বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বাদশ খণ্ড)/১৩০
| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
|---|---|---|
| ‘বাংলাদেশ দি ট্রুথ’ | কোলকাতা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় বাংলাদেশ সহায়ক সমিতি প্রকাশিত পুস্তক | ৯ মে ১৯৭১ |
This small brochure has been written to narrate the story of Bangladesh movement. When Pakistan was formed on the demand of Mr. Jinnah and the Muslim League, there was no other bond of union between its two parts except that the people of the two wings had the same religion. Religion has seldom been the generator of the spirit of nationalism. Otherwise, all the Muslims of Christians would have agreed to live under the same state. The people living in the two wings of Pakistan had no other common bond between them. Their languages were different and their cultures were different. Though the population of the Eastern wing was much large than that of the West, the latter got preponderance in everything a fact that cannot be denied by even the most ardent admirer of the West. What the most unfortunate people of the Eastern wing of Pakistan did unknowingly was to substitute British bosses by Punjabi bosses. The only consolation was that the people of both the wings had the same religion. But that so or proved to be a very poor consolation. The Bengali-speaking population was no doubt given some prizes her and there. But the main banquet was reserved for the West Pakistanis, the east getting only a few occasional crumbs. The resulting sense of injustice has given birth to the inevitable demand for greater autonomy for the Eastern wing and for greater share in the total resources of that country.
This demand, which is absolutely, just should have been handled with great tact and sympathy. But unfortunately the poor people of the Eastern wing who demanded autonomy to secure equality of treatment got only bullets in return, and extremely brutal treatment from the Government of Pakistan. The natural reactions to this Chengis Khan-Nadir Shah-Hitler treatment has been the declaration of independence by the people of Bangladesh.
This story of Bangladesh is not new in history. A large number of other countries which are now independent were formerly pats of another country. They had risen up in revolt against the rule of that country and had to make large-scale sacrifices before they achieved their freedom. Freedom’s battle once begun may appear to be repressed on occasions. But “Though baffled off, it has ever won.” There is no doubt that Bangladesh will attain its freedom sooner rather than later. Its story will be the same as that of any other freedom-seeking country. The only distinction between this story and all the previous stories of freedom is the unparalleled savagery, murder and destruction that are now being carried on in Bangladesh by the occupation forces. And the second most unfortunate fact is the attitude of the government of mot of the countries of the world and their response to this battle for freedom. There are no doubt honorable exceptions and we in India are proud that we be owe belong to this group. Our people have always supported the cause of freedom in every part of the world, irrespective of religion, color, community, or politics. Our support for the freedom of Bangladesh is on the same basis that of the French people for the American War of Independence. When the majority of the people of country rise up in revolt against the military government of that country, it is an affair which concerns not only the anti-democratic government of that country but also all the democratic, freedom loving people of the world.
This story of Bangladesh has been written by Dr. Bangendu Ganguli and Dr. Mira Ganguli. They have taken a lot of trouble to write this within a short time, and we are really grateful to them.
The conscience of the world has been profoundly shocked at the latest manifestation of the arrogant unrighteousness of the present rulers of Pakistan. This is but the culmination of a long series of acts of intimidation and economic exploitation, from suppressions of the Bengalese people to deliberate mass murder.
Separated geographically by over one thousand miles of Indian territory but bound together by the Islamic faith, two distant regions were united as the nation State of Pakistan just over twenty-three years ago. But these years did not bring the two wings any nearer. On the contrary, their differences were accentuated. There can be no doubt about the fact that the West wing prospered dramatically over the as two decades while the economically backward but more populous East wing remained one of the most backward areas of the world. And it is at the expense to the East win that the West prospered.
Economic Disparity
Per capita income in West Pakistan was much higher than in the East. While the disparity in real incomes per capita was somewhere between 40 and 50 per cent, the amount of resources made a valuable to West Pakistan per capita had exceeded that to East Pakistan by an even wide margin. The latter was mad possible partly by a net transfer of visible resources from the East to the West and partly by a higher allocation of foreign aid to the West.
One can obtain good approximations for regional incomes originating in banking and insurance by a breakdown of national totals based on the provincial distribution of deposits and advances of scheduled banks. This showed it ratio of about 3 to 1 in favor of Wes Pakistan. Some idea of the regional incomes originating in the central government and defense might be obtained by using the data on provincial distribution of the labor force in public administration. For 1955 this tattoo was also about 3 to 1 in favor of West Pakistan.
