বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (তৃতীয় খণ্ড)/১২
| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
|---|---|---|
| কলিকাতাস্থ পাকিস্তানী ডেপুটি হাই কমিশনারের বাংলাদেশের পক্ষাবলম্বন | এশিয়ান রেকর্ডার- জুন, ১১-১৭, ১৯৭১ | ১৮ এপ্রিল, ১৯৭১ |
A Pakistani Diplomat Transfers Allegiance To Bangladesh: The Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan in Calcutta, Mr. M. Hossain Ali, on April 18 transferred his allegiance to the Government of the Democratic Republic of Bangladesh.
All 70 Bengali members of his staff, including five officers, were also believed to have expressed their desire to serve the Bangladesh Government.
Mr. Hossain Ali dismissed 30 other employees, mostly superintendents, clerks and junior members of staff, who were West Pakistanis. His was thus the first mission abroad of the Bangladesh Government.
Assured of co-operation of the Bengali members of his staff, Mr. Ali hoisted the Bangladesh IIag on top of his mission, replacing the Pakistani flag. Some senior members of his staff were present at the ceremony.
In an interview later, he said the decision to change his allegiance from the Pakistan Government to the Bangladesh Government was “my own”; He was happy that some other Bengali members of his staff supported him.
He said: “It is impossible to continue to represent the Pakistani Government which is engaged by all evidences in a deliberate an systematic genocide of Bengalis in Bangladesh.”
He issued a 1,600-word statement, recounting how the Pakistani Government had flouted the clear verdict of a democratic election in Bangladesh and engaged itself in “a planned attempt to subdue and crush the entire Bengali nation”.
Before he took the decision, he said, he had contacts with the Prime Minister and other Ministers of Bangladesh, who were slated to have “most cordially” welcomed him’ and his Bengali staff to work ‘as the Government’s first foreign mission.
He had several secret meetings with some trusted officers of the mission during the last few days. “I had to be cautious", he said, “least our decision was leaked before it was formally announced”.
According to a bank sourcc in Calcutta, the entire money in the credit of the Pakistan Deputy High Commission in a city bank was withdrawn on April 17. The measure had the approval of all senior members of the mission.
According to one source, the decision to change allegiance followed a few telegrams from Islamabad during the previous few days to the Deputy High Commission informing it of the Pakistan Government’s decision to abolish the Information Department of the mission, to recall the Department's employees to Rawalpindi “with immediate effect”, and asking several other Bengali members of staff to be ready for immediate transfer.
Pakistan's Warning:
On April 22, Pakistan threatened India with “serious consequences” if there was any delay in getting the premises of its former Deputy High Commission in Calcutta cleared of its “illegal occupants”.
The Joint Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry, Mr. A. K. Ray, had carlier told the Pakistan High Commissioner, Mr. Sajjad Hyder that the dispute with regard to the possession of the premises was an internal matter of Pakistan and the laws of the land prevented the Government of India from using force in such matters.
The following day (April 23), Mr. Hyder protested to the Ministry of External Affairs against unprovoked and violent demonstrations” in Calcutta against the newly appointed Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner. Mr. Mahdi Masud.
Mr. Hyder handed over to Mr. A.K. Ray an aide memoire on the subject which he later released to the Press. It declared that “the local authorities in Calcutta failed to act in time; otherwise yesterday’s ugly scenes need not have taken place at all.”
The aide memoire also protested against the refusal of India to evict “anti-State elements” from the premises of the Deputy High Commission. Referring to the Indian suggestion that Pakistan should seek legal redress; the aide memoire stated that “the Ministry of External Affairs could not be unaware that under established diplomatic conventions, a foreign mission does not go to a court of law. It is the duty of the host Government to ensure the inviolability of premises and personnel of a diplomatic mission accredited to it”.
Later, an External Affairs spokesman said that it was an act of diplomatic discourtesy for Mr. Hyder to have released the aide memoire to the Press.
When asked about the threat of “serious consequences” by Pakistan if India did not at once hand over the Calcutta mission building to Mr. Masud, the spokesman said that India treated such threats “with contempt.”
Two More Diplomats Granted Asylum:
On April 20, two East Bengali diplomats of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi sought asylum in India and the request was immediately granted.
The diplomats-Second Secretary, Mr. K. M. Shahabuddin (30) and the Assistant Press Attaché, Mr. Arnjadul Haque (33)-decided to break with the Islamabad regime in view of the West Pakistan Army’s massacre of the people of Bangladesh. They announced their decision at a hurriedly called mid night news conference to which Indian and foreign newsmen were summoned from their beds.
Mr. Shahabuddin entered the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1966 and served in Nepal for a short while. He was then posted to New Delhi and had been there since January, 1967. Mr. Haque worked in Radio Pakistan, Dacca as Assistant Regional Director Programmes before joining the external publicity division of Pakistan in 1966. He was posted to New Delhi immediately thereafter.
Mr. Shahabuddin sought asylum along with his wife and two daughters. Mr. Ilaque is a bachelor.
In a statement, they said the people of Bangladesh considered the Islamabad Government a foreign colonial regime which had shown itself to be more oppressive and barbarous than any history had ever known. Islamabad was engaged in a wanton and demented massacre of the innocent and unarmed people of Bangladesh World opinion has begun to realize the magnitude of this outrage.
The diplomats said they had severed their connexon “with the fascist military dictatorship in Islamabad as our conscience no longer permits us to act against our deepest convictions.” From now on they owed allegiance to Bangladesh which derived its authority from the unambiguous mandate of the 75 million Bengali people.
They were the first Pakistani diplomats to seek asylum in the wake of the Bangladesh freedom movement.
“The Swadhin Bangla Radio, in a broadcast the previous week, had advised Bengali diplomats who received orders of transfer after the army crackdown in East Bengal to seek asylum in the countries in which they were posted.
There were three other Bengali officers among the 14 diplomats in the Pakistan High Commission. Two of them had just been transferred to India.