Canada continues refusal to deport Mujib’s assassin

SALEEM SAMAD

AS The nation celebrates the 104th birth anniversary of the architect of Bangladesh's independence Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh laments that Canada, among the country’s foreign friends, is unfortunately dilly-dallying to extradite the assassin of Bangabandhu, who is the architect of Bangladesh's independence.

Months back, a fresh diplomatic rift ensued between Canada and India over Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian-Indian and leader of an outlawed Khalistan killed by unknown assailants at a Sikh temple in Surrey in the province of British Columbia in mid-June has dominated news headlines.

Four months after the assassination of the Khalistan nationalist leader, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suddenly stood up the House of Commons at Parliament Hill and told lawmakers in Ottawa that his government possessed “credible” allegations which pointed fingers toward Indian intelligence potential link to the assassination.

Canada allows hate speech by radical Sikhs in the name of freedom of speech and expression, which is not only a double standard but a hypocritical government.

Canada’s allies are still quiet! Trudeau expects condemnation from the West while asking India to cooperate on the murder of confessed extremists for an independent Khalistan.

The anti-Indian terror campaign for a separate territory for the Sikhs has been aided and abetted by the dreaded Pakistan spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).

Well, his government has yet to share evidence blaming India behind Nirjhar’s death, who was chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and is unlikely to get ‘cooperation’ from New Delhi.

Ottawa has refused to extradite a couple of “most-wanted” Sikhs for crimes committed in India and elsewhere.

An Indian born Ashok Swain @ashoswai, Professor at Uppsala University, Sweden tweets: “Modi has made Canada, India's new Pakistan!”

Pierre Trudeau (father of Justin Trudeau) turned down India’s request to hand over a Sikh militant named Talwinder Singh Parmar, the head of the terrorist organisation.

The ‘person of interest’ has been blamed for placing a bomb on an Air India flight in 1985. The bomb exploded midair, killing 329 people, 268 of them Canadian citizens.

Millions of immigrants who adopted Canada as their new home, do not know that Canada is a haven for Nazi war criminals and other wanted criminals living with impunity.

The politicians and former officials of their home countries have been laundering money accumulated from loot, corruption and illegal cartels with a “no question asked policy” of Canada for new arrivals.

Nearly a thousand suspects indicted for war crimes, according to the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals by Justice Jules Deschênes (1985-1986) are believed to be living in Canada.

The Royal Commission was able to establish that identified Nazi war criminals, for crimes committed in Germany and marauding Nazi occupation forces during World War II were given permanent residency. The Nazi war criminals brought huge wealth looted from Europe and especially from Jews.

The book ‘Unauthorised Entry: The Truth about Nazi War Criminals in Canada, 1946-1956’ by Howard Margolian published in 2000 brings fresh waves among Canadians about what the war crimes advocacy groups, the media, and even a royal commission have suggested that Canada has given refuge to such criminals.

On the recommendation of the Commission, Canada enacted the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, 2000. Under the new legislation, one Rwandan immigrant was found guilty of committing genocide and sentenced to life in prison in May 2009.

The Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Programme investigated 200 war crimes suspects is currently residing in Canada.

Notwithstanding India’s repeated requests over the years to extradite the “most wanted” extremists, who have harmed India, Canada decided not to comply, or give any explanation.

On the other hand, Bangladesh made repeated requests in more than 20 years to deport the ‘most wanted’ army officer S.H.M.B. Nur Chowdhury, held responsible for the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the independence hero of Bangladesh in a military putsch on 15 August 1975. The 73-year-old fugitive has been living in Canada since 1996.

“That’s why he is safe in Canada,” writes Charlie Gillis, a Canadian journalist, “The assassin among us.”

Nur told a state broadcaster Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) denying the allegation of taking part in the murder of Bangabandhu and said as a junior military officer he obeyed orders of his superiors.

Sheikh Mujib’s daughter, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina pleaded with her counterpart Justin Trudeau at several meetings on the sideline at global events to deport her father's assassin. Her appeal fell on deaf ears though.

A new Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Heather Cruden in September 2011 in an explosive statement said that “Canada will not expel any suspected criminal to face a possible execution abroad.”

“Our government has a clear policy that we cannot extradite people to a country where there is [a] death sentence,” she told reporters in Dhaka.

The diplomat has rekindled a long-running dispute between Canada and Bangladesh, during which Bangladeshi officials have at times accused Canada of giving refuge to the most wanted fugitive for 27 years.

Canadian Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration and Ministry of Foreign Affairs sings the same tune. A policy statement says something like this: “Bangladesh judiciary is not independent and deportation or extradition of a certain person will jeopardise their safety and security would be compromised by a politically motivated justice system.”

“There are possibilities of being harmed when the person is forced to return to his country of origin,” the Canadian government explains.

Canada provided a typical argumentative debate on the request for the deportation of Chowdhury, who was indicted in absentia for the murder of Sheikh Mujib and has been sentenced to the death penalty by a special tribunal in Dhaka in 1998 and declared him a fugitive. His name appears in the red list of Interpol.

Canadian media have intermittently kept the issue alive. This may have impacted the rejection of Chowdhury’s asylum case and the demand for extradition by the Bangladeshi government.

All his hope to live in Canada has been dashed after all the gates of the legal system have been exhausted. Chowdhury’s asylum case has been denied repeatedly.

Media reported that the fugitive rarely ventures outside his apartment except to buy groceries. He once faced angry Bangladesh nationals who condemned him for killing Mujib and demanding punishment. He lives in seclusion in Etobicoke, Toronto.

In a brazen move, Ottawa wanted to negotiate with Washington DC to send rogue military officer AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, to a third country (preferably Canada), who swears that he didn't play a role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujib.

Ahmed's asylum case in Los Angeles, USA has been rejected multiple times in appeal courts. US authorities decided to deport him, which was indeed a surprise for Bangladesh.

The fugitive was deported to Bangladesh and the verdict was executed by hanging for the crime he had committed decades ago.

On 29 May 2007, Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice addressing the Speaker of Parliament urged Ms Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration that a “former Bangladesh diplomat with a Canadian connection is facing imminent deportation from the U.S. to Bangladesh where he will be executed after a political trial was held in absentia,” as documented in the Parliament Hill online archive.

“Given this humanitarian issue and that Mr Mohiuddin Ahmed has immediate family in Canada, would the minister be prepared to review this case, to provide Mr Ahmed with the protection this case would warrant and help secure the suspension of his deportation until this case can be reviewed?”

However, Finley assured the members at Parliament Hill that Canada has “one of the most welcoming and fair immigration systems in the world.”

Commonly, most people know that hundreds of international victims of torture have found safety in Canada including dissidents, opposition, journalists, writers and academicians.

Nevertheless, this statement has been contradicted by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International. A damning joint report blames Canada to have incarcerated thousands of people (between the ages of 15 and 83), including those with disabilities, on immigration-related grounds every year in often abusive conditions.

