AgNoStiC MuSliM
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legitimate grievances over resource sharing and a political voice (which BTW was lacking for ALL Pakistanis when under military rule), that were expressed through ethnic/racial hatred, and channeled into racially motivated atrocities against West Pakistani civilians, and subsequently resulted in ethnic violence by both sides.
The excerpts posted from the HR Commission Report answer these questions, and the White Paper referred to by the International Commission of Jurists (not the International Court of Justice) states the following:
1 March, 1971
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at a press conference, gave the call for a strike in Dacca. Immediately after his call, Awami .League militants went on the rampage in various parts of the' city, indulging in loot, arson and other acts of vandalism. They raided the Narayanganj Rifle Club and took away arms and ammunition. Armed gangs
were formed at Iqbal Hall and Jagannath Hall of Dacca University to fan out into the cityfor collecting arms, vehicles and funds.
Acts of violence grew in size and intensity during the night of 1 March throughout Dacca and Narayanganj.
2 March, 1971
Two firearms shops at Baitul Mukarram and one in New Market were looted and firearms taken to Dacca University campus where a practice firing range had been set up earlier and the noise of firing was heard throughout the day.
On the streets, mobs roamed with guns, iron rods and staves in their hands, raising anti-Pakistan slogans. A number of business houses on Jinnah Avenue and Baitul Mukarram as well as Shalimar Hotel and Gulistan Cinema were attacked. Plying rickshaws were subjected to brickbatting. One jute mill (Ghawasi) in Narayanganj, and two private residential houses in the Farm Gate area of Dacca were set on fire.
Meanwhile violence continued to grow. Civil law enforcing agencies found themselves incapable of coping with the large-scale disturbances which gripped the city, and at their request troops which had so far remained in the barracks, were called out, and curfew was imposed during the night. '
There were large-scale violations of the curfew. Six persons were killed when a mob attacked an army unit at Sadarghat (Dacca) and one person was killed when the Army tried to protect the local TV Station from a violent mob.
3 March, 1971
Five persons were killed and 62 wounded in mob violence as lawlessness spread to other areas of Dacca, including Islampur, Patuakhali Bazar and Nawabpur. Several shops and business premises as well as residential houses were set on fire and a number of citizens were burnt to death. On the main Jinnah Avenue, a general store and a watch shop were raided and more weapons were looted from arms shops. Fifty huts were set on fire.
By now mob violence had spread to other parts of the province. In Jessore, mobs armed with sticks and spears attacked the local Telephone Exchange. The guards protecting the Exchange opened fire, killing two and injuring nine persons before the mobs dispersed.
A local train from Bhairab to Laksham was stopped at Comilla in the morning and
attempts were made to set it on fire.
The Telephone Exchange at Daulatganj near Laksham was attacked and
damaged. The Comilla Telephone Exchange was disconnected from the rest of the
Province. The Akaura, Sylhet, Habiganj and Beani Bazar Exchanges were also forced
to close down.
4 March, 1971
On the night of 3-4 March, 1971 trouble spread to Chittagong and, Khulna. At Chittagong, violent mobs led by Awami League storm troopers attacked the Wireless Colony and several other localities, committing wanton acts of loot, arson, killing and rape. In one locality (Ferozeshah Colony), 700 houses were set on fire and their inmates including men, women and children were burnt to death: Those who tried to flee, were either killed or seriously wounded. Apart from those burnt alive, whose bodies were found later, over 300 persons were killed or wounded on 3 and 4 March.
At Jessore, a train coming from Khulna was derailed and the passengers were pulled out and killed. At the office of the Jessore Deputy Commissioner, mobs desecrated and burnt the Pakistan Flag, and a hand bomb was thrown.
At Khulna, the Telephone Exchange was attacked and a number of employees were brutally done to death.
In Dacca, cases of looting were reported from Dhanmandi and Nawabpur Road. One firearms shop was raided and arms taken away.
