Despite being outnumbered in both men and material, Pakistan Army and its valiant soldiers fought with zeal till the end. The gross myths against the Army not only negatively overshadow the sacrifices of our soldiers, but also blur the massacres carried out by the Mukti Bahini that was supported by India.
Pakistan was born with its heart split into two with almost 1,600 kilometers of hostile territory in between. After more than one hundred years of British East India Company’s rule and an additional 90 years of the British Raj, the subcontinent had finally achieved independence. What should have been a crowning achievement after years of anti-colonial struggle was marred by unimaginable violence, bloodshed, and economic, political, and social challenges.
One could blame the injudiciously drawn borders, which were created by a British lawyer, Sir Cyril Radcliffe who lacked the basic knowledge of the subcontinent and was given only five weeks to redraw the borders of South Asia. One could blame the increasingly hostile rhetoric that accompanied the rise of Hindu and Muslim nationalism or the divide-and-rule policies of the British. The denouement was a country in uncertain waters, wrought with unsurmountable challenges.
Conditions got worse in East Pakistan as compared to West Pakistan, and this was the beginning of what became Bangladesh. There is no doubt that mistakes were made, but the prolonged silence from Pakistan after the independence of Bangladesh gave room to biased narratives and distorted facts to maneuver to a point that the lines between fact and fiction became blurred. This piece is therefore an attempt to invalidate the myths with facts and clear the air.
Myth 1: No Development was Carried Out in East Pakistan
Prior to the independence, East Bengal was struggling and was thus significantly underdeveloped compared to West Bengal. East Bengal was the poorest part of the province of Bengal in the undivided subcontinent. It had the lowest percentage of urbanization, industrialization, literacy, electrical power capacity and per capita income at the time of independence. Kamal Matinuddin has mentioned in his book,
Tragedy of Errors that out of a total of 1414 factories in undivided Bengal, only 314 were in East Bengal at the time of partition and those were owned by the Tatas, Birlas, and Dalmias, all Hindu industrialists who closed their businesses when Pakistan came into being.
There were no jute mills, and raw jute was exported to India for value addition. The jute industry was developed through the investment by West Pakistan. By the 1950s, East Bengal broke the jute production monopoly and became its largest producer. The Adamjee Jute Mills was the largest jute processing plant and its location in Narayanganj was nicknamed the Dundee of the East. East Pakistanis were employed in large numbers, with Crescent, Isphani, and Adamjee Jute Mills collectively employing 26,000 workers.
After partition, investments were encouraged by the Government through Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), Pakistan Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation (PICIC), and Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP) in East Pakistan. The Ispahani family, the Africawala brothers and the Adamjee family were pioneers of industrialization in the region. Many of modern Bangladesh’s leading companies were born in the East Pakistan period.
During President Ayub’s industrialization period, the development of Chittagong Port, Chandraghona Paper Mills, and construction of railway, road, airline and river networks, took place with the help of the central government.
Myth 2: West Pakistan Imposed Urdu as the National Language
When Pakistan was made independent, each of its regions, namely Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, North West Frontier Province (NWFP, now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, KP), Bengal and others spoke a different language. Urdu had been the lingua franca of the Muslims of subcontinent, the language that united the people with a common concern and had played a vital role in invigorating Pakistan Movement. Quaid-i-Azam had declared that it should be the only official language–a language that was understood throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan.
Establishing Urdu as the national language did not, at all, mean that regional languages would cease to exist or flourish. However, the federal government addressed the grievances of East Pakistan by adding Bengali along with Urdu as the national language of Pakistan. The amendment remained intact in the 1956 and 1962 constitutions of Pakistan.
Myth 3: Bengalis were Discriminated Against in the Civil Services
It’s a common myth that Bengalis were not given their due representation in the civil services; however, facts portray a different picture altogether. Afrasiab Mehdi writes in his book,
1971 Fact and Fiction that in 1947, there was only one officer in the civil service from East Pakistan. In 1965, 34% were Bengalis and by 1969, the figure was 40.9%. In 1966, 60% of all seats were reserved for East Pakistan. And when the fall of Dhaka took place in 1971, Bengali representation had reached 196 in the civil services.