“Canada’s abusive immigration detention system is in stark contrast to the rich diversity and the values of equality and justice that Canada is known for globally,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada.

Of course, Canada had forced several immigrants to their country of origin, who fled the country after they were brutalised and tortured by security agencies.

In the case of Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen was a victim of rendition and tortured in Syria after the United States turned him over as an Al-Qaeda suspect in 2002.

Arar, a telecommunication engineer was boarding a flight back home to Canada from Tunisia at JFK Airport in New York. He was detained for 12 days in New York and was secretly transferred to Syria.

US authorities alleged he was a member of the international terror network Al Qaeda and said they acted on data supplied by Canadian police.

Amnesty says in Syria, he was held in degrading and inhumane conditions, interrogated, and tortured for a year.

After media and rights groups’ outcry, Canada was forced to bring him back and had to pay a compensation of $10.5 million.

Similar incidents occurred with dissident Noura Al-Jizawi, a Syrian-born immigrant in Canada who was flagged as a security risk when she applied for a Permanent Resident (PR) card. Also, an Egyptian-born Joseph Attar, a Canadian citizen returned home serving 15 years imprisonment in Egypt on spying charges. 

In February 2007, Ottawa formally apologised for the role officials may have played in the torture and abuse of three Canadians Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. A commission of inquiry found that Canadian officials were indirectly responsible for what happened to the three men.

Possibly for now, Nur Chowdhury’s prayer to Allah has kept him away from being guillotined for his crime. The diplomatic engagement to bring the rogue military officer back to Dhaka to face the music of justice remains frustrating for the coming years will be in deep freeze.

First published in The Daily Messenger, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 17 March 2024

Saleem Samad is the Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger. Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X) @saleemsamad

Imran Khan’s ‘Vandana’ For Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib

 

SALEEM SAMAD

For more than a decade there was a simmering debate spearheaded by the netizens, academicians, journalists, researchers, social justice activists and civil society in Pakistan on war crimes, genocide and rape as a weapon of war by marauding Pakistan military during the brutal birth of Bangladesh in 1971.

Long before the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan became Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan at a talk show in Urdu anchored by celebrated anti-establishment journalist Hamid Mir, admitted that “some” atrocities had been committed in Bangladesh in 1971.

He also said that it was time to reconcile with Bangladesh what happened in 1971, and Pakistan should seek an apology for the war crimes.

Obviously, this news appeared in major dailies and argued on private TV channels during prime time talk-shows in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s relationship with Pakistan during Nawaz Sharif was all-time low after Sheikh Hasina in 2010 when she decided to put the war crimes suspects to face the music of justice.

Islamabad scolded Bangladesh envoy in Pakistan each time when the war crimes tribunal in Dhaka handed down maximum punishment for the Islamist leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).

The key henchmen of the Pakistan military were indicted for crimes against humanity, especially kidnapping, torture and deaths of hundreds of intellectuals by a dreaded death squad, Al-Badr recruited by JeI.

Hasina was angry with Islamabad’s statement condemning the so-called “sham” trial targeting Muslim leaders.

Well, Turkey joined Pakistan in the vilification campaign against the trial of the accused for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

She decided to withdraw the diplomats from Islamabad and shut down the Bangladesh mission in Pakistan. Her government for several years refused to give accreditation to Pakistan’s nominated High Commissioner to Dhaka.

However, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Saudi Arabia and the United States in a similar diplomatic tone advised Hasina to not a harsh diplomatic decision.

Hasina backed out, understanding that the move would jeopardize South Asian regional cooperation and the war against terror campaign.

Her government continued to deny visas to Pakistan nationals from the Bangladesh missions in Islamabad and Karachi.

Well, during Khan’s tenure as head of government, he did not take any effort to thaw relations with Bangladesh, not to speak of seeking an apology for war crimes.

Hours after the much-dramatized arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan allegedly for corruption, the country rocked with violent street protests on May 9.

Angry protesters of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seem to have a grudge against the military establishment.

Many are beginning to wonder if the military hawks can remain the hegemon that guides the nation, while the COAS General Asim Munir warns Khan and his cohorts from fresh attacks on military facilities.

Exasperated by the violent protests, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at a civil-military huddle a few days ago decided to observe May 9 as a ‘black day’ and remarked that “Such scenes were not witnessed since the fall of Dhaka during 1971.”

Sharif was referring to the surrender of Pakistan’s 96,000 troops and civilians in Dhaka under the joint command of the Indian army and Bangladesh Mukti Bahini on December 16, 1971 – labelled as the “darkest day” in the history of Pakistan.

Veteran political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad says if Pakistan believes that December 16 is the “darkest day” then they should also consider seeking a public apology for war crimes committed during the liberation war of Bangladesh.

Thousands of netizens in Pakistan and PTI cohorts poured onto social media and began to compare the 70-year-old Imran Khan ‘Vandana’ with Bangabandhu [Friend of Bangladesh] Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, an architect of independent Bangladesh.

Once a blue-eyed boy of the Pakistan military establishment, Khan blamed the top military hawks in Rawalpindi GHQ for orchestrating against him to eliminate him from politics in axis with the United States, and dubbed himself as ‘Mujibur 2.0’.

The Bangladesh media and social media did not feel comfortable comparing Imran Khan with founding father Sheikh Mujib. The media with scornful eyes rebuked the Pakistani netizens for comparing a man mountain with a Lilliput.

Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, a professor at Dhaka University is a leading political scientist who reacted to Khan’s comparison with the Father of Nation. He has demeaned Sheikh Mujib, who is adored by millions of people. Bangabandhu has never been smeared by allegations of corruption and hobnobbing with the military establishment to scale the ladder to power.

An Indian micro-blogger @Pavan_JaiHind reverberates with other netizens: History is repeating itself. Victims are [the] same, Pakistani people. [The] perpetrator is [the] same, Pakistan Army. Crimes are [the] same, Rape & Murders. [The] only leader of 1971 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is replaced by Imran Khan in 2023.

Mehedi Hasan Shuvo @MHShuvo12053 on May 9 satires from Bangladesh: Remember these two things: 1. Every country has its own military; 2. Pakistan’s military has its own country.

The netizen in another tweet: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman whom you [have] known as a traitor, now see what your [Pakistan] army does to your own men.

“Everyone knows Mujibur Rahman and his party won the general elections in 1970. Instead of handing over power, a clever politician set Awami League and the army on a collision course,” said Khan.

A Pakistani micro-blogger Sohail @mosohail03 on May 10 tweets: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman told the military, “You can kill me, but you can’t suppress the people of Bangladesh. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the whole nation apologizes to you.”

In 1971, when Pakistan’s army battalion arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the “Father of the Nation” of Bangladesh, he was treated very badly. At that time, the Pakistan Army Chief (dictator) Yahya Khan was backed by a political puppet named Zulfikar Ali Bhutto #ImranKhanArrest

@OsintTV on May 11 tweets from Pakistan: History repeating itself…It was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman then now Imran Khani. Pakistan Army is [the] same.