5 March, 1971
Cases of stabbing and of burning of houses continued in Chittagong.
In the Khalispur and Daulatpur areas of Khulna, hand bombs, daos (sickles) and spears were used to kill 57 persons. Their dead bodies were later found mutilated. In Khulna town, mobs armed with lathis and shot-guns looted four shops and set fire to a hotel.
Reports from other areas in the interior of the province indicated that widespread violence had erupted and civil administration throughout the province had been paralysed. Telecommunications between East and West Pakistan remained suspended. East Pakistan was also cut off from the outside world as Telephone and Telegraph employees stopped sending and receiving messages on the orders of the Awami
League.
6 March, 1971
On the night of 5-6 March, 1971, students of Salimullah Muslim Hall entered the British Council premises in Dacca, spread kerosene oil, and attempted to set it on fire, but troops arrived in time and opened fire.
In a jail-break at the Central Prison in Dacca, 341 prisoners escaped. Police opened fire, killing seven prisoners. One police sergeant and 6 warders were wounded. Later, the escaping prisoners, abetted by militant Awami League and student groups, paraded the streets of Dacca, shouting threatening slogans.
Elements of Awami League and the East Pakistan Students' League started looting science laboratories for procuring acids and chemicals. The Government Science Laboratory Dacca was robbed of all explosive chemicals. The Polytechnic Institute was also attacked for the same purpose but the hooligans dispersed when fired upon.
Similar reports were also received from all major towns of East Pakistan, including Comilla and Jessore where several cases of bomb explosions occurred. In Jessore, 10 rifles and 15 bayonets of Rajendra College University Offices Training Corps were
stolen.
In Chittagong, loot and arson continued. Two houses and a number of huts were gutted. Sniping cases occurred at several places.
In-Rajshahi, the office of the City Magistrate was set on fire.
In Khulna, violent processionists, shouting racial and antistate slogans,
attempted to loot arms shops. The owners opened fire, killing one and injuring seven persons.
7 March, 1971
Meanwhile in Dacca, explosives were thrown inside the Radio Pakistan building. From various areas of the town, reports were received of Awami League student groups forcibly taking away jeeps·, ·pick-ups and microbuses.
8 March, 1971
In Dacca, weapons and ammunition were collected forcibly from license holders by Awami League volunteers. Similar reports were received from other towns of East Pakistan.
The Awami League organised meetings and violent processions shouting racial and anti-Pakistan slogans throughout the province.
9 March, 1971
Awami League volunteers and student groups set up "checkposts" in various parts of Dacca "to stop the flight of wealth from BangIa Desh". Under the pretext of "checking ", money and belongings of those searched" by these volunteers were seized in the name of "BangIa Desh ".
In Rangpur, a violent mob in Lalmonirhat stopped and damaged a train, harassing and molesting some of the passengers on racial and political grounds. Awami Leaguers also attacked residents of a number of localities in the town.
In a despatch from its correspondent, Kenneth Clarke, London "Daily Telegraph" (9 March 1971) said: " Reports said that Dacca collapsed into complete lawlessness on Sunday night (7 March, 1971) as Sheikh Mujib took the province to the edge of
secession". The paper added: Terming his movement one of independence the Sheikh,
leader of the Awami League, laid down conditions for cooperating in National Assembly which cannot be met by President Khan. The paper also noted Sheikh Mujib's directive that "liberation committees be formed under Awami League leaders in all villages ".
12 March, 1971
On the night of 11-12 March, there was a jail-break in Barisal, and several prisoners escaped. A jail-break was also reported from Bogra, where seven prisoners escaped. In Comilla, 300 prisoners attempted to escape, police opened fire, killing two and injuring
18 prisoners. "Liberation Fronts" and para-military organisations started mushrooming across the province. More and more cyclostyled and hand-written leaflets on behalf of these Liberation Fronts were clandestinely circulated, aimed at inciting racial hatred and violence.