Myth 4: Operation Searchlight (March 25, 1971) was Launched against Innocent Civilians
Amidst ongoing political strife following the 1979 elections, President Yahya Khan announced the postponement of the National Assembly session. Dr. Junaid writes in his book,
Creation of Bangladesh: Myths Exploded that the disgruntled Awami Leaguers took to the roads. There was killing, burning, looting, ambushing, brick-batting, and molestation of non-Bengalis by the militants of Awami League. Thousands of people lost their lives and the national flag was desecrated every day. Jailbreaks occurred regularly which made Operation Searchlight a necessity rather than a choice. Contrary to the false statements, Operation Searchlight was launched to control the lawlessness and bring the civil breakdown under control after unrest grew violent in nature.
Myth 5: Genocide of three Million Bengalis
The nonsensical figure of ‘three million genocide’ first appeared in an editorial of the Soviet Communist Party’s newspaper,
Pravda. The same newspaper, days before publishing the figure, had asked in an editorial, “how many people of Bangladesh have been killed?” before coming up with the fictitious number. Syed Karim, Bangladesh’s first Foreign Secretary, who authored
Sheikh Mujib: Triumph and Tragedy, the definitive biography on the life of Sheikh Mujib, writes, “As for the number of Bengalis killed in the course of the liberation war, the figure of 3 million mentioned by Mujib to David Frost in January 1972, was a gross overstatement.
This figure was picked up by him from an article in
Pravda.”
Serajur Rahman, a British journalist of Bengali Muslim descent, in a letter titled, Mujib’s Confusion on Bangladeshi Deaths to
The Guardian in 2011, wrote, “On 8 January 1972, I was the first Bangladeshi to meet independence leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after his release from Pakistan... I explained that no accurate figure of the casualties was available but our estimate, based on information from various sources, was that up to three lakh (300,000) died in the conflict. To my surprise and horror, he told David Frost later that ‘three million of my people’ were killed by the Pakistanis. Whether he mistranslated ‘lakh’ as ‘million’ or his confused state of mind was responsible, I don't know, but many Bangladeshis still believe a figure of three million is unrealistic and incredible.”
M. Abdul Mu'min Chowdhury, a native of Sylhet and a Bengali nationalist who was a teacher at Dhaka University, explains in his book,
Behind the Myth of Three Million, that after the fall of Dhaka, Sheikh Mujib formally instituted a 12-member inquiry committee to prove the validity of his claims. However, the draft report came with a casualty figure of 56,743, which included the mass killings.
Sarmila Bose in her book,
Dead Reckoning writes that the claim of three million dead has been used widely by journalists and academia without any verification. They have failed to provide a single reference.
Richard Sisson and Leo Rose carried out detailed research on the birth of Bangladesh in their book,
War and Secession: Pakistan, India, and the Creation of Bangladesh. The authors interviewed two Indian officials who had held responsible positions on the issue of Bangladesh in 1971. When questioned about the actual number of deaths in Bangladesh in 1971 attributable to the civil war, one replied “about 300,000.” Then, when he received a disapproving glance from his colleague, he changed it to “300,000 to 500,000...”
Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, Commander in Chief of the Eastern Command of Indian Army, during the 1971 War rejected the three million figure. He said that Mujib’s figure was ‘absolutely impossible’ because Pakistan Army had ‘simultaneously fought within the country and at the borders.’
Renowned researchers have proved that 3 million was an impossible number in the time and geographic span. Most scholars and analysts conclude that the number of deaths in 1971 was between 50,000 and 100,000 people and that includes the mass killings of Biharis and West Pakistanis.
Myth 6: Pakistan Army was Responsible for all the Violence
Mukti Bahini were the main perpetrators of heinous crimes. By late 1970, Mukti Bahini, armed and trained by India, had begun undertaking subversive activities targeting power plants, railways, industries, bridges, fuel depots, looting banks, raiding warehouses, mining ships and killing non-Bengalis.
There are petrifying accounts of loot, arson, rape, massacre, and whole colonies burnt to ashes with inmates locked inside and burnt alive. The entire violence was targeted towards non-Bengalis, particularly Biharis, and more than 2000 were massacred. Non-Bengalis were taken to buildings to be burnt alive in thousands and guillotined in jute mills, turning the river waters red, choked with gruesome human corpses.