“A shrewd politician (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto), in his greed for power, set the armed forces against the then largest party (Bangladesh’s Awami League), which had won elections, causing the dismemberment of the country,” lamented PTI chief during a road march in Gujranwala in last November, reports Dawn.

Khan was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote, reminded that Pakistan had split into two after Awami League with a legitimate political mandate was denied its right to rule. “Those who are behind all this don’t know what happened in East Pakistan.”

Despite all the deadly political drama, Imran is Pakistan’s most popular leader according to opinion polls.

The comparison of Imran Khan with Bangabandhu and the May 9 violent protests with the 1971 liberation, demonstrates appalling knowledge of the political history of the 1970 post-elections, the bloody liberation war in 1971 and culminating in the humiliating defeat of occupation troops of Pakistan.

First published in The News Times, 28 May 2023

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

We won the war, but was Bangladesh liberated?

SALEEM SAMAD, Times of India

“Bottomless basket,” US national security adviser Henry Kissinger called Bangladesh soon after it was formed. Five decades on, Bangladesh has turned that around. But with hate speech growing and tolerance shrinking, are there bigger challenges ahead?

No liberation war in the world was as decisive as that of Bangladesh. The barefoot, half-naked soldiers of the Mukti Bahini had faced off with the Islamic militia of Pakistan and emerged victorious. A triumphant Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the East Pakistan Awami League who led the resistance for an independent East Bengal, was released from prison in January 1972. When he took over the reins of the country, he had a huge task ahead of him. Corruption was raging, a famine was sweeping the nation and the ravages of over a decade of struggle had rent the people apart.

He got to work but his compatriots betrayed him. He was assassinated in a military putsch on 15 August 1975 – when India was celebrating its Independence Day. Fifty years on, the secular ethos he died defending is under threat.

What we fought for

India and Pakistan were partitioned once, in 1947. But Bangladesh was partitioned thrice — 1905, 1947 and 1971. The contentious theory of the origins of Bangladesh is that it goes back to 1905, when the British Viceroy of India Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal. Indian nationalists and the intellectuals of Bengal vehemently opposed it. The seeds of Bengali nationalism had been sown.

When the two-nation theory was floated, the name for the new homeland for Muslims, Pakistan, was suggested by a young Britain-educated lawyer Choudhary Rahmat Ali in 1933. P for Punjab, A for Afghan province (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa), K for Kashmir, I for Indus, S for Singh, and ‘stan’ for Balochistan. East Bengal found no mention. It angered the revolutionaries of Bengal.

In 1940, fiery Bengal politician AK Fazlul Huq proposed the Lahore Resolution on behalf of the All India Muslim League — it called for independent states of Muslims in India — and nationalists began imagining an independent East Bengal.

By the 1960s, it had turned into a movement. Bangabandhu (friend of Bangladesh) Mujib, incarcerated on and off, was sent off to jail again in 1968 in the infamous ‘Agartala Conspiracy’ case. Anger spilled onto the streets and spread to the rest of Pakistan, with violent student protests against Pakistan’s military junta in 1969. The anti-government agitation ousted the decade-long military dictatorship of General Ayub Khan. 

Mujib won a landslide victory in the first ever general elections in December 1970. He was poised to be the head of the government of Pakistan. Three months later, opposition leaders from the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) pledged allegiance to Mujib’s Six-Point Political Agenda, which sought regional autonomy for the provinces in Pakistan.

Between Mujib winning and this agenda being accepted by political leaders, General Khadim Hussain Raja, commander of the Eastern Command, planned Operation Blitz. It would mean suspension of all political activities and a return to military rule. The armed forces of Pakistan would be allowed to move against “defiant political leaders” and take them into “protective custody”. But Lieutenant General Yaqub Khan, who was chief of general staff of the Eastern Command, and Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan, who was governor of East Pakistan, scuttled the plan. Not for long, though.

The frustrated General Yahya Khan, president of Pakistan, ousted both Khan and Ahsan. Later, General Raja was also shown the door. 

Why the Mukti Bahini was formed 

Weeks before the genocidal campaign of March 25, 1971, codenamed Operation Searchlight, most officers and soldiers of the East Bengal Regiment and border guards East Pakistan Rifles revolted. The rebel officers and soldiers along with hundreds of border guard troops and policemen crossed into India, with fire cover from the Indian Border Security Force shielding them The rebel officers held a crucial meeting on April 12 at Teliapara in Sylhet — the Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Force) was formed under the command of Colonel (later General) MAG Osmany. The Mukti Bahini decided it would go the guerrilla way, on the lines of what Vietnam rebels did, instead of conventional war. Thousands of students, youths and farmers, including women, joined the Mukti Bahini.

Where is Bangladesh now?

At the helm now is his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, who took over in 2009 after the country had seen three decades of autocratic regimes. The economy took off. She opened up the country to foreign investment from India, Japan, South Korea, the US, Turkey and European countries. Soon, Bangladesh became the second largest exporter of readymade garments. Pharmaceutical products are its other big export, to more than 70 countries, and frozen fish and food to Europe, North America, the Middle East and Australasia.

Bangladesh made big strides in meeting Sustainable Development Goals. Hasina has been elected Prime Minister thrice, holding office for 12 years. Her decision to take in more than a million Rohingya refugees who had fled Myanmar was appreciated globally.

But the human rights record at home has been controversial. Sectarian violence against Hindus in mid-October cast a shadow on the secular credentials of the country. Rights groups claim no perpetrator of sectarian violence against religious minorities, desecration of temples, arson and plunder faced criminal proceedings.

Before the 2018 general elections, the authorities ignored human rights groups, civil society and journalists’ bodies to enact the Digital Security Act, which was believed to throttle freedom of expression.

In three years since then, 1,516 cases have been filed under the law against 142 journalists, 35 teachers, 194 politicians and 67 students. None against Islamic evangelists who peddle hate speech online against women’s empowerment and elective democracy, and want a theocratic state. Nor against those uploading videos on YouTube demanding that the country’s flag be changed to a crescent and the national anthem be scrapped because a Hindu poet (Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore) wrote it. “It is a retreat from the commitments of 1971,” said acclaimed social scientist Prof Rehman Sobhan.

The authorities are yet to complete a non-controversial registration of liberation war veterans. Successive regimes failed to prepare a genuine list of veterans. Let’s not discuss the total number of genocide victims — researchers claim the number could be higher than 3 million. Tens of thousands of infants and elderly people died of cholera and diarrhoeal disease in refugee camps. Bangladesh has had seven governments since Mujib’s. Not one took up the issues of 1971 seriously.