A convoy of five Army trucks, while proceeding to Comilla from Sylhet for drawing rations, was obstructed en route at Brahmanbaria by armed mobs.
13 March, 1971
In Dacca, passengers at the railway station were 'gheraoed ' (surrounded) by Awami League volunteers for" interrogation" on charges of being "dalals' " (pimps) of West Pakistan.
In a Government office near Kakrail (Dacca) two bottles of acid were thrown, causing
fire.
15 March, 1971
In a joint statement, four members· of the "Swadhin BangIa Desh Kendria Chhatra Sangram Parishad (Free Bengal Central Students' Revolutionary Council) admitted that "some armed miscreants using vehicles were still raiding different houses and collecting money forcibly in the name of Sangram Parishad ".
Meanwhile reports kept pouring in from several areas that on racial and political grounds people were being subjected to brutal treatment as part of the "search" operation at various Awami League checkposts in Dacca.
In Comilla, armed mobs 'gheraoed' (surrounded) and attacked an Army field unit at Feni.
16 March, 1971
In Rangpur, chemicals and acids were stolen from Mahraj High School, Natore. In Chittagong, a firearms shop was looted by Awami League volunteers. A report from Dacca in the "Guardian", London (16 March 1971) by correspondent Martin Adeney, described the meeting of one of the Awami League action committees: "They were discussing, like similar action committees set up throughout this province, their next step in what they already regard as independent
East Bengal − BangIa Desh. Out of 58 villages, they have about three hundred of them formed into an action committee ready to resist the army if need be and already being trained by a villager whose claim to expertise in service was as a lance corporal in the
Royal Indian Army Service Corps.
17 March, 1971
On the night of 16-17 March, two acid bottles were thrown at a Government office in Azimpura, Dacca.
In Jessore, the power house was damaged and power supply interrupted. The Jessore-Khulna road was blocked at various points.
About 300 survivors of the 5 March, killings in Khulna were threatened with fresh attacks.
In Rangpur, students burnt 12 houses in village Lalibari, police station Kaliganj, district Dinajpur.
18 March, 1971
In Dacca, the Central Government High School, Motijheel, was raided and acids and chemicals were taken away.
In Jessore, two acid- bottles were thrown at Army personnel in a camp.
19 March, 1971
In Dacca, an Army vehicle returning from Mymensingh was ambushed by a crowd at a level crossing. Six occupants, along with their weapons were taken away by the attackers.
In Joydevpur town, 22 miles from Dacca, curfew was imposed: following exchange fire between the armed mob and Army personnel when barricades were put up by placing a tram on the level crossing in Joydevpur Bazar. The troops tried to push the train aside to make their way but they were fired upon by the crowd. Three soldiers
were seriously wounded. The troops returned the fire, killing two persons and injuring another five. At the Joydevpur roundabout, the troops were again fired upon by a violent crowd. The soldiers returned the fire, killing one person. Half a dozen more barricades
were put up on the Dacca-Mymensingh highway.
20-21 March, 1971
In Jessore, large-scale smuggling of Indian arms was reported from India via Satkhira. Movement of smuggled arms and ammunition from Chittagong to Comilla was also reported.
24 March, 1971
Militant student and labour groups began circulating handwritten and cyclostyled posters in various parts of the province inciting people to violence. One of these, issued by the Zilla (District) Committee of Purbo BangIa Sramik Andolan (East Bengal Labour
Movement) read as follows: −
"The National Liberation Movement of East Bengal is on. Spread this wild fire to every place. Patriotic and revolutionary people, take up arms. Resist and liquidate the enemy troops. Defend the freed areas through armed resistance.
"People, get armed with the available weapons to stop the inroads of the enemy, cut off the roads, bridges, rail links etc. in those areas which are not in their control. Keep ready hand bombs and molotov cocktails in every house. If we have to surrender or we are directly attacked by the enemy, we will have to resort to a bloody war of resistance.