American Professor, Rudolph Rummel estimates that 150,000 Biharis were massacred by the vengeful victors of Mukti Bahini in a brutal bloodletting in 1971.
Hundreds of West Pakistanis, including Army officers, were massacred in Mymensingh Cantonment. Personnel from East Pakistan Rifles and East Bengal Regiment revolted and killed their West Pakistani colleagues, including the officers. Bengali locals had surrounded the cantonment, and those West Pakistanis who were trying to escape were killed by the mob.
Myth 7: 93,000 Pakistani Soldiers Surrendered
Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi revealed the fighting strength of the Pakistan Army in his book,
The Betrayal of East Pakistan. The actual fighting strength was 45,000 which includes 34,000 infantry troops along with 11,000 police, rangers, scouts and militia. The number of 93,000 was conjured up by Indians by including children, women, civilian administration officials and staff; non-combatant army personnel–nurses, doctors, barbers, cooks and shoemakers.
Myth 8: Indian Intervention was on Humanitarian Grounds, Unplanned, and Spontaneous
Contrary to the popular narrative, India's intervention was not on humanitarian grounds, but planned and strategic. These plans were made with the consent of Awami League leadership in an infamous meeting known as Agartala Conspiracy. The Awami League leadership and Mukti Bahini were mere pawns in India's grand plan to exploit the strained relations between the two regions of Pakistan.
As mentioned in the book,
Creation of Bangladesh: Myths Exploded, from interviews of General Manekshaw, he was ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to attack Pakistan, but in March, Indian Army was not prepared to fight and needed six months to prepare for an attack. However, in the meantime, they were preparing, training and funding Mukti's militia.
During 1971, even before the direct military intervention, Mukti Bahini was provided military, logistic and economic support by India. After the war, despite several requests from the newly-formed Bangladeshi government, the Indian military establishment was delaying its troops’ withdrawal from the newly-created country. This caused serious bitterness between India and Bangladesh that later led to the killing of Mujibur Rahman by a Bangladeshi Army personnel, who considered Mujib an Indian puppet.
Indian Air Force had five operational airfields around East Pakistan along with eleven fighter squadrons while Pakistan Air Force had only one. In Nagaland, the Indian Armed Forces established a jungle airstrip for Mukti Bahini from where Indian Air Force-trained pilots conducted sorties by Otter DHC-3 aircraft. India's Eastern Command trained more than 400 naval commandos and frogmen to drown vessels in Chittagong, Chandpur and Narayanganj.
Myth 9: Creation of Bangladesh is the Negation of Two-Nation Theory
The creation of Bangladesh did not happen on religious lines, it happened due to political differences, fueled by bad decisions, regional politics, and mistrust. Moreover, the negation of the Two-Nation Theory would mean that after seceding from Pakistan, Bangladesh would merge into India, which it did not.
The importance of the Two-Nation Theory is further strengthened by the growing persecution of Muslims and other minorities in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, inspired by RSS and the Hindutva ideology, has successfully proven the validity of Two-Nation Theory. The words of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah accurately describe the current situation in India, “The Hindu Mahasabha wants to treat Muslims like Jews in Germany”. (Jamiluddin Ahmad, ‘Some Recent Speeches’).
Myth 10: Pakistan Army didn’t Fight Valiantly
The Pakistani soldiers were unprepared when it came to the battle with the trained Awami League members. In March, after the failure of political settlements, the Army took action to prevent a civil war situation. This proved to be counterproductive and given the situation, Pakistan had yet to fight a stronger enemy. Eventually, the Pakistan Army surrendered as it was fighting on two fronts. Pakistan Army in East Pakistan fought to keep the peace but had no choice as they were thousands of miles away from the base.
The Battle of Hilli was one such battle fought between Pakistani and Indian forces over 25 days in 1971. Outnumbered in men and material, Pakistani troops fought a heroic battle and the battle has been adopted by many foreign institutions for teaching war strategy.