Political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad quoted a Liberation War poster: “Banglar Hindu, Banglar Christian, Banglar Buddhist, Banglar Musalman, Amra shobai Bangalee (Bengali Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims — we are all Bengalis).” He added, “If I knew Islamism would triumph over secularism, pluralism and tolerance, I would not have joined Mukti Bahini to liberate the country.”

First published in TIMESOFINDIA.COM, 8 December 2021

The writer is an independent journalist and columnist based in Bangladesh

Tikka Khan Wanted To Hang Mujib In Dhaka

Sheikh Mujib was flown to Pakistan after the brutal crackdown on 25 March 1971

SALEEM SAMAD

Hours after the genocidal campaign ‘Operation Searchlight’ was launched at zero-hours on March 26, 1971, Bangladesh independence architect Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was detained and whisked away by Major ZA Khan of the commando battalion, who was stationed in Cumilla.

The first crackdown was ordered by General Yayha Khan to discipline the “autonomy seeking” people of Bangladesh.

Thus between January and early February 1971 codenamed ‘Operation Blitz’ was designed by Maj. Gen. Khadim Hussain Raja, commander of Eastern Command. The detail of the plan has been written in his book “A Stranger in My Country: East Pakistan, 1969-1971.

Regarding the book, he agreed with the publisher Oxford University Press that it would be published a year after his death in the year 2012.

The ‘Operation Blitz’ envisaged suspension of all political activities in the country [East Pakistan] and return to military rule. This meant that the armed forces of Pakistan would be permitted to move against “defiant political leaders” and to take them into “protective custody”.

On February 26, Lt Gen Sahabzada Yaqub Khan convened a Martial Law conference and informed that President [Yayha Khan] was going to announce the postponement of the National Assembly on March 1, 1971.

The ‘Operation Blitz’ was expected on March 1. The troops were deployed on February 27 to Khulna, Faridpur, Barishal, Bogura, Pabna, Mymensingh, and Tangail.

Battalions of the Pakistan military were already located in Darsana, Benapole, Ghoraghat, and Brahmanharia, besides army garrisons in Jashore, Chittagong, Cumilla, Rangpur, Sylhet and elsewhere.

Lt Gen Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, Chief of General Staff, Eastern Command and Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan, the Governor of East Pakistan scuttled Operation Blitz.

Yayha was visibly upset with Gen Yaqub and Admiral Ahsan’s for their failure to execute ‘Operation Blitz’. Both were later shunted out on the eve of the brutal crackdown ‘Operation Searchlight’ – both had to make an unceremonious exit from their career.

General Raja was also punished, after he fell from the grace of Lt. Gen Tikka Khan, Lt. Gen Niazi and Gen Rao Farman Ali for the delay in executing the crackdown. He returned to Rawalpindi GHQ in April 1971 and was not given any official position.

Meanwhile, the Awami League – the winning majority party in both wings of Pakistan has tightened its grip on the administration in East Pakistan. All over the country, the Bangladesh independence flag fluttered, while the de facto administration of the East Pakistan government reported to Sheikh Mujib’s headquarters.

Gen Raja lamented, that even the Inspector General of Police stopped attending briefings at Martial Law headquarters. Instead, he was reporting to Sheikh Mujib’s residence at Dhanmondi. Shafi-ul-Azam, the Chief Secretary to the Governor had expressed his inability to carry any instructions of the military junta.

Both Admiral Ahsan and Gen Yaqub confided to General Raja that they rarely got the President’s ear. Upon his arrival in Dhaka and stay at President’s House at Bailey Road (opposite Ramna Park), Yayha hardly spoke to them.

Both the senior-most officers were denied access to the President. Yayha ordered his staff officers in Rawalpindi to ignore messages and telephone calls of both Yaqub and Ahsan.

Yaqub in protest resigned on March 5, after Yayha refused to visit Dhaka on March 15 to hold dialogue with Mujib on his Six-Point political agenda.

Yahya in a speech on March 6 had given further provocation and squarely blamed Sheikh Mujib for the crisis. On March 7 in his fiery historic speech called upon the people for a non-violent, non-cooperation movement against the hegemony of the Pakistan military junta.

The fly-in of troops had begun from March 1, ignoring instructions of the Eastern Command in Dhaka that no further troops were needed to be deployed from Pakistan.

Yaqub and Ahsan understood that the gesture for a reconciliation of the President was absent. Gradually senior military generals were replacing the ‘doves’ with the ‘hawks’ in East Pakistan.

Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan (the ‘Butcher of Balochistan’) arrived quietly in Dhaka on 7 March 1971, as Governor of East Pakistan replacing Admiral Ahsan.

The next day, Tikka Khan found out that Chief Justice B.A. Siddiqui had declined to administer the Governor’s oath of office to him.

Hours before the infamous crackdown, Sheikh Mujib was kept in safe custody at a girls’ school (presently Shahid Anwar Girls School and College) in Dhaka Cantonment. Later he was shifted to the Guest Room of the Command House. After a few days, he was secretly moved to West Pakistan, Raja wrote in his book.

Raja’s advice was that Sheikh Mujib should be quickly flown out to Karachi in secrecy the same evening, but was ignored by Tikka Khan. He disagreed and said that he would publicly hang Mujib in Dhaka.

“Needless to say, my worst fears came true in the months to come. The rebels formed the core of the Mukti Bahini under Colonel M.A.G. Osmani,” he concluded.

First published in The News Times, 24 August 2021

Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He can be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter @saleemsamad 

The last 10 days of East Pakistan

COURTESY OF ANWAR HOSSAIN FOUNDATION

SALEEM SAMAD

On March 15, 1971, Yahya Khan arrived in Dhaka amid growing political unrest and no light at the end of the tunnel. His mission was to halt the “civil disobedience movement” called by Awami League leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Rawalpindi GHQ insisted that Yayha Khan needed to make a final bid to ensure Pakistan’s integrity after meeting Sheikh Mujib. The following day, Sheikh Mujib met Yahya Khan at Bailey Road. 

Mistrust and suspicion between Mujib and Yahya had heightened to such an extreme level that their first meeting had to take place in the bathroom of the Presidential Suite. The Awami League leader refused to hold parleys in the President’s House drawing-room on suspicion that it could be bugged, writes Ian Talbot, author of Pakistan: A Modern History.

In an hour-long parley, President Yahya wanted to justify the cancellation of the maiden National Assembly session on March 1, 1971, whilst Sheikh Mujib remained defiant on his demand to withdraw the martial law.

Meanwhile, the non-cooperation movement coupled with street agitation continued.

Yayha was dragging his feet on the withdrawal of the martial law promulgation. He argued that if martial law was abrogated, there would be a “constitutional vacuum.” Mujib quickly said that he would request his advisers to sit with the president’s advisers to work out a formula that would resolve the so-called “constitutional vacuum.”

On Mujib’s advice, Dr Kamal Hossain met the president’s principal staff officer Gen SGM Peerzada and argued that under no circumstances did the postponement of the national assembly session, scheduled to be held in Dhaka, have any justification.