But calculations of regional disparity in per capita money incomes would not quite reveal the disparity in real incomes since the purchasing power of money in the two regions was not the same. The Second Five- Year Plan of Pakistan stated that the prices of similar goods had generally been higher in East Pakistan than in West Pakistan, the difference sometime, far exceeding the cost of transport and distribution. Price differences widened during the period of the second plan. Over the period from 1959-60 to 1962-63 the regional price index increased from 100 to 112 in East Pakistan as against the increase from 100 to only 102 in the West. In the Mid-Plan Review of the Third five-Year Plan it was officially recognized that the upward trend in disparity had continued till the middle of the Third Plan period91965-70).
Structural differences between the economies of the two regions support the picture of per capita income disparity. In the early years of independence, the industrial bases of the two regions were of about the same size, and banking activity might have been greater in the East. However, evidence on the relative contributions of different sectors pointed toward a relatively backward structure of East Pakistan’s economy even then. The relative share of agriculture was higher in the East (70) per cent of so as compared with 50-55 per cent in the West, that of the manufacturing sector was somewhat lower, and that of the tertiary sector as a whole was distinctly lower.
Over time, the structural differences increased further, with a higher rate of “structural development” in West Pakistan associated with a higher rate of growth in total (and per capita) domestic income. By the mid 1960’s the relative share of agriculture in East Pakistan declined to only 60 per cent while in West Pakistan it reached 46 per cent; the manufacturing sector contributed about 7-8 per cent of the total value added in East Pakistan, and about 14-15 per cent in West Pakistan; the relative contribution of the tertiary sectors also increased at a faster rate in West than in East Pakistan. From 1951 to 1961 the proportion of the civilian a labor force in agriculture increased from 83.2 to 85.3 per cent in East Pakistan, and declined from 65.1 per cent to 59.3 per cent in West Pakistan.
These structural differences were associated with a higher rate of unemployment in East than in West Pakistan. The available evidence suggests that more than 20 per cent of the total labor force in East Pakistan was unemployed whereas in West Pakistan it was less than 8 per cent. In addition West Pakistan had a higher proportion of the more complex, capital intensive, in a sense more advanced, and industries.
West Pakistan had a more developed infrastructure. The transport system was more developed: in 1960 the mileage of the high type of roads was over six times that in East Pakistan; railway mileage was about three times that in Last Pakistan; the number of trucks and buses exceeded that in East Pakistan by five-fold. West Pakistan also enjoyed better facilities in communication, with more post and telegraph offices and nearly five times the number of telephones as in East Pakistan in 1960. The power-generating capacity in West Pakistan was from 5 to 6 times that in cast Pakistan. West Pakistan also had a greater supply of engineering, industrial, and technical personnel. Finally she had greater access to the administrative machinery of the central government.
The seat of the federal government was in West Pakistan. The over-whelming majority of the central government offers were from West Pakistan. The to positions (Secretaries and Joint Secretaries) including those of the Finance Ministry which are of obvious importance for the allocation of resources, were occupied almost exclusively by West Pakistani civil servants (52 out of 53 in 1960). In all, out of a total of 1779 firs class officers the various central services in 1960, 80 percent were West Pakistanis. That a region with more than half of the total population occupied only 13 per cent of the more important central government positions might be a unique situation. The Central Finance Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, both with considerable influence on the allocation of resources, never derived from East Pakistan.
The seat of the federal government has a natural tendency to attract business and commerce, banking and industry. West Pakistan not only hosted the central government, but also held nearly 90 per cent of its positions. Thus the region was in the enviable position of controlling-through its hold over the central government with all its economic controls-the allocation of strategic development resources available to the entire country.
While there was substantial disparity in per capita regional incomes, and while the economy of East Pakistan was structurally more backward than that of West Pakistan, the disparity in average living standards was greater than these comparisons suggest. This was because of a much greater net flow of foreign resources into West than into East Pakistan; this resulted in a wider regional disparity in the “absorption” of goods and services, caused partly by (a) a transfer of (visible) resources from East to west Pakistan, at least in the early years of independence, and (b) a much larger flow of foreign aid into the western region.