"Please keep in mind that the national liberation of East Bengal is only possible through armed struggle which will be of long duration. Hence, without guerilla war tactics, we shall not be able to resist the enemy. Be ready to protect the freed areas at any price. The long struggle of liberation of East Bengal is not at its, end. It is just the beginning: To weaken us, the enemy may impose economic blockade. The victory of East Bengal is inevitable. We have torn off
the shackles of Pakistani colonialism. Independent East Bengal-Zindabad"
In Rangpur incidents of arson were reported from Golahat, North Saidpur. A violent mob of 8,000 persons armed with lathis and lethal weapons converged on Saidpur to attack the residents there. Fifty homes were set on fire.
25 March, 1971
Acid bombs were reported under preparation on a large scale in Engineering College, and Iqbal and Jagannath Hans, Dacca. Barricades and road-blocks appeared allover the city of Dacca.
A report from Paul Martin in the London "Times" of 25 March, 1971, said:
"In theground of Dacca University, radical groups have started training students in the use of firearms. In many of the villages of East Pakistan brigades of 'volunteers' have been established as the basis of a people's militia whose future task is to 'confront the
Pakistan Army. Already petrol bombs and other hand-made bombs manufactured from chemicals stolen from laboratories in the past few weeks have made their first appearance in the eastern capital, Dacca".
In Saidpur, four violent mobs armed with rifles, shot-guns, and daggers, who had come from neighbouring villages, converged on Saidpur town and attacked Golahat, an adjacent locality, killing three persons and injuring 17. Among the wounded, two had sustained bullet injuries while another seven were hurt from shotgun fire. The remaining persons were injured by lath is and clubs. 50 houses were also burnt. The troops had to open fire and three persons were injured. Later, another violent mob attacked Saidpur Cantonment. They fired at troops with shot-guns. The soldiers had to open fire injuring five persons.
Yet another mob attacked a postal service van on Saidpur − Dinajpur Road. They dragged out the conductor and the driver. The conductor was beaten to death on the spot while the driver was seriously wounded.
... To that end, arms shops were looted at Dacca, Narayanganj, Khulna and Jessore and stocks piled up in all big towns for the use of mutineers. At Dacca Police Station headquarters alone there was a stock of 15,000 fully loaded rifles. The various outposts of EPR and EBR were connected by wireless transmitters and instructions were quickly passed from one unit to another. The biggest operational
headquarters was located at the East Bengal Regimental Centre in Chittagong.
The operational plan was worked out in meticulous detail: it was arranged that on a signal from the Awami League headquarters in Dacca, the armed uprising would begin. It was arranged that
(a) ERR troops would occupy Dacca and Chittagong, to prevent the landing of Pakistan Army by air or sea;
(b) the remaining EBR troops with the help of EPR, Police and armed Razakars would move to eliminate the Armed Forces· at various cantonments and stations;
(c) EPR would occupy all the key posts of the border and keep it open for aid from outside;
(d) requirements of further arms and ammunition would be met from India; and
(e) Indian troops would come to the assistance of the Awami League rebel force once the latter succeeded in the first phase of occupying key centres and paralysing the Pakistan Army.
Early hours of Friday morning were fixed as the zero hour for the armed uprising.
The Pakistan Army units, largely deployed along the borders with India, set out to suppress the rebellion and drive out the Indian Infiltrators over the next few weeks. During this period, in the areas which came temporarily under the control of the rebels and Indian infiltrators, the Awami League reign of terror, unleashed from 1 March, 1971, onwards claimed the lives of more than a hundred thousand men, women and children., besides incalculable damage to public and private buildings, transport and communications an industrial establishments etc.
The mass killings by the Awami League cadres and EBR / EPR rebels assumed the character of genocide. The victims were those who refused to conform to the designs of the Awami League secessionists. Unmentionable brutalities were committed.