On March 17, Mujib-Yahya’s closed door parley resumed again. As usual, neither the Hawks in Rawalpindi nor the Awami League’s party office issued any media statement. Thus the media was publishing speculative news in Dhaka and Karachi.

Meanwhile, the Awami League rejected the formation of a 5-member probe body to determine why the army was called into action and the reasons behind the killing of agitating people during the shutdown.

Instead, the Awami League formed an alternative 3-member enquiry committee consisting of Captain Mansur Ali, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, and Abidur Reza.

On March 19, a third round of parley between Mujib-Yahya was held and it was decided that there would be another meeting the following day. Representatives from both sides had a separate meeting to formulate the basis of discussion for the impending meeting to break the political impasse. Failing to negotiate, President Yahya and Sheikh Mujib were at a standstill along with their advisors on March 20 for two hours. In fact, it was to be their last meeting. Yahya Khan was shrewdly leading towards an inclusive meeting to prove that the dialogue had entered a dead end.

On the call of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani to observe “Swadhin Purba Bangla Dibash” on the Republic Day of Pakistan on March 23 -- except the government buildings and military garrisons –– all over the country, the independent Bangladesh flag was hoisted.

While the dialogue was in progress, the Rawalpindi Hawks secretly prepared its infamous genocidal plan -- “Operation Searchlight” -- which was launched at midnight on March 25. Hours later, Sheikh Mujib was detained and flown to Karachi.

First Published in the Dhaka Tribune, 1 June 2021

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He can be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

Securing Bangabandhu’s return

Bangabandhu Sheikh  Mujibur Rahman with Indian diplomat Sashanka S Banerjee onboard special flight from London to Dhaka via New Delhi

SALEEM SAMAD

A few days after the Pakistan forces’ humiliating defeat in the Eastern War Theatre and the surrender of occupation troops at Dhaka on December 16, 1971, Bangladesh’s government-in-exile, as well as the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, were left worried about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman languishing in Mianwali Jail in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s would-be president, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was in New York attending heated UN Security Council meetings, had to air dash to Rawalpindi after he was informed by General Yahya Khan that he had resigned from his office as president of Pakistan and military commander.

Bhutto had been appointed the chief martial law administrator of Pakistan.

Indira Gandhi received a top-secret message that the Rawalpindi flight carrying Bhutto was scheduled for a stopover at Heathrow Airport in London. The Indian PM hurriedly called a meeting of the war cabinet in New Delhi at her South Block office to discuss Bhutto’s journey home. She wanted a reliable point-person who would be present for Bhutto’s arrival at Heathrow, so she could get an intelligence feed.

India desperately wanted to learn what Bhutto was thinking -- whether he would release Rahman and let him return home, or carry out the Pakistan military court’s verdict of death.

The meeting was attended by Durga Prasad Dhar, head of policy planning in the Ministry of External Affairs; Ram Nath Kao, chief of RAW; PN Haksar, the prime minister’s principal secretary; and TN Kaul, the foreign secretary. 

A plan was drawn, with no guarantee of acquiring the vital intelligence of the fate of Sheikh Mujib. Incidentally, a highest ranked Pakistan bureaucrat, Muzaffar Hussain, former chief secretary of the government of East Pakistan and posted in Dhaka, had become a prisoner of war (POW) along with 93,000 military, other combatants, civil officers, and families.

Hussain was staying as a VIP guest at the official residence of DP Dhar. On the other hand, his wife, Laila Hussain, was visiting London when the war broke out in December and remained stranded. Both husband (in Delhi) and wife (in London) were communicating with each other through diplomatic channels. 

Fortunately, Sashanka S Banerjee, an Indian diplomat in the Indian mission in London, had befriended Laila Hussain. Indira knew that Laila and Bhutto had been good friends. Thus, the South Block decided to play a one-off diplomatic “summit” at the VIP lounge, the Alcock and Brown Suite, at Heathrow airport. Banerjee persuaded Laila to meet Bhutto at the airport lounge and ask him if he could help in getting her husband released from Delhi.

The two friends, Laila and Bhutto, met at Heathrow airport. The meet and greet turned out to be a historic diplomatic thriller. Bhutto responded to Laila’s emotional appeal for help in getting her husband released from Indian custody. He pulled her aside and whispered to Laila a very sensitive, top-secret message for the Indian prime minister, writes Banerjee in his memoir.

“Laila, I know what you want. I can imagine you are [carrying a request] from Mrs Indira Gandhi. Do please pass a message to her, that after I take charge of office back home, I will shortly thereafter release Mujibur Rahman, allowing him to return home. What I want in return, I will let Mrs Indira Gandhi know through another channel. You may now go.”

The Indian High Commission in London urgently shot out a priority message to the South Block, based on Laila’s encounter with Bhutto. Indira Gandhi was excited that Bhutto had sent out a positive message. 

Meanwhile, within hours, a diplomatic message came from Islamabad confirming the authenticity of Laila’s report.

Bangladesh leaders received a secret message from the South Block regarding the release of Sheikh Mujib -- the architect of Bangladesh’s independence would first land in London and then fly from there to Dhaka via Delhi. 

Bhutto dared to over-rule the death sentence handed out by a military court in Rawalpindi and released Mujib on January 8, 1972. On January 10, 1972, Mujib returned as a hero to a war-ravaged homeland -- but an independent Bangladesh.

First published in the Dhaka Tribune, 11 May 2021

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, and recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter @saleemsamad

Mujibnagar: An oath in secrecy

Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

SALEEM SAMAD

At Kolkata Press Club on April 16, 1971, two nondescript Bangladesh officials kept journalists waiting for hours. Finally, the officials arrived in the evening and expressed an apology for being late.

Abdul Mannan, an MNA (later the first home minister of Bangladesh in 1972) remained silent, while Barrister Rahmat Ali, without waiting for an introduction, told the crowded journalists that they are requested, including the foreign press representatives, to return to the press club for an important announcement the following morning.

The following morning, Kolkata Press Club was overcrowded with local and foreign journalists accompanied by a battery of camerapersons and press photographers.

Ali announced: “Gentlemen, on behalf of the government of Bangladesh, I invite you to our country,” which jolted the journalists as the Liberation War history was unfolding.

The rally of cars carrying journalists did not know where they were going, whom they would meet, and what they would witness. Everybody was worried about what kind of dispatch they would send to their newsroom. When the vehicles stopped at a mango orchard in Meherpur, inside Bangladesh, the Kolkata journalists quickly dubbed the place as Mujibnagar.

Of course, India and the entire world was taken by surprise that Bangladesh formally announced the “Proclamation of Bangladesh Independence” and the formation of a government-in-exile to coordinate the Liberation War.

What surprised many, was that among the Kolkata media circle, none leaked the story of the secret endeavour of the Mujibnagar episode. The thoughtful journalists maintained secrecy to avoid the enemies being alerted from a single line published in an Indian newspaper.

