Altruist
Minister (2k+ posts)
Since when it is a treacherous act to talk about our mistakes and why when someone who points them out called a traitor?
If it is a treacherous act then first dig out those who complied the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report and punish them.
For the young generation, it is imperative to understand what went wrong in the 1971 war and for that, the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report is a start. All college students should be encouraged to read it, and it must be part of the curriculum of the military graduates so that they all know the reasons why we lost half the country.
From the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, Pakistan was created as a unified Muslim nation with a bizarrely divided geography: dominant West Pakistan (now simply Pakistan) was separated from downtrodden East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by a thousand miles of hostile India. Pakistanis joked that their bifurcated country was united by Islam and Pakistan International Airlines. This strange arrangement held until 1970, when Bengali nationalists in East Pakistan triumphed in nationwide elections. The ruling military government, based in West Pakistan, feared losing its grip.
So on March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Army launched a devastating crackdown on the rebellious Bengalis in the east. Midway through the bloodshed, both the C.I.A. and the State Department conservatively estimated that about 200,000 people had died (the Bangladeshi government figure is much higher, at three million). As many as 10 million Bengali refugees fled across the border into India, where they died in droves in wretched refugee camps.
"The emotions that drove these young officers to contemplate such a drastic step, involving grave risks, and then to stoically suffer such harsh consequences, were poignantly expressed by Major Saeed Akhtar Malik in his address to the Attock court martial trying him for his life. He said: 'When the war became imminent, I took leave from the PMA and joined my unit, ... thanks to the CO who requisitioned my services. The next day the war started. But instead of glory I found only disillusionment. The truth was that we were a defeated army even before a shot was fired. This was a very bitter truth. With each corpse that I saw, my revulsion increased for the men who had signed the death warrants of so many very fine men. Yes, fine men, but poor soldiers, who were never given the chance to fight back, because they were not trained to fight back. When they should have been training for war, they were performing the role of labourers, farmers or herdsmen, anything but the role of soldiers. This was not 'shahadat'. This was cold-blooded murder. Who was responsible for this? I was responsible ! But more than me were responsible. What were some of these men, these callous, inhuman degenerates, doing when their only job was to prepare the army for war? Were these men not grabbing lands and building houses? Did it not appear in foreign magazines that some of them were pimping for their bloated grandmaster? Yes, generals, wearing that uniform (he pointed at the court's president) pimping and whoremongering!' "
www.nytimes.com
If it is a treacherous act then first dig out those who complied the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report and punish them.
For the young generation, it is imperative to understand what went wrong in the 1971 war and for that, the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report is a start. All college students should be encouraged to read it, and it must be part of the curriculum of the military graduates so that they all know the reasons why we lost half the country.
From the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, Pakistan was created as a unified Muslim nation with a bizarrely divided geography: dominant West Pakistan (now simply Pakistan) was separated from downtrodden East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by a thousand miles of hostile India. Pakistanis joked that their bifurcated country was united by Islam and Pakistan International Airlines. This strange arrangement held until 1970, when Bengali nationalists in East Pakistan triumphed in nationwide elections. The ruling military government, based in West Pakistan, feared losing its grip.
So on March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Army launched a devastating crackdown on the rebellious Bengalis in the east. Midway through the bloodshed, both the C.I.A. and the State Department conservatively estimated that about 200,000 people had died (the Bangladeshi government figure is much higher, at three million). As many as 10 million Bengali refugees fled across the border into India, where they died in droves in wretched refugee camps.
Nixon and Kissinger's Forgotten Shame
"The emotions that drove these young officers to contemplate such a drastic step, involving grave risks, and then to stoically suffer such harsh consequences, were poignantly expressed by Major Saeed Akhtar Malik in his address to the Attock court martial trying him for his life. He said: 'When the war became imminent, I took leave from the PMA and joined my unit, ... thanks to the CO who requisitioned my services. The next day the war started. But instead of glory I found only disillusionment. The truth was that we were a defeated army even before a shot was fired. This was a very bitter truth. With each corpse that I saw, my revulsion increased for the men who had signed the death warrants of so many very fine men. Yes, fine men, but poor soldiers, who were never given the chance to fight back, because they were not trained to fight back. When they should have been training for war, they were performing the role of labourers, farmers or herdsmen, anything but the role of soldiers. This was not 'shahadat'. This was cold-blooded murder. Who was responsible for this? I was responsible ! But more than me were responsible. What were some of these men, these callous, inhuman degenerates, doing when their only job was to prepare the army for war? Were these men not grabbing lands and building houses? Did it not appear in foreign magazines that some of them were pimping for their bloated grandmaster? Yes, generals, wearing that uniform (he pointed at the court's president) pimping and whoremongering!' "
Ardeshir Cowasjee
Opinion | Nixon and Kissinger’s Forgotten Shame (Published 2013)
They aided a regime as it killed thousands of Bangladeshis.
Gen Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan - 4
THIS newspaper of record did us a great service by publishing the full text of the 1974 Supplementary Report of the...
www.dawn.com
Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report:
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