The transfer of visible resources from East to West Pakistan over the first decade of so since independence was evidence by East Pakistan’s surplus overall balance of external trade for most of these years, taking both international and interregional trade together. In some of the remaining years also a transfer in the same direction in real terms would have been indicated if foreign exchange were valued at its real scarcity price instead of at the official price. Apart from the East to West transfer of visible resources, West Pakistan was fortunate in getting the bulk of foreign aid that flowed into the country.
As against the disparities in the economic and other spheres in favour of West Pakistan, East Pakistan had her population, about 54 per cent off the country’s total. This population has been vocal.
Demand for Autonomy
In supporting the demand for Pakistan the people of East Bengal had expected that the new State would bring them material well-being and opportunities for advancement. But these hopes were not fulfilled. And the people of East Bengal naturally resented this fact. As early as February, 1948 one member, who did not particularly sympathies with the Bengalees, said in the Constituent Assembly: “A felling is growing among the Eastern Pakistanis that eastern Pakistan is being neglected and treated merely as a ‘colony’ of Western Pakistan,” It was out of this feeling of resentment that the demand for provincial autonomy grew. People referred to the historic Lahore Resolution of the Muslim League adopted in 1940, which had declared that in Pakistan the constituent units would be “autonomous and sovereign”. They pointed out that actually Pakistan upholding an ideal of centralization of power rater than that of provincial autonomy.
The sense of betrayal in East Bengal reached a climax over the question of language. In March, 1948, Jinnah, who had come to address the convocation of the Dacca University, was annoyed by the students’ demand that Bengali be recognized as a State Language at par with Urdu. He categorically told his audience: “Let me make it very clear to you that the state language of Pakistan is going to Urdu, and no other language,”
Bangalees saw his not only as a mortal blow to their culture by also as a threat to perpetuate their under representation and inferior status in the administrative services, especially in relation to Punjabis by putting them at a disadvantage in all competitive examinations. Resentment over the question exploded in February, 1952 when blood flowed freely-blood of Jabbar, Salam Rafiuddin, Barkat and twenty-two other young people who had dared come out in support of their beloved mother tongue. The blood of the martyrs forces the League Government of East Bengal to demand Bngali as one of the State languages. This demand was turned down at that time. But the Constitution adopted in 1956 declared: “The State languages of Pakistan shall be Urdu and Bengali.”
The urge for provincial autonomy was perhaps the main cause of the virtual annihilation of the Muslim League in Last Pakistan in the 1954 election. The United Front which came to power had reiterated the demand for provincial autonomy in its election programme and the new ministry concentrated on a seven-point programme which dealt largely with the same demand: “Complete autonomy for east Pakistan in all matters except defense, foreign affairs and currency, which would be reserved for the central legislature.” The minister however, could achieve little because within a forthright it was dismissed by the Central Government in a grossly arbitrary fashion.
With the passage of time the economic disparity between the two wings of Pakistan grew and so did the urge for provincial autonomy. The military rule of Ayub Khan commenced in 1958 a lasted for ten years and a half. The military rule and ‘the Basic Democracy’ of Ayub Khan could not, for obvious reasons, create any opportunity for the realization of provincial autonomy. Quite naturally, new dimensions were added to the problem of provincial autonomy and in 1966 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Announced the sis-point programme for full provincial autonomy.
Establishment of a federal form of government, with Parliament directly elected by adult suffrage; the federal government would control only defense and foreign policy, leaving all other subjects to the federating States of East Pakistan; to stop movement of capital from East West Pakistan, either separate currencies or separate fiscal policies would be established; the federal government would share in State taxes for meeting its expenses, but would itself have no powers of taxation; each of the federating States would be empowered to enter into trade agreements with foreign countries and would have full control over its earned foreign exchange; the States would have their own militia or paramilitary forces. Mujibur was arrested just two months after the announcement of the six-point programme. The false Agaratala Conspiracy Case was started in January 1968 purporting to show that a number of east Pakistani officers of high rank in civil and military establishments had entered into a conspiracy with the India diplomatic staff to bring was also implicated in this trial.