Journalist Sukharanjan Sengupta saw a vehicle with a diplomatic number plate entering the porch on March 22. 

The curious journalist rushed towards the office of Chief Secretary Nirmal Sengupta and waited for the person to come out.

The person was nobody else but the deputy high commissioner posted in Dhaka during the crucial period. Time was ticking for Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as New Delhi was impatiently waiting to see what emerges from the negotiation in Dhaka.

Fortunately, the journalist knew the diplomat and quickly asked whether the negotiation to resolve the political crisis will go in the favour of Sheikh Mujib or will there be a bloodbath.

The diplomat was in a rush. He frowned and said the second one and was then escorted to the Kolkata airport and to New Delhi to hold a confidential debriefing on the Bangladesh crisis with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

On March 23, the Republic Day of Pakistan, the “Joy Bangla” flag was fluttered all over the country, except for the military cantonments and a few government offices in Dhaka.

On March 25, Bangabandhu was still negotiating with the advisors of Pakistan’s military leader General Yahya Khan to avoid a bloodbath in the streets. 

However, near midnight on March 25, the Pakistan army launched the genocidal campaign “Operation Searchlight,” leaving Bangladesh no choice but to go to war.

First published in the Dhaka Tribune, 27 April 2021

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, and recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter @saleemsamad

Declare Mujibnagar Day on April 17 as Republic Day of Bangladesh

Photo: SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

SALEEM SAMAD

On the 50th birth anniversary of Bangladesh, the nation was perhaps expecting that the government would declare April 17 as the country’s Republic Day. This is the day when the cabinet of the government-in-exile took an oath of office and accepted the challenge to lead the War of Liberation to achieve independence.

The venue was discreetly decided at Baidyanathtala, Meherpur in eastern Bangladesh (less than a kilometre from the Indian border). The site was secured by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and mounted anti-aircraft artillery to thwart any air attacks by marauding Pakistan fighter jets.

A day earlier, the Ansar saw hundreds of BSF soldiers and vehicles pour in and secure the area. The following morning, April 17, the leaders of government-in-exile, Indian officials, scores of journalists, international photographers, and TV camera persons also arrived with senior BSF officers accompanied by hundreds of additional troops.

At 11 am the ceremony began with recitation from the Qur’an and playing of the national anthem. The oath-taking ceremony was conducted by Abdul Mannan, MNA, and the proclamation of independence was read out by Professor Mohammad Yusuf Ali.

The assignment of portfolios was assigned among the ministers on April 18. The incumbents of the government were: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (interned in Pakistan jail), president of Bangladesh. Syed Nazrul Islam (Vice President and also Acting President), Tajuddin Ahmad (Prime Minister), Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad (Foreign Affairs and Law Minister), Muhammad Mansur Ali (Finance Minister), AHM Qamaruzzaman (Home, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister), and Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani (Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Forces or Mukti Bahini). The guard of honour was given to Syed Nazrul Islam, the acting president of Mujibnagar.

The government-in-exile had an elaborate structure of administrative departments, agencies, and activities. Even though elaborate agencies were established, the government’s main work remained coordinating the Liberation War and boosting popular support in occupied Bangladesh.

Soon the government-in-exile operated from 8 Theatre Road, Kolkata. Tajuddin Ahmad supervised the military operations of the Mukti Bahini, held coordinating meetings with officials of Indira Gandhi, the Eastern Command of the Indian Army, the foreign dignitaries, the international NGOs in aid of the 10 million war refugees, and of course, smoothing the inner-conflicts within the hierarchy.

The Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendra broadcast was a moral inspiration for the millions of people who were either languishing in refugee camps across the borders of Bangladesh or living in hellish conditions in occupied Bangladesh.

The production of documentary films, postage stamps, propaganda posters, regular press briefing in Kolkata, definitely made a dent in telling the world of the genocide in Bangladesh and the war crimes committed by the marauding Pakistan troops.

Tajuddin Ahmad was an intimate colleague and a trusted comrade of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and enjoyed the recognition and full support of the Indian leadership -- which was an important resource that lent authority to his position, writes acclaimed economist Rehman Sobhan in his book Untranquil Recollections.

Well, the government-in-exile earned credibility and gave an alternative dichotomy to General Yayha Khan’s military regime in Rawalpindi.

Nonetheless, most historians interpret that the able stewardship of the Mujibnagar government, which was a symbolic icon of the nationalist struggle, had essentially lifted the morale of the revolution.

First published in the Dhaka Tribune, 20 April 2021

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, and recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com> Twitter @saleemsamad

Bangabandhu in Mianwali Jail

Bangabandhu was arrested and then was taken to West Pakistan shortly 
before the start of Operation Search Light on 25 March, 1971. File Photo

SALEEM SAMAD

Mohanlal Bhaskar alias Mohammed Aslam's undercover identity was blown by a double agent. He was caught and imprisoned in Pakistan from 1967 to 1974.

He and dozens of fellow Indian spies were swapped with Pakistani spies soon after the ice-breaking Simla Accord signed by Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in July 1972.

Bhaskar's mission was to gather intelligence on Pakistan's nuclear programme. He witnessed the India-Pakistan war in December 1971 from his cell in Mianwali jail as history unfolded when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brought there and had his grave dug, at least four times, and then quickly refilled.

Possibly the book, 'An Indian Spy in Pakistan', written by Mohanlal Bhaskar in Hindi and translated by Jai Ratan, is the only eyewitness narrative on Bangladesh's independence leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman which unfolded in Mianwali Jail.

He exhaustively writes two separate chapters. One on 'Turmoil in Bangladesh' and another on 'Sheikh Mujib in Mianwali Jail'.

"According to the news that had reached us, Sheikh Mujib was supposed to be in the Lyallpur Jail. The winter had just started. A helicopter landed one night in our jail compound. We couldn't see who had got down from it, for our cells were locked at that time. In the morning we [learned] that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had been brought to Mianwali […] the Lyallpur Jail."

It is presumed Mujib was brought to Mianwali Jail in early September 1971, according to Bhaskar. Sadly, the Indian spy, for reasons unknown, did not mention any date behind the events he has mentioned.

As soon as Sheikh Mujib's arrival was confirmed by prisoners, some soldiers of the East Bengal Regiment planned to dig a tunnel in the jail to smuggle him away from there, according to Bhaskar.

The attempt proved abortive as Mujib was lodged in the female ward of Mianwali Jail. The female inmates had hurriedly been shifted to another barracks.

The Indian prisoners were also shifted to barrack number 10 and the female ward was right behind their barracks.

Unfortunately, neither the Bangalee soldiers nor the Indian spies could have a glimpse of the stalwart politician. He was kept under heavy military guard.

Well, a Bangalee cook had been deployed to cook Mujib's preferred menu – fish and rice.

