolchi, that Mujib’s 6-point movement was created by Ford Foundation economists to teach a lesson and a warning to Ayub Khan by USA because he was getting close to China, a US enemy at the time.
Six point movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mujib was a lesser known politician with dubious reputation. True to his Gunda (goon) origin under Suhrawardy, he killed deputy speaker of parliament in an assault using broken chairs and microphones as projectiles:
Shahed Ali Patwary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MUJIB IN SHAHED ALI’S DEATH: A CHAIR HIT THE DEPUTY SPEAKER’S HEAD - Topix


6 point movement catapulted Mujib to popularity. Then Ayub Khan govt. tried to suppress 6-point movement by arresting Mujib and many top AL leaders based on false charges against them connecting them to Agartala Conspiracy (a true treason case connected with RAW), although these AL leaders including Mujib had no connection to this treason case.

Bhashani came up with the 11 point movement mobilizing student activists to free Mujib and other leaders, all of whom were false charges by Ayub Khan govt. Due to these mass movement, Mujib was released, the case against him and others (to frame them) was dropped, and a young undeserving Mujib was catapulted as the undisputed national leader, as there was no one else available to speak as the voice of united East Pakistan. So here is the summary of sequence of events:

- unfair treatment and domination of West Pakistani-Mohajer elite and their usurpation of national power alienated Bengali elite (business, professional, bureacratic, armed forces, law enforcement and political class)
- Bengali elite joined with Bengali masses to press for end of Military rule, which was being used by minority West Pakistan-Mohajer elite to rule over majority Bengali’s in Pakistan
- 6 point movement was funded and initiated by USA to teach Ayub Khan a lesson when he got close to China, an enemy of USA at the time
- Mujib and other top AL leaders were falsely charged with connection to Agartala Case (a true conspiracy case with some minor figures that was actually hatched by RAW) to frame these national leaders as Indian agents and traitors
- Bhashani launched 11 point movement to free Mujib and others in a mass movement led by student activists
- Ayub Khan govt. fell as a result, Mujib and others were freed and Agartala case was dropped
- Bhasani was already 90 years old in 1970, so instead of this true visionary leader, an undeserving younger Mujib became the face and voice of East Pakistan, whose sole goal was autonomy, as strictly instructed by his US handlers, but never to go for breaking Pakistan in a move for secession
- when Mujib was jailed and Operation Searchlight was initiated, Pakistan Army was unleashed on a defenceless Bengali population, the Bengali members of armed forces revolted and declared independence (Zia) and initiated the armed struggle for liberation

you seem to be trying to comprehend the sequence of events since '47. however your multiple-point conclusion never accounted for the unruly excessive agitation led by E. Pakistani politicians with support from a section of gullible misinformed people since late '40s. and you did not account for the socio-economic backwardness of Eastern Bengal in particular, a baggage from the crippling colonial rule, and the effect it had among Bengali Muslims when they found themselves with others in their newly formed nation in '47. in line with that, i don't think any meaningful "Bengali elite" as you mentioned even existed especially as they were swallowed by that unruly leftist politics

 

[Armstrong]

couldn't careless about the congress or Hindu mahasaba, but I am disheartened to know that the Muslim league rejected it, i am utterly disappointed, it was wrong of them to do so, we deserved what we got in 71, rejecting this proposal by the Muslim league was an injustice to the Bangladeshi people & i apologize for that, it was not fair & Bangladesh lost a lot of land & i believe Muslim league is guilty of this, & the anger of Bangladeshis is totally justified , i agree with you bro, i think you have some valid point regarding you notion of partition was wrong
bitter & i hate it, as i love my Pakistan but none the less the "truth" must prevail & as i said it, no matter how much i dislike it but unfortunately , you do have a valid point regarding the partition

regards

Waisee tou tuuu meraa bhai haiii but sometimes I wish kei eik raptaaa tereiii muuunh pei maarooon !

What the foOk are you apologizing for ?

Both the Quaid & the Muslim League agreed, in principal, to the idea of a United Bengal in much the same way there was a demand for a United Punjab. Both Abul Hashim & Suhrawardy, proponents of the United Independent Bengal Movement, were key members of the Muslim League after all with Suhrawardy being the Muslim League's Chief Minister in Bengal !