Anti-Ayub mass agitations broke out at the end of 1968 and its real leadership in East Pakistan was provided by the students’ Joint Action committee in which the student wings of all political parties were represented. The eleven point demand of the students incorporated the salient features of the six-point programme. The ant-Ayub agitations forced the government to withdraw the Agartal Conspiracy Case and in the beginning of 1969 Mujibur was released. Eventually he was invite by ayub Khan to join the Round Table Conference in Rawalpindi. At the conference Mujibur Rahman Pointe out that the national question was the key question in Pakistan but it had been sought to be by-passed by those in power ever since the inception of the new State. He said that East Pakistan has a separate entity given by unalterable facts of geography, economics, language, and culture. These facts had to be recognized in the organization of State and government. He pressed for the recognition of the six-points.
The ‘Basic Democracy’ of Ayub Khan collapsed within a few days. There was a second military take-over. Ayub Khan was replaced by Yahya Khan on March 25, 1969.
The aims of the new regime were enunciated in the three declaration issued by Yahya Khan in 1969 and 1970 and through the Legal Framework Order passed on March 30, 190. Yahya avoided any direct commitment on the question of autonomy for East Pakistan. All he would say was that he wanted to grant the maximum autonomy to the provinces, subject to the limits set by the needs of an efficient working of the central government.
Under the Legal Framework Order elections would be held and the National Assembly of Pakistan would have to draw up a Constitution within 120 days from the day of its first sitting. Elections to the National Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures were indeed held in December, 1970. The Awami League led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won 167 out of 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan in the National Assembly and thus secured an absolute majority in a House of 131. In the elections to the Provincial Legislature the electorate recorded its preference for the same party in almost equally emphatic terms. In January, 1971 Yahya Khan came to Dhaka for talks with Mujibur Rahman And other Awami League leaders. At the end of his visit, on January 14, Yahya referred to Mujibur Rahman as the future Prime Minister of Pakistan and said that power was going to be transferred to him soon. But he refused at that time to fix a date for the session of the National Assembly. After considerable delay, the Assembly was convened to meet at Dacca on March 3. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who’s People’s Party, had won 85 seats in the National assembly. threatened to boycott the Assembly unless the Awami League modified its six-point programme. He wanted a strong centre with wide powers especially in the field of taxation and foreign trade. Mujibur Rahman declared that the people of East Bengal had given a clear verdict in favor of the six-point programme, envisaging full provincial autonomy and this verdict had to be respected. The country’s constitution had to be based on the six-points.
Preparations for the National Assembly session went on in spite of Bhutto’s threat, and the Awami League’s thirty-member committee sat to review the draft constitution prepared by the party on the basis of the sox-point programme. Bhutto continued to press for the postponement of the session and threatened that there would be mass agitation all over the west wing if the National Assembly met without his party’s participation. And suddenly, on March 1, Yahya Khan postponed the session indefinitely, Announcing this decision with what he described as a “heavy heart”, he said that the attitude of the leaders of the two wings of Pakistan as also of India was regrettable. There was no claboration of the cryptic reference to India. Yahya Khan further said that Pakistan faced the gravest crisis and postponement of the session was necessary to find some solution to this crisis. The governors of the West Pakistan provinces were immediately appointed as Martial Law Administrators for their respective areas and the Governor of East Pakistan was replaced by a new Martial Law Administrator.
At a news conference Mujibur Rahman condemned this postponement as a conspiracy and called for a hartal in Dacca on the next day and a general strike throughout the country the day following. He regretted that the President had postponed the National Assembly session without even caring to consult the majority party. Spontaneous protest demonstrations against Yahya’s decision broke out in Dhaka and several thousand people held a rally outside the venue of the news conference.
As the demonstrators cried for retaliation Mujibur counseled patience and said: “We will launch a peaceful constitutional movement.” But violence erupted in Dacca the next day as the Pakistani security forces fired on the people. Curfew was imposed in Dacca and two other towns and the Martial Law Administration issued a decree clamping Press censorship in East Pakistan. On March 3, Mujibur announced the start of a non-violent non-cooperation movement which would continue “until the fundamental democratic rights of the people of East Pakistan are secured.” On the same day Yahya Khan invited the leaders of the two wings to a conference in Dacca on March 10 to thrash out their differences over the formulation of the constitution. As hundreds of people were being killed and injured in street fighting between the troops and angry demonstrators, Mojibur request was not heeded, and many more demonstrators were killed in the next few days. While the military government reinforced troops in East Pakistan by planes and ships carrying more soldiers and equipment, Yahya Khan called the National Assembly session to meet on March 25. He however warned that the army would maintain the “complete and absolute" integrity of Pakistan.