The following morning, when news of the Sheikh's arrival spread in the jail the Pathan prisoners climbed up the roof of the jail barracks and shouted expletives at the Sheikh. 

Armed guards quickly climbed onto the roof of the female ward and fired six rounds in the air, which terrified the Pathans. 

The Jail Superintendent on a routine round of the barracks informed the prisoners that Mujibur Rahman had been brought to Mianwali Jail to be hanged.

This news triggered sadness among the Indian and Bengal Regiment prisoners but caused a ripple of happiness among Pakistani prisoners and they cried 'Ya Ali!'.

Bhaskar recalls that, unfortunately, he could not meet the "great hero, known as the Lion of Bengal who had awakened the hungry and oppressed people of East Bengal...".

Whenever the Indian prisoners went to collect food rations, they met Mujib's cook but could not have a word with him as he was escorted by military guards.His cook was very devoted to him.

The ration clerk would ask the cook, "How's he faring?" The defiant cook would reply that Sheikh Shaheb was in fine health and with a sound mind and would keep fighting for the rights of the Bangalees till his last breath.

One day, the deputy superintendent called the eight Indian prisoners languishing in condemned cells.

He notes: "We were marched out and halted in front of the female ward where Sheikh Mujib was imprisoned. We were not told what was required of us nor did we care to find out. We were happy in the thought that we may yet be able to have a fleeting glimpse of the Sheikh. But to our chagrin, even the wooden gate leading to his barred cell had been closed."

The senior jail officer ordered them to dig an eight feet long, four feet wide and four feet deep trench and specified the exact spot where the trench was to be dug.

"We immediately guessed that Sheikh Mujib was scheduled to be hanged that night and we were digging a grave to bury his dead body. Short of asking a question which we were reluctant to do, we had no way of confirming our suspicion," he writes.

The grave was ready by nine and the prisoners returned to their cells. They waited with bated breath for the ominous news of Mujib's execution. "Our ears were all along attuned to the "house of death' but nothing happened throughout the night; everything was so quiet and still."

Bhaskar realised that the decision to hang Bangabandhu had been deferred. In the morning when the cells were unlocked, they heard some people saying that Sheikh Mujib was still alive.

There were also rumours that poison had been injected into his body, putting him to eternal sleep, after which he had been buried in the grave dug the previous evening.

In the morning when the Indian prisoners went to the ration godown for collecting their quota, they saw Sheikh Mujib's cook waiting there to get milk, tea and sugar for his morning tea.

It was indeed a relief for them, for "it meant that he was still alive."

They heard a rumour that on the night scheduled for the Sheikh's execution Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had sought an audience with President Yahya Khan and had advised him not to execute him. 

He [Bhutto] impressed upon the President that if he [Mujib] was executed the Bangalees in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) would not sit idle. The Pakistani forces stationed in East Pakistan right from the highest officer down to a soldier would become the target of the wrath of the Bangalee guerrillas. Yahya Khan on second thought decided to halt Mujib's execution.

The next day, the prisoners were again called out and asked to fill in the trench dug the previous day. "But our happiness was short-lived."

Fifteen days later, they were again called out and asked to dig a similar trench. Again, Sheikh Mujib was not hanged. This process was repeated three times and every time his hanging was deferred.

For the fourth time, Sheikh Mujib was saved from walking to the gallows. In this manner, Sheikh Mujib stayed for four months in the Mianwali Jail.

Finally, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in early January released Bangabandhu, who was to return in triumph to Bangladesh.

Even now, the days of Sheikh Mujib in Mianwali Jail remains a nightmare. Time and again they [the Pakistan authorities] would prepare the noose for his neck and dig a grave. But he did not die at the hands of his enemies.

Regrettably, he died at the hands of his "own people whom he called his children." Nobody could believe that the same people for whom he had made such huge sacrifices and suffered imprisonment and political harassment would assassinate him," laments Bhaskar.

First published in The Business Standard, 17 March 2021

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He can be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

Thaw in Bangladesh, Pakistan, relations?

SALEEM SAMAD

The Pakistani press deliberately avoided the exchange between the Pakistan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Imran Ahmed Siddique and the Bangladesh PM.

There was lots of enthusiasm in the national press in Pakistan and among the Hawks in Islamabad, regarding the ‘quiet diplomacy’ of a rare meeting of Pakistan’s envoy with Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Hawks in Islamabad failed to realise why Hasina cleverly gave an appointment in December at her official residence Gonobhaban.

Bangladesh observes 16 December as ‘Victory Day’ when 93,000 marauding Pakistan armed forces and civilians surrendered at Dhaka in 1971, and Bangladesh was liberated.

The Pakistani press deliberately avoided the exchange between the Pakistan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Imran Ahmed Siddique and the Bangladesh PM.

Hasina during the parley maintaining social distancing in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, did not hesitate to state that “The incidents of 1971 can’t be forgotten. The pain will remain there forever,” says official news agency BSS.

She also referred to the volumes of a book titled “Secret Documents of Intelligence Branch on Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman”, the prime minister said people can learn historical incidents that occurred during 1948-1971. The documents describe how Pakistan junta interpreted his political activities and intermittently put him behind bars years after years.

She said both the English and Urdu version of the book “Unfinished Memoirs” by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is one of the bestsellers in Pakistan. “It’s also well-read in Pakistan apart from other countries.”

When the diplomat raised that different bilateral and regional forums have remained inactive for some time and sought Dhaka’s initiative to reactivate the Foreign Office consultations (FCO) between the two countries, Hasina responded that as she believes in regional cooperation and there is no problem in the functioning of the forums.

Hasina, daughter of the architect of Bangladesh independence, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman reiterated Bangladesh’s foreign policy “friendship to all malice towards none”, and said she believes in continuing relationships with other countries too.

Well, the daily newspapers Dawn, Express Tribune, and other online newspapers published spoon-fed news tailored by the Press Information Department in Islamabad –what the citizens of Pakistan would love to hear.

Both Urdu and English press welcomed Hasina’s meeting with the Pakistan diplomat. Whereas she refused to meet the outgoing Indian envoy during the coronavirus lockdown.

The parley was interpreted as yet another sign suggesting warming up of nearly a decade old tensions between the two countries since Bangladesh bifurcated from Pakistan after a bloody war of independence in 1971.

Kamran Yousaf writes in the Express Tribune that the meeting of the Pakistani envoy with the Bangladeshi PM was the result of a ‘quiet diplomacy’.

The ice melted first in July when the Pakistani High Commissioner held a meeting with the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister during the coronavirus outbreak at its peak. The meeting that raised eyebrows in India, the wise-man writes.

A similar circus occurred when Imran Khan and his Bangladeshi counterpart spoke by phone.

What the press in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad censored was that Hasina, confidently told the Naya Pakistan leader Khan, that his country must express apology for war crimes committed by the Pakistan military during the brutal birth of Bangladesh in 1971.