When that idea was floated both the Indian National Congress & the Hindu Mahasabha were staunchly opposed to that idea because both Sardar Patel & Nehru are said to have believed that an independent Bengal would be seen as an extension of Pakistan or that it would be seen as an extension of the borders of Pakistan whereby West Bengal would be absorbed into it as well ! Hence The Bengal unity formula received a further setback when, following the statement of the Congress Working Committee, Kalipada Mukherjee, the General Secretary of the Bengal Congress discarded it through a statement issued on 1 June 1947.

Additionally Bengali Leaders of the Muslim League like Nazimuddin & others opposed this plan whereby on 28 May 1947, the Working Committee of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League at its meeting under the Presidentship of Akram Khan denounced the terms of the tentative agreement and reiterated its demand for integration with Pakistan !

What the foOk are 'we' supposed to apologize for in all of that ? The Bengalis couldn't agree amongst themselves - the Congress, the Mahasabha, the Muslim League etc. of Bengal !

Stop being apologetic for something that we're not even responsible for !

At any rate even Suhrawardy himself was saying something at one time & saying something else at other times : While replying to a no – confidence motion moved against him in September 1946, Suhrawardy said 'Reference has been made to a statement which I am alleged to have made at Delhi regarding unilaterally declaring independence of Bengal and running a parallel government in case the demand for Pakistan is not accepted.'

And another time : Surely I have never conceived that I could declare independence while remaining as chief minister under the 1935 Act.

And another time : I still maintain that Bengal one day shall be an independent and sovereign country.

And it goes without saying that it was Suhrawardy who April 1946 at the Muslim League Parliamentary Party convention in New Delhi.According to this resolution, the last para of the 1940 Pakistan Resolution, declaring that both Eastern and Western Zones will be sovereign having their own defence, foreign affairs, communication sections, etc., was deleted. Instead of the two zones, the word Pakistan zone was incorporated. The word `states` was changed to `state` and `units` were changed to `provinces`. The word `units` meant both the provinces and the Indian states together with the tribal areas.


Bangladesh should have been separated from Pakistan & good riddance for that but don't go about apologizing on behalf of nearly 200 million Pakistanis for a mess that the Bengalis themselves couldn't solve in '47 !

' @Secur - Your views !

 

[BanglaBhoot]

According to this resolution, the last para of the 1940 Pakistan Resolution, declaring that both Eastern and Western Zones will be sovereign having their own defence, foreign affairs, communication sections, etc., was deleted. Instead of the two zones, the word Pakistan zone was incorporated. The word `states` was changed to `state` and `units` were changed to `provinces`. The word `units` meant both the provinces and the Indian states together with the tribal areas. @Secur - Your views !

Whose decision was it to make this change? Suhrawardy did not do this unilaterally. He was compelled to make this amendment. Of course after Congress rejected united Punjab and united Bengal had not the Lahore Resolution been amended an independent Muslim Bengal would have been invaded and occupied by India after 1947 in any case.

 

[Tameem]

Intresting Read.

The United Bengal plan

After it became apparent that the division of India on the basis of the Two-Nation Theory will almost certainly result in the partition of the Bengal province along religious lines, Bengal provincial Muslim League leader Suhrawardy came up with a radical plan to create an independent Bengal state that won't join either Pakistan or India and remain unpartitioned. Suhrawardy realised that if Bengal is partitioned then it will be economically disastrous for east Bengal[2] as all coal mines, all jute mills but two and other industrial plants will certainly go to the western part since these were in an overwhelmingly Hindu majority area.[3] Most important of all, Kolkata, then the largest city in India, an industrial and commercial hub and the largest port will also go to the western part. Suhrawardy floated his idea on 24 April 1947 at a press conference in Delhi.[4]

However the plan directly ran counter to the Muslim League's, which was a political party during the period of the British Rule which advocated the creation of a separate Muslim-majority nation, demand of the creation of a separate Muslim homeland on the basis of two-nation theory. Initially Bengal provincial Muslim League leadership opinion was divided. Barddhaman's League leader Abul Hashim supported it.[5] On the other hand Nurul Amin and Mohammad Akram Khan initially opposed it.[6][7] But Muhammad Ali Jinnah realised the validity of Suhrawardy's argument and gave his tacit support to the plan.[8][9][10] After Jinnah's approval, Suhrawardy started gathering support for his plan.

