Voices Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar Ajai Sahni Anu Aggarwal Debashis Chatterjee Swami Sukhabodhananda MAGAZINE Buffet People Wellness Books Food Art & Culture Entertainment NEW DELHI September 22 2024 SUNDAY PAGES 12 Bangladesh Liberation War 1971 The Partition of Pakistan A Pakistani Army officer’s on-site account of the rise of Mujibur Rehman, the mass killings of Bengalis by Pakistani soldiers, the humiliation of General Niazi, and the Indian Army’s successful strategy to create a new nation, Bangladesh, has relevant lessons for the ongoing crisis in the neighbourhood Indian Army in action Book Excerpts T he rise of Mujib’s campaign for Bengali nationalism and the gradual fall of his political opponents left little doubt in our minds about the future course of events. It was apparent that Mujib would muster enough support, by the polling date, for his Six Points. Would Pakistan stay in its present shape if the Six Points were implemented? If they were really secessionist in intent, how could the trend be arrested? Vice-Admiral SM Ahsan, Governor of East Pakistan, raised this issue of the Six Points versus national integrity at one of the Cabinet meetings presided over by General Yahya Khan. He said, ‘Before we proceed, let me get one thing clarified. Is propagation of his Six Points a violation of Martial Law Regulation 16 (which prohibited any talk against national integrity)?’ He was told, ‘Don’t worry .’ Mujibur Rehman addresses supporters But many in the country did. It was perhaps to allay public fears that the President, in spite of his ex-officio engagements, found time to come on the air on 30 March and declare. ‘I would not accept anything that cuts across the basic principles of our nationhood.’ He followed his announcement, next day by , issuing the Legal Frame work Order (LFO) which laid down the fundamental principles of the future constitution to guarantee the ‘inviolability of national integrity’ and the ‘Islamic character of the Republic’. I was relieved to read the LFO because it cut across the Awami League politics which preached the secular character of the Republic and its division into virtually self-governing provinces. The Legal Framework Order irked Mujib sorely He . was particularly irritated at Sections 25 and 27 which vested powers of authentication of the future constitution in the President. It implied that Mujib would not be free to implement his Six Points, even if he obtained majority seats in the National Assembly (Parliament) unless his Constitution Bill received the President’s approval. It is on this issue that Mujib had said, ‘I shall tear LFO into pieces as soon as the elections are over.’ The President flew to Dacca to handle the situation himself. He invited Mujib, on 4 April, for a friendly chat. I was there when Mujib arrived. He was received with a lot of warmth and courtesy As . they settled down for a tête-a-tête, I withdrew. An hour later, I was sought out from a friend’s house to draft a press note on behalf of the Cabinet Division amending LFO in those parts (Sections 25 and 27) to which Mujib had taken exception. I drafted the note and handed it back. Luckily it was not issued because somebody had, , meanwhile, advised Yahya Khan not to disarm himself completely against the politicians. When Yahya Khan was about to fly back to West Pakistan on 10 April, he faced the Dacca press on the disputed clauses of the LFO at the airport. I was present, too. When pressed hard on the issue of the President’s powers ‘to veto the Constitution Bill passed by the people’s representatives’, Yahya Khan said, ‘That’s a procedural formality only . I have no intention of using them.’ A pro-Awami League journalist whispered over my shoulder, ‘He has assured Sheikh Sahib (Mujib) that he would not exercise them. They are like certain constitutional formalities vested in the Queen of England.’ I do not know what ‘assurances’ General Yahya Khan received in return for this commitment to Mujib. I do know that it further confirmed the Awami League chief in his belief that he had attained a height of popularity where ‘even Yahya Khan cannot say “no” to what I want.’ Within two months of this Yahya-Mujib understanding, Mujib felt confident enough to show his hand a little more openly . On 4 June, he declared, ‘My party is going to participate in the ensuing elections taking it as a referendum on the Six Points programme.’ Mr Nurul Amin, PDP Chief, challenged this next day saying that if the elections were a referendum on the programme and if the programme received no support from West Pakistan, ‘in that case East and West Pakistan would fall apart’. This provoked Mujib to be more explicit the following day when he said, ‘We won the 1946 referendum in spite of opposition from Gandhi, Nehru and their British overlords. And we are going to win this time, too, in spite of Mr Nurul Amin and his overlords (West Pakistan).’ The historical parallel drawn by Mujib was very ominous. It implied that he was following in the footsteps of the creator of Pakistan who won the 1946 referendum as a prelude to the establishment of an independent state. Was Mujib working for a similar end? He was questioned on this issue privately by one of Yahya’s representatives in Dacca, but he denied the implications. It was not his first political somersault, nor was it his last. I recall several such occasions when he appeared a terror in public but turned tame in private. This duality helped him in coercing the masses into his fold, while convincing the authorities of his pious intentions. Skilfully riding his political surfboard, he climbed the crest of popularity . Turn to page 2
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.