Muibur Rahman declared that his party would consider the question of attending the session only if Yahya Khan immediately lifted the martial law, withdraw troops, restored civilian rule and ordered an inquiry into the recent killing in East Pakistan. The non-cooperation movement continued. The whole of East Bengal was behind Mujibur and his Awami League. Even the Chief Justice and all the Judges of the Dacca High Court responded to the call for non-cooperation. It was a stupendous and truly incomparable movement. On March 15, Mujibur Rahman declared that he was taking over the administration of Bangladesh on the basis of his party’s absolute majority in National Assembly and the Provincial Assembly. He issued a set of 35 declaration Yahya Khan flew to Dacca and on March 16 talks between the two started. At a later stage Bhutto and other West Pakistani leaders joined the talks.
At no stage was there any breakdown of talks or any indication by Yahya Khan or his team that they had taken a final stand that could not be abandoned. On the contrary, an agreement had been reached on four points. These were: lifting of martial law and transfer of power to a civilian government by Presidential Proclamation; transfer of power in the provinces to the majority parties; Yahya Khan to remain as President and in control of the central government; and separate sittings of the National Assembly members from East and West. Pakistan preparatory to a joint session of the House to finalize the constitution. Once this agreement in principle had been reached between Mujibur and Yahya, there was only the question of defining the powers Bangladesh vis-a-vis the Centre during the interim phase.
But suddenly, on the night of March 25-26, Yahya dashed out of Dacca under cover of darkness. Simultaneously the Pakistani army went into action to re-assert its authority throughout the eastern wing. Back in west Pakistan, Yahya broadcast a message to the nation banning the Awami League and charging Mujibur with treason. And on March 26, Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh as a Sovereign People’s Republic. Formation of a provincial government of Bangladesh was announced two days later and on April 17 the Democratic Republic was formally proclaimed.
It is now clear that Yahya Khan and his team never had the slightest intention of solving Pakistan’s political crisis peacefully. They were only interested in biding time to permit the reinforcement of troops with modern arms. The remarkable success of the civil disobedience movement left the Pakistan government in no doubt that the days of colonial exploitation of the East wing were gone forever. Hence the Pakistani government ordered the commencement of genocidal military action on March 25.
As the gallant people of Bangladesh rose to fight for their freedom, acre on acre of their golden-green motherland turned red with martyrs’ blood.
War in Bangladesh
A massive attack by the Pakistani armed forces was unleashed against the entire people of Bangladesh on the night of March 25 and it is still continuing. The government of Pakistan has chosen to flout not only the mandate of the people but all known canons of civilization. No total picture of the atrocities perpetrated by the Pakistani armed forces is available as yet. But the reports published in newspapers in India and abroad and the accounts given by the lakhs of refugees who have come to India reveal that the Pakistani government has been carrying on cold-blooded genocide in Bangladesh. By all accounts and evidence the Pakistani troops have unleashed a de facto total war against the entire population of Bangladesh. They are engaged in extensive aerial bombing and strafing on towns and villages. They are using sophisticated mass-killing weapons like tanks, cannon, mortars and machine-guns. They have also used incendiary bombs and reportedly even Napalm. The government of Pakistan has systematically killed a large section of the Bengalee intellectuals and leaders of public opinion. They have deliberately killed teachers and students in large numbers, and they are killing all able-bodied Bangalees in a systematic way. An orgy of mass killing is on.
The government of Pakistan has blatantly violated the most precious principles of international law. It has violated, inter alia, the Preamble and articles 1,55 and 56 the U N. Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Right, the International Covenant on civil and Political rights, 1966, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 Article 23(g) of the Hague Regulations, 1907, Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. 1949, the Doctrine of Immunity of Non-Combatants from Belligerent attacks and the Genocide Convention, 1948.