On the Congress side, only a handful of leaders agreed to the plan. Among them was the influential Bengal provincial congress leader Sarat Chandra Bose, the elder brother of Netaji and Kiran Shankar Roy. However most other BPCC leaders and Congress leadership including Nehru and Patel rejected the plan. The Hindu nationalist party Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee vehemently opposed it.[11] Their opinion was that the plan is nothing but a ploy by Suhrawardy to stop the partition of the state so that the industrially developed western part including the city of Kolkata remains under League control. They also opined that even though the plan asked for a sovereign Bengal state, in practice it will be a virtual Pakistan and the Hindu minority will be at the mercy of the Muslim majority forever.[12][13][14]

Although the chances of the proposal seeing daylight without Congress central committee's approval was slim, Bose and Suhrawardy continued talks to reach an agreement on the political structure of the proposed state. Like Suhrawardy, Bose also felt that the partition will severely hamper Bengal's economy and almost half of the Hindu population will be left stranded on the Pakistani side.[15] The agreement was published on 24 May 1947.[16] However this was largely a political agreement. The proposal had hardly any support at grassroots level, particularly among the Hindus.[17] Muslim League's continuous propaganda on the two-nation theory for the previous six years combined with the marginalisation of Hindus in the Suhrawardy ministry and the vicious riots of 1946, which many Hindus believed was state sponsored, left little room for trust in Muslim League among Bengali Hindus.[18] Soon afterwards, division arose among Bose and Suhrawardy on the question of the nature of the electorate; separate or joint. Suhrawardy insisted upon maintaining the separate electorate for Muslims and Non-Muslims. Bose was opposed to this. He withdrew and due to lack of any other significant support from the Congress's side, the United Bengal plan was discarded.[19] Still, this relatively unknown episode marked the last attempt among Bengali Muslim and Hindu communities to avoid the partition and live together.

 

[Armstrong]

Whose decision was it to make this change? Suhrawardy did not do this unilaterally. He was compelled to make this amendment. Of course after Congress rejected united Punjab and united Bengal had not the Lahore Resolution been amended an independent Muslim Bengal would have been invaded and occupied by India after 1947 in any case.

He was compelled to make this amendment because of the actions of the Congress, the Mahasahbha & the Bengali Muslims in the Muslim League in Bengal - What am I supposed to apologize about in all of this ? That the Bengalis themselves torpedoed this plan so its somehow my doing as the author of the original post was implying ?

Believe me I would want nothing more than to turn back time & have an Independent Bengal that has nothing to do with Pakistan whatsoever ! Now whether that independent Bengal gets absorbed by India, Burma or is invaded by the Martians is inconsequential to me !

 

[Tameem]

I believe, had the "Calcutta" falls in East Pakistan territory the dejection & alienation to original motherland in Bengali Muslims elite not surpassed so compound, something we achieve in our Part of the division of Punjab when we successfully bring "Lahore" in West Pakistan Map. These are the two prized cities with different partition outcome.

 

[genmirajborgza786]

Waisee tou tuuu meraa bhai haiii but sometimes I wish kei eik raptaaa tereiii muuunh pei maarooon !

What the foOk are you apologizing for ?

Both the Quaid & the Muslim League agreed, in principal, to the idea of a United Bengal in much the same way there was a demand for a United Punjab. Both Abul Hashim & Suhrawardy, proponents of the United Independent Bengal Movement, were key members of the Muslim League after all with Suhrawardy being the Muslim League's Chief Minister in Bengal !

When that idea was floated both the Indian National Congress & the Hindu Mahasabha were staunchly opposed to that idea because both Sardar Patel & Nehru are said to have believed that an independent Bengal would be seen as an extension of Pakistan or that it would be seen as an extension of the borders of Pakistan whereby West Bengal would be absorbed into it as well ! Hence The Bengal unity formula received a further setback when, following the statement of the Congress Working Committee, Kalipada Mukherjee, the General Secretary of the Bengal Congress discarded it through a statement issued on 1 June 1947.