The diplomatic relationship between the two countries was experiencing hiccups after Pakistan repeatedly condemned the verdicts of the International Crimes Tribunal against the war criminals who are Bangladesh born and possess the nationality of Bangladesh.

Hasina was furious after recurring outlandish statements by Islamabad on war crimes trials were issued. In 2016, Pakistan’s parliament passed a unanimous resolution condemning the “politically motivated” trials.

Bangladesh protested to Pakistan’s condemnation, and diplomatic relations began to deteriorate. The ties sank in a quagmire.

She decided to call back the Bangladesh High Commissioner from Islamabad and lower the diplomatic status of the mission.

Her anger could be understood when she wanted to close down the Bangladesh mission in Islamabad and severe diplomatic relations with Pakistan.

Hastily at the request of India, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, Hasina changed her mind and instead kept the status low by withdrawing High Commissioner, Deputy High Commissioner, and other senior diplomatic officials.

The final blow comes when an official announcement that no tourist visa would be issued except for official visits and business visas. Pakistan also reciprocated the visa regime no visa is issued from Dhaka. Thus the only air connectivity by PIA had to cancel the flights for lack of passengers.

Despite Pakistan’s academia in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, intellectuals, rights groups, and mainstream Urdu and English language media often write about Pakistan debacles in Bangladesh war theatre, war crimes trial, and advocates for a thaw in the estranged relationship between two countries. Still, some reactionary elements, mostly Islamist groups, remained negative about the Bangladesh war crimes trial.

The Pakistan media admits that the strained relationship occurred after Bangladesh went ahead with the trial of the war criminals in 2009.

However, the politicians and Islamist parties argue that Sheikh Hasina is settling scores against her opponents and Islamic evangelist and key leaders of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami.

The politicians do not say that political leaders of the ruling Awami League, Jatiya Party, and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) were also indicted and given maximum punishment.

Not surprised that the nationalist movements in Balochistan and Sind eagerly urge Bangladesh to raise the crime against humanity in their provinces at the international forum. Especially the enforced disappearances, torture, and atrocities against the Baloch and Sindhi nationals.

Recently the human rights abuses against Pashtun nationalists and human rights activists have sharply risen.

Well, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a dangerous country for religious minorities, especially the Ahmadiyya, Christian, Sikh, and worst are the Hindus. The Hindu teenage and minor girls are victims of abduction, forced conversion, and married to elderly polygamist husbands, happening mostly in Sindh.

Finally, Kamran Yousaf writes that the statement issued by the Bangladeshi Prime Minister’s Office said the incidents of 1971 cannot be forgotten and forgiven. This shows that the Bangladesh government is still adamant that Pakistan must formally apologise over the events of 1971.

To bury the past and thaw the relationship among two South Asian countries, Islamabad must seek a public apology for committing war crimes and thus open a new chapter with Bangladesh.

First published in news portal Shuddhashar, published from Norway on 18 December 2020

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

After Bangladesh, next Balochistan

The Baloch population has become a minority in its own homeland

SALEEM SAMAD

Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti or Nawab Bugti, a defiant Baloch nationalist, was murdered by the Pakistan Army on orders of Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf. Nawab Bugti, born in 1927, chieftain of the rebellious Bugti tribe, was the tallest Baloch leader who was the federal minister, governor, and chief minister of Balochistan.

Armed militants of the Marri and Bugti tribes, the fiercest tribes, waged armed struggles and politically challenged the forcible inclusion of the resource-rich province into Pakistan in March 1948.

Nawab Bugti was assassinated in a military raid ordered by General Musharraf. In a fierce battle with militants, Bugti’s fortified cave in Bhamboor hills fell after the helicopter gunship fired missiles into the cave. Bugti and 35 of his compatriots were martyred on August 26, 2006.

Musharraf was charged by an anti-terrorism court and then acquitted by a Pakistan court in Bugti’s assassination. His death sparked a countrywide anti-Pakistan protest by Baloch students and youths. Police had to quell ethnic riots in different cities and towns.

Balochistan is a region mostly populated by ethnic Balochs, as well as Pakhtuns or Pashtuns. It is the least populated region, and also the largest province of Pakistan. For decades, disgruntled Balochis have been protesting the forcible conversion of the Baloch population into a minority in their own homeland.

Since the death of Bugti, the restive Balochistan has experienced appalling human rights abuse. Anytime someone speaks up, protests, or writes on the rights abuses in Balochistan, the next day a dead body is dumped to warn of the consequences of challenging the state. Journalists who have published about Balochistan’s issues faced violent backlash from the state security apparatus.

The United Nations, International Court of Justice, and human rights organizations may not be able to fathom the plight of the families of the missing persons. Baloch mothers, sisters, widows, and their children are suffering from severe spiritual and mental distress.

Military regimes in Pakistan envisaged eradicating ethnic identities by changing provincial demographics and pursuing Islamization, or the substitution of a common Muslim identity for ethnic ones.

At the end of the 1970s, Balochistan became one of the two focal points of the dictator’s Islamization strategy (the other being the North-West Frontier Province, now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa).

The period between the end of the Bhutto regime and the military coup of Pervez Musharraf witnessed major developments in the Balochistan policy. Zia-ul-Haq used Islamization as a weapon against the insurgency in Balochistan, said Frederic Grare in his research publication Balochistan: The State Versus the Nation.

In 1970, when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was on a whirlwind tour for the election campaign in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta -- he was given a tumultuous welcome, said Zahirul Islam Khan Panna.

Z I Khan Panna, a leading human rights lawyer, was a law student at Karachi University and was hand-picked by Bangabandhu to be his fixer for the election campaign in Pakistan.

Panna met Nawab Bugti in Karachi in June 1970, and handed over an English copy of the Six-Point program, as desired by Sheikh Mujib. Bugti was indeed a great admirer of Mujib and told his Baloch nationalist leaders that the Six-Point was a Bible to resolve the longstanding deprivation and political neglect of Balochistan.

Sher Mohammad Bugti, spokesperson of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP) spoke from Geneva, where he and BRP’s key leaders are living in exile. He lamented that the “Balochistan atrocity is worse than Bangladesh” in 1971, which was perpetrated by marauding Pakistan military.

Baloch nationalists are fighting two fronts, he said. One is Pakistan and the second is China. The Chinese Communist Party is singing the same tune as Pakistan on the Baloch issue on the mega Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Gwadar Port, which is located in Balochistan.

Bugti’s party senior leaders urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to support their cause and help bifurcate Balochistan from the deep state hawks of Pakistan -- like Indira Gandhi helped Bangladesh in 1971.

Brahamdagh Bugti, the grandson of the slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti is presently the president of BRP. He rejected the possibility of holding any negotiations with Pakistan authorities, suggesting an internationally supervised referendum in Balochistan to bury the crisis once and for all.

First published in the Dhaka Tribune on 7 September 2020

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, and recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He can be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter @saleemsamad