During the East Pakistan War of 1971, the 4th FF Regiment, which at that time was commanded by then Colonel Muhammad Mumtaz Malik, was deployed in the forward areas of Hilli municipality. The regiment came under continuous and heavy air, artillery and armour attacks from the Indian Army. Despite enemy superiority in both numbers and firepower, C Company under the command of Major Muhammad Akram displayed prodigious feats of valour and inflicted heavy casualties on the adversary. Major Akram himself destroyed three Indian tanks with a 40 mm rocket launcher. His last words were “Hold out till last”. He embraced martyrdom and was posthumously awarded Nishan-e-Haider (NH).
In the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Pakistan Army launched an offensive on the Western front against the enemy. Major Shabir Sharif, as commander of a company of the 6 Frontier Force Regiment, was ordered to capture high ground overlooking Grumukhi Khera and Beri, a village in the Sulemanki Sector. On December 3, 1971, in a well-organized action, he fought alongside his men and kept Indian attacks at bay. He cleared Jhangar Post by passing through the minefield laid by the enemy and swimming across a water obstacle, the Sabuna distributary, whilst under intense enemy fire and led his company to capture the objective. Remembered as
‘Fateh Saboona’, Major Sharif was Pakistan Army’s most decorated soldier who received both Nishan-e-Haider and Sitara-e-Jurat for his bravery. Colonel Satish Pal of Indian army paid tribute to Major Shabir Sharif in the words, “Politics apart, he was a fine soldier”.
On December 10, 1971, Sawar Muhammad Hussain (NH), took part in a dangerous mission and went out for reconnaissance and to fight enemy patrols. During reconnaissance, he spotted an enemy tank and directed a recoilless rifle crew towards the tank and then later destroyed 16 enemy tanks. He was hit in the chest by a burst of machine-gun fire while exposing himself as he was directing fire from recoilless rifles and was martyred.
On December 18, 1971, during the attack on the enemy at Pul Kanjri Post, his company was pinned down by the enemy fire and his machine-gun was destroyed by an Indian shell. The company of the 43 Punjab Regiment under the command of Major Subha Sadiq, who also embraced martyrdom in the same action, came for support and fought hard until the capture of the strategic town of Pul Kanjri. Even though Lance Naik Muhammad Mahfuz
Shaheed (NH) was wounded in his legs by a shrapnel, he still moved towards an enemy bunker.
To this day, people do not realise the valiant efforts of Pakistan Army to keep the citizens of East Pakistan safe, but the tag of “surrender” shook the nation and overshadowed the battle victories. The heroism and dedication with which Pakistan fought Indian terrorism in 1971 is commendable.
Pakistan’s Stance on 1971 Saga
Pakistan and the Pakistanis of today fully recognize that in 1947, the nation was created with a unique state structure and recognize the historic role played by Bengali East Pakistanis in the long struggle against British colonialism culminating in its independence in 1947.
Looking at the history, Pakistan acknowledges that East and West Pakistan jointly ensured the survival of the new state against formidable odds in the first 24 years. Certain catastrophic errors were committed which were exploited by the inimical forces averse to a united Pakistan, which resulted in both regions suffering grave losses in terms of life, livelihood, and material.
This December marks the 51st anniversary of the fall of Dhaka and it’s important that we lay the past to rest and move forward towards a brighter future for both countries. Today, Pakistan accepts Bangladesh as an independent nation and respects the people and state of Bangladesh and is dedicated to forging friendly relations for a shared, prosperous future. In the dawning era of geoeconomics and economic integration, animosity of any kind does not benefit either country and only allows others to prosper at the cost of the two nations.
Hum ke thehray ajnabi itni madaraton ke baad,
Phir banein ge aashnaa kitni mulaqaaton ke baad.
After so much cordiality, we are once again strangers;
After how many meetings will we again be friends?
The writer is PhD scholar of Peace and Conflict Studies at CIPS, NUST, Islamabad.
Despite being outnumbered in both men and material, Pakistan Army and its valiant soldiers fought gallantly till the end. The gross myths against the Army not only overshadowed the sacrifices of our soldiers but also blur the massacres carried out by the Mukti Bahini, which acted as a veritable...
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