Additionally Bengali Leaders of the Muslim League like Nazimuddin & others opposed this plan whereby on 28 May 1947, the Working Committee of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League at its meeting under the Presidentship of Akram Khan denounced the terms of the tentative agreement and reiterated its demand for integration with Pakistan !

What the foOk are 'we' supposed to apologize for in all of that ? The Bengalis couldn't agree amongst themselves - the Congress, the Mahasabha, the Muslim League etc. of Bengal !

Stop being apologetic for something that we're not even responsible for !

At any rate even Suhrawardy himself was saying something at one time & saying something else at other times : While replying to a no – confidence motion moved against him in September 1946, Suhrawardy said 'Reference has been made to a statement which I am alleged to have made at Delhi regarding unilaterally declaring independence of Bengal and running a parallel government in case the demand for Pakistan is not accepted.'

And another time : Surely I have never conceived that I could declare independence while remaining as chief minister under the 1935 Act.

And another time : I still maintain that Bengal one day shall be an independent and sovereign country.

And it goes without saying that it was Suhrawardy who April 1946 at the Muslim League Parliamentary Party convention in New Delhi.According to this resolution, the last para of the 1940 Pakistan Resolution, declaring that both Eastern and Western Zones will be sovereign having their own defence, foreign affairs, communication sections, etc., was deleted. Instead of the two zones, the word Pakistan zone was incorporated. The word `states` was changed to `state` and `units` were changed to `provinces`. The word `units` meant both the provinces and the Indian states together with the tribal areas.


Bangladesh should have been separated from Pakistan & good riddance for that but don't go about apologizing on behalf of nearly 200 million Pakistanis for a mess that the Bengalis themselves couldn't solve in '47 !

' @Secur - Your views !

bro, the post of mine you quoted is quite old

i know that bro, I researched on the subject, as I could not rest with this burden myself & Alhamdulillah ,to my relieve I found that the Quaid had actually supported the idea of a united but independent Bengal proposed by Husein suharawardi & Sarat Chandra bose , plus I came to also learn that Quaid was also in good terms with the south Indians , like notable south Indian politician E. V. Ramasami popularly known as Periyar

this had cleared my doubts quite a while ago, The Quaid indeed was a great leaders & selfless person even knowing that "Dravida Nadu" & "United Independent Socialist Bengal" would not be incorporated into Pakistan, none the less he supported it

and expected its support in return.[24] In an interview with the Governor of Madras, Jinnah, the main leader of Muslim League, said that India should be divided into four regions: Dravidistan, Hindustan, Bengalistan and Pakistan; Dravidistan would approximately consist of the area under the Madras Presidency.[25] Jinnah stated "I have every sympathy and shall do all to help, and you establish Dravidistan where the 7 per cent Muslim population will stretch its hands of friendship and live with you on lines of security, justice and fairplay

Dravida Nadu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quaid with E. V. Ramasami & dr. Ambedkar

 

[LaBong]

I believe, had the "Calcutta" falls in East Pakistan territory the dejection & alienation to original motherland in Bengali Muslims elite not surpassed so compound, something we achieve in our Part of the division of Punjab when we successfully bring "Lahore" in West Pakistan Map. These are the two prized cities with different partition outcome.

You have no idea whatsoever of then Bengal's society and demography.

 

[Zabaniyah]

Talking about alternate realities is a waste of time.

 

[LaBong]

Jinnahs support for United Bengal was mostly face saving gesture and he wasnt anyway much bothered about Bengalis, only thing he cared about is that losing Bengal and South India would weaken the India which would have benefited Pakistan.

Separate electorate for muslims and hindus would mean better qualified but minority Hindu population will be ruled by inefficient Muslim politicians just because they happen to be Muslim. No sane bengali worth his salt would applause Jinnah for this.

 

[kalu_miah]

Well, it doesn't matter if someone is sympathetic or not, what matter is that what has he done! Personally, I would have revered Jinnah a lot more if he had explicitly supported the independent Bengal pan and when it failed, he should have supported the independence of East Bengal. If he really wanted to do something for the Bengalis he would have never pushed for the inclusion of Bengal into Pakistan. The only thing Jinnah wanted was the strongest possible Pakistan against India, even if it's at expense of Bengalis' interests. You may know, the Lahore Resolution initially proposed for two separate Muslim states in western and north eastern sub-continent, it was a win-win situation for all the Muslims and hence all the Bengali Muslim leaders supported it. But Jinnah changed the "two states" proposal into "one state" just at the last moment when the independent Bengal plan failed. Why did he do that? The proposal also kept many leaders like Suhrawardy in illusion, they always thought there will be an independent state in Bengal, it was reflected in the speeches by Suhrawardy during the partition period.