A systematic pattern of physical and psychological destruction became apparent even during the first night of fighting on March 25, 1971. It was soon clear that certain groups had been selected to be the victims of completely unrestrained brutality. These included students and teachers. At least nine of the top academicians of the Dacca University were shot dead by the Pakistani troops in course of the midnight massacre of March 25. Many others were murdered in the next few days. Twenty academicians of the University were lined up against the wall inside the university campus on March 28 and shot dead. Many distinguished teachers, poet’s novelists, physicians and lawyers were killed by the army firing squads at Dacca, Khulna. Jessore, Rajshahi, Pabna, Chittagong and Rangpur. Even young school children were not spared. Students of St. Francis Xavir’s School in Jessore were machine-gunned by the troops.
Many University buildings at Dacca were completely destroyed. Every room in the three-storied Iqbal Hall was ransacked after the people inside had been done to death, Similar attacks took place at Jagannath Hall, Salimullah Hall and the residence halls of the Dacca Medical College. Every individual was killed in these places.
About fifty girl students residing in the Rokeya Hall of the Dacca University jumped to their death when Pakistan troops attacked the building. Most of the other girl students were brutally treated and forcibly taken away by the troops to the cantonment. Shaheed Minar, erected in memory of the martyrs of the language movement, was totally destroyed. In the apartments of the faculty staff children were shot dead in their beds.
John Rhode, an American Aid worker was in Dacca until recently and witnessed the distinction caused by the Pakistani troops there. In a letter released by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S.A., Rhode described how student dormitories of the Dacca University had been shelled by army tanks and all the residents slaughtered. He spoke of “the planned killing of much of the intellectual community including a majority of the professors at Dacca University.” In his opinion m “the law of the jungle prevails in Last Pakistan, where the mass killing of unarmed civilians, the systematic elimination of the intelligentsia” was in progress.
Simon drink, a correspondent of the Daily Telegraph was an eye-witness of the Dacca carnage. He said that on the morning of March 26 the army went about for eleven hours systematically destroying the entire old city of Dacca. People were burnt inside their homes. As people fled put of the city troops followed them. Drik narrated how people asleep in a bazar had been shot dead and in the morning were still lying there with the rugs on them as if they were still sleeping.
In two of the old city’s largest bazars the stench of dead and burning bodies was so overpowering that the survivors had to walk about with cloths over their nose. The stench of decomposed bodies pervaded the air in almost every locality of Dacca. The Pakistani troops carried truck loads of bodies to the banks of the rivers and dumped them there. An open field between the Jagannath Hall and the Rokeya Hall in the University area had been turned into a mass burial ground. People were forced by the troops to dig graves and, when they had finished, they themselves were machine-gunned by the troops. Dacca was stinking with decomposed bodies still littered on streets even a fortnight after the military operations had begun.
At Rajshahi, the Medical and the Engineering Colleges were repeatedly bombed. So were the T. B. Hospital and the Muslim School. Pakistani troops advancing on Rajshahi destroyed everything in their way. Shouting ‘jai Bangla’ slogans and without uniforms they stormed Rajshahi and the adjoining villages on April 13 and went berserk as they gunned down civilians and set the town on fire. Terrorized civilians trying to cross the Padma river were ruthlessly machine-gunned by troops waiting for them at the riverside. Women and children floundered and were drowned as machine-gun bullets sprayed the river and heavy motor shells fell midstream.
Fleeing refugees were brutally murdered in other places as well. For days Pakistan Air Force fighters, flaying low, machine-gunned stress of refuges on the Sylhet-Churkhai-Sutarkandi road. The planes flew over wide areas in search of the fleeing persons and as soon as they caught sight of them, the aircrafts swooped down to shower bullets. And the way every now and then to take spot shoots at fleeing villagers or to burn roadside villages”.
A Danish Student who was in Chittagong till April 4 narrated stories of atrocities committed by the Pakistani troops on the civil population there. Children were killed in a village on the outskirts of Chittagong as the troops fired from machine-guns at some of the mud houses there. In the city they shot many people. At one shop about fifteen people were buying food. The soldiers ordered them to come out and as they obeyed the troops lined them up and fired. Only one escaped with two bullet bullet wounds. All the others were killed. The Danish student said that on March 31, the army started burning the cantonment area and along Dacca Road, during the next three days. The New Market in Chittagong was destroyed with mortar shells. The student was told by an officer of a ship that about four hundred bodies had been floating in river Karnaphuli.
