পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৬৪২

61 () বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড he was bitterly opposed to Mujib because the Awami League leader was apparently against secession. When trouble broke out in East Pakistan, A.A. went into hiding. He has just returned to the city, benefiting from the general amnesty declared by the President. His account of the turmoil: I have not yet recovered from the shock. As a Bihari. I risked being murdered by the Awami Leaguers. As known secessionist, I was a legitimate prey for the zealous soldiers. Yet, you see that I am still alive. Alive but frightened. I had advocated secession because I thought the situation in Pakistan, which is divided by over 1,000 miles of Indian territory, was untenable. We were refugees when secession came and had high hopes in Pakistan. Our hopes were dashed by the dictatorship and the fact that East Pakistan was plundered by a few capitalists from both wings. In West Pakistan, no one was aware of our plight until Ayub was overthrown. Ayub was the man responsible for what the two wings are suffering today. A nation is not given many chances in history. Pakistan, as a nation, lost most of its chances under Ayub. I don't know about that atrocities on both sides. We the Bihari , in any case, suffered in the hands of Mujib's Liberation Army. They butchered, many of my relatives and friends and I know that there were Indian troops and West Bengal volunteers in their ranks. Now I know that had Bangladesh come into being, as I had wished, I would not have been alive today. The people are suffering from psychosis. They have been caught unawares by the tragedy. They feel defeated, bitter, cowed and utterly helpless. The worst thing is not the death of relatives and friends. It is the death of hope. And these people as you know, have been living almost exclusively on hope. The people need kindness, generosity and their spiritual wounds should be healed if they are not to suffer a complete collapse. It no longer matters who was responsible. What matters is to save an entire people from psychological collapse. I don't believe Mujib was a true secessionist. He was a plaything of political crosscurrents. Had he really wanted Bangladesh, he should have taken over as Prime Minister of Pakistan sending the soldiers back to the barracks and gradually paved the way for an independent state. East Pakistan does not have the personnel, the administrative organization nor the military backbone that an independent state needs in these circumstances. Had Mujib declared the birth of Bangladesh and succeeded, he would have had to rely on India for day-to-day survival. In that case East Bengal would have become an Indian colony. The alternative would have been united Bengal, including both East Pakistan and Indian-held West Bengal. There is a big movement for this in West Bengal. In that case, however, India and West Pakistan would have joined hands in crushing the united Bangladesh. It no longer matters whether East Pakistan should remain with West Pakistan or not. In any case, that is the best course under the circumstances. What matters is that East Pakistan should remain alive.