In one area of Santahar, in Bogra district, more than 15,000 persons were surrounded and systematically murdered. Women were paraded naked in the streets and mothers were made to drink the blood of their own children. In Chittagong, over 10,000 persons
were killed including 250 women and children in one small locality who were bayoneted to death. In Serajganj, near Pabna, 350 women and children were locked in a hall which was set on fire, and the inmates were roasted to death. In Mymensingh, an entire
colony of 2,000 families was exterminated in Sankipara area, the men being taken out of their houses and shot, while women were made to dig their graves before themselves being raped and in most cases killed. Some of these atrocities have also been reported
in the foreign press, extracts from which are reproduced below:
"The millions of non-Bengali Muslims now trapped in the Eastern Wing have always felt the repercussions of the East-West tensions, and it is now feared that the Bengalis have turned on this vast minority community to take their revenge".
"Statesman", New Delhi, 4 April, 1971.
"Thousands of helpless Muslim refugees who settled in Bengal at the time of partition are reported to have been massacred by angry Bengalis in East Pakistan during the past week.
"The facts about the massacres were confirmed by Bihari Muslim refugees who crossed the border into India this week, and by a young British technician who crossed the Indo-Pakistan frontier at Hili today".
"The Times", London, 6 April, 1971.
"Passengers on a British ship which docked in Calcutta yesterday told of mass executions, burning and looting in the East Pakistan port of Chittagong.
"Leon Lumsden, an American engineer on a U.S. aid project, said that for two weeks before the Army moved last week, Chittagong's predominantly Bengali population had been butchering West Pakistanis in the port.
"Northern Echo ", Darlington, Durham, 7 April, 1971.
"When the EPR (East Pakistan Rifles) mutinied, their first reaction was to wipe out the non-Bengalis in their own ranks.
"Some 40 percent of the 10,000 to 15,000 strong EPR consisted of West Pakistanis, including most of the officers.
"One cart-load of bodies was dumped by EPR men one night across the border near the Indian checkpoint town of Haridaspur ".
"Far Eastern Economic Review", Hong Kong, 24 April, 1971.
The impression, based on the testimony of hundred of witnesses, is that when it seemed that the Awami League was about to come to power, Bengalis in some communities looted and burned Bihari houses and slaughtered their occupants".
"New York Times", New York, 10 May, 1971.
(Malcolm Browne).
"The European manager of a local bank said: It was fortunate for every European living here that the Army arrived when it did; otherwise, I would not have lived to tell the tale.
"New York Times", New York, 11 May, 1971.
. (Malcolm Browne).
"There is evidence that non-Bengalis, largely immigrants from India who sought refuge after the 1947 partition, were attacked, hacked to death and burnt in their homes by mobs.
Eye witnesses told stories of 1,500 widows and orphans fleeing to a mosque at Mymensingh, in the north, as armed men identified as secessionists slaughtered their husbands and fathers ".
"Ceylon Daily News", Colombo, 15 May, 1971.
(Maurice Quaintance).
That 'thing' has in fact covered your questions in the first paragraph or so, and the fact that it focuses largely on the actions of the Pakistani officials and military, very critically, lends credence to the report.
Sorry, but I have read enough comments of a former Bengali IA Brigadier (used to post on this forum) on other fora, along with the comments of many other so called 'Bengalis', about 'West' Pakistanis, specifically Punjabis, to ignore the racially motivated derogatory comments. I am not suggesting that all Bengalis think this way, but this attitude, of superiority and denigrating Punjabis specifically, is one that I have primarily observed amongst Indian Bengalis.
There is enough evidence to suggest that atrocities against non-Bengalis started before the Army action, and even ignoring that, within days of the Army action.
In any case, as I pointed out in my last post, this is tangential to the point I have been making of Indian double speak, arguing 'support for a freedom movement' in the case of supporting rebels in East Pakistan, while whining about terrorism when the same occurs in disputed J&K.