A jute mill manager from Chittagong related that all his employees had been battered to death. An engineer from Peterborough who was in Chittagong said that the army men were rounding up people and shooting them down. There was no attempt at questioning. If the people ran away they were shot down from behind like dogs. The engineer said that the Bengalees were being killed in their thousands. “If the men with men with guns couldn’t find anyone on the streets they threw mortar bombs through the windows of houses. There were hundreds of dead children.” Corpses, piled high, were left to rot in the streets,
In Chittagong, Comilla and Dacca Pakistani troops even used the bodies of murdered Bangalees to erect road barricades.
The Pakistani armed forces have been laying waste villages and towns in a manner reminiscent of the Nazi atrocities. Even Tagore’s house at Silaidah-where the poct spent one of the most creative periods of his life-has been completely destroyed by the troops. In addition to looting food godowns and granaries they have been spraying inflammable chemicals on agricultural land to destroy standing crop and to make the land uncultivable in future.
Pakistani troops have been indulging in an angry of molestation of women. In addition to the girl students of Dacca University many young girls from different areas of the city were forcibly taken by the troops to the cantonment. Even the wives and daughters of Bangalee Army officers were abducted. An eye-witness related how in one village on Comilla-Chandpur Road all the women folk were stripped and asked to march in front of advancing trucks. All of them were either shot dead or crushed under the wheels of the trucks.
The troops have been playing devilish tricks on innocent, credulous people. On several occasions, people were asked to come and collect their monthly pay packets. As the people lined up in good faith, they were mowed down with bullets. In another place people were invited to come and collect their rations from the ration shop and they were assured that no harm would be done to them. When the people came to the shop, the troops opened fire killing one hundred persons.
The contents of the diary of a British businessman as published in a Calutta daily show that even foreigners have not been spared. Three Britons were arrested on March 29 by an army unit and taken to the cantonment in Dacca for having taken photos of the bombed-out St. Thomas Church in the old city of Dacca. One of them was an official employed by British Council in Dacca while the other two were members of the British Volunteer Service Organization. Some people who witnessed the arrest informed the American Consulate and an U.S. official was sent to the cantonment. He found the Britons literally lined up against the wall and the firing squad taking the aim. It was only this timely intervention that saved the lives of these three Britons. The Pakistan Government did not even grant permission to a Red Cross mercy plane to fly to Dacca. After Waiting for two days in Karachi with relief supplies it had to go back.
It is next to impossible for any human being to describe in words the ghastly acts of brutality committed by the Pakistani armed forces. But the picture that emerges from scattered reports is terrible enough to shock even the most insensitive mind. The appalling slaughter is still continuing-yet the resistance of the people goes on heroically values will go on, how many more lives will have o be sacrificed in Bangladesh for saving civilization from barbarism.
In this hour of the supreme trial and suffering of the people of Bangladesh, we appeal o the conscience of humanity. Help the people’s struggle in Bangladesh, help the government of the people, cry in a million voices halt to reaction, come in your millions to the aid of democracy, to the success of civilization and culture.
(This brochure is based mainly on:
1. Md. Anisur Rahman. East and West Pakistan, A problem in the Political Economy of Regional Planning. Harvard University Center for International Affairs, July, 1968;
2. Gunnar Myrdal, Asian Drama, Volume1, Allen Lane The Penguin Press, London, 1968
3. Keesing’s Contempory archive;
4. The Statesman, Calcutta.)
CALUTTA UNIVERSITY BANGLADESH SAHAYAK SAMITI
SECRETARY’S REPORT
The Calcutta University Bangladesh Sahayak Samiti was formed on April 3, 1971, at a meeting of student, employees, officers and teachers of the University, teachers of affiliated colleges and members of different University bodies. The committee has Prof. Satyendranath Sen Vice-Chancellor, as its president, Prof. PK. Basu. Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, as working president and Shri Hirendramohan Majumdar, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Business Affairs and Finance, as treasurer.
An initial donation of Rs. 5000 by the Calcutta University formed the nucleus of the committee’s fund and the committee started functioning immediately.
Since its inception the committee has been rendering considerable assistance to the war evacuees. Apart from food packets, medicine and first-aid equipment have been sent. Because of the heavy influx of war evacuees-whose number has already crossed fifteen lakhs-we have had to spend several thousands of rupees and considerable energy in this sphere. Sm. Bina howmik (an alumnus of the University) along with a small team of considerable assistance in this matter. Teachers and students of schools and colleges also have lent a ready hand.