As far as I know, there were some Bengali personnels in armed forces but they started to recruit more after the 1965 war when many Bengali officers caught their eye and won some gallantry awards. But Bengalis have always been deprived of higher ranks and yes, Martial Race mentality was the main reason behind this. About the political discontent, it was always there, more precisely since 1949 when the BPC was formulated.

Frankly, those shia factors don't seem that influential to me. I have a shia friend and I only got to know that he's a shia when we had the Jumma prayer together, apart from the prayers, I could hardly find any differences between him and me.

In 1947, it was hard to tell what would transpire in the future, but the geographical distance and ethnic difference was a big enough factor that people like Mountbatten predicted that Pakistan will break in about 25 years, which was exactly what happened.

1. Having 3 independent countries would definitely have been a better choice
2. The other option would have been to start with much more federalized looser union with an escape clause for separation by referendum in any one wing

Option 2 had the added advantage of having a common foreign policy and defense, but separate bureaucratic and financial management.

Instead of option 1 or 2, what we had was an effort at integrating two separate landmass, their population and a transplanted migrant population from India, who moved to both wings. It was an ambitious project, it was mismanaged and it failed. While a more modest goal of 2 might have worked, a more ambitious goal has failed.

As for Jinnah's personal motivation for doing what he did, I do not know enough to comment. He was a Gujarati Muslim of Shia sect who married a Parsi lady. He was one of the representatives of the then educated Hindustani Muslim elite, many of whom migrated to both wings. Naturally he would try to further the interest of his group, sometimes at the expense of other ethnic groups. So I think it is only natural and any Bengali in his position would have done worse. So we should not blame him for not creating 3 separate countries. If Bengali leaders were really serious about this goal and believed in it, they should have pursued it on their own, regardless of whether West Bengal wanted to be with East Bengal or not. We cannot blame Jinnah for this, because he was not a Bengali leader and getting an independent East Bengal was not his responsibility. He did what he had to do, but it was our Bengali leaders who lacked foresight and vision and failed our people. At least they could have negotiated with Jinnah for a No. 2 option constitution from the start, instead of what we started out with. If we had a constitution like that, then we could probably avoid the situation in 1971 and the union could still survive. And if there was difficulty still, we could separate without any bloodshed, just by holding a referendum on one side.

The failure which culminated in the war in 1971, created a rift between 3 main groups of Muslim populations in South Asia, Bengal Muslims, Hindustani Muslims and Pakistan Muslims, which could have been avoided.

Now the ghost of 1971 still affects future common endeavors by any of these 3 groups. What we should learn from this is that any geopolitical decision by a country or people of a landmass has to be much more carefully thought out, to avoid this kind of catastrophic failures.

 

[Armstrong]

@genmirajborgza786 - Ok, sorry !

 

[INDIC]

I believe, had the "Calcutta" falls in East Pakistan territory the dejection & alienation to original motherland in Bengali Muslims elite not surpassed so compound, something we achieve in our Part of the division of Punjab when we successfully bring "Lahore" in West Pakistan Map. These are the two prized cities with different partition outcome.

Calcutta was deep inside Hindu majority areas of Bengal, it was impossible for East Bengal to get Calcutta.

 

[Tameem]

Believe me I would want nothing more than to turn back time & have an Independent Bengal that has nothing to do with Pakistan whatsoever ! Now whether that independent Bengal gets absorbed by India, Burma or is invaded by the Martians is inconsequential to me !

Quite right bcz that state would run parallel to ML & Quaid's Idea of "Two nation theory" in the first place.

But i astonish to learn how strongly Quaid's believe was in his Idea that despite this fact he allow Soharwardy to begin these talks of Independent Bengal with Bengali Hindus wholeheartedly and in the end talks failed again on the issues of separate electorate etc., something ML already vociferous......He is definitely a Genius!