Our president sent telegrams to the Prime Minister of India and the Director general, UNESCO, amongst others on April 5 1971. In his telegram to the Prime Minister our president drew her attention to the need for giving recognition to Bangladesh. Our president drew the attention of the Director-General, UNESCO, to the dastardly attack on Bangladesh and substantial destruction of the Universities of Dacca, Rajshahi and Chittagong, including mass murder of teachers and students. He also drew the Director-General’s attention to the unabated genocide committed by the Pakistan army in Bangladesh. The Director-General has sent a telegraphic acknowledgement expressing his sympathies for the victims of genocide. The Prime Minister also has acknowledged the telegram.
One of our aims is to help those teachers of universities and other educational institutions in Bangladesh who have crossed over to India. We have offered and shall continue to offer temporary financial assistance to these teachers and we have opend a Register for them. Dr. Aniruddha Roy of Post-Graduate Islamic History and Culture department, in co-opperation with Sri Anil Sarkar of Post-Graduate Commerce and Shri Pijush Das, Shri Angsuman Malik and Shri Anil Basu, has taken charge of this department. The Syndicate of the Calcutta University has drawn up a scheme for offering visiting professorships/lectureships to the scholars from Bangladesh. With the concurrence of University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Education, Government of India, the scheme can be spread over the whole of India. The Scheme can have already written to the different State Governments and contacted some of them. We hope that something will come out of these efforts. In addition to the publication of the present brochure, we have patronized a publication in Bengali dealing with Sheikh Mujib’s Six-point programme. The task was under taken by Shri ajit Mohan Gupta (an alumnus of the University), proprietor of the Bharat Prototype Studio. Shri Swaraj Bhattacharyya, staff photographer of Chitrangada, has helped us with many valuable photographs.
Our president has issued an appeal (both in English and Bengali) to the people, especially to the alumni of the University, for liberal donations to the fund of the Samiti. The response has been encouraging. The first to donate was our national Professor, Shri Satyendranath Bose. Others to donate in quick succession were Krishnagar Women’s College, Sarojini Naido College, Women’s College, Calcutta Lady Brabourne College, Bethune School, Teachers and staff of Dr. B.C Roy Institute of Basic Medicine, Calcutta University, 61 teachers f the Post-Graduate Departments of the University, students of Economics, Political Science, Islamic History, Moerrn History and English Departments of the University, Bharat Charity Trust through Mr. N. L. Todi, Messrs. Press Agents Pvt. Ltd. Messrs. Allied Agency, Staff of Pasteur Laboratories, Siddheswar Hisiery Factory, Gokhale Memorial Girls’ College Umesh Chandra College, Bangladesh Aid Committee, Bombay. Shri H. P. Lohia,, The Anglo-India Jute Mill (officers and workers), Shri Ajit Kumar Data, former Advocate-General, Government of West Bengal, Principal Mamata Ashikary and many others from all walks of life. Free gifts of medicine were collected by shri Utpal Chowdhury and Sm. Soma Chitterjee. University students of all departments are raising funds on behalf of the Samiti. We hope the numbers of donors will sweel daily to help us tackle the gagantic task.
Professors Jancs Patranabis, Jatin Chaterji, Dipak Hazra and P. Sen Sarma have taken overall charge of the office. The office of the samiti is functioning on the first floor of the darbhanga Building between 11 a.m and 5-30p.m and at 14, Bidhan Sarani first floor, between 6 p.m and 8 p.m
We need funds to carry on the tasks we have undertaken. Students, employees and teachers of educational institutions may kindly decide to make monthly contributions for quite some time to the Vice-Chancellor’s fund. We also appeal to all others for generous contributions. Cheques may be sent in favor of the Treasurer, Calcutta University Bangladesh Sahayak Samiti.
Secretary.
Calcutta University Bangladesh
বাংলাদেশের সাত কোটি মানুষের সার্বিক মুক্তির জন্য আমাদের আজকের এই সংগ্রাম। অধিকার বাস্ত বায়িত না হওয়া পর্যন্ত সংগ্রাম চলবে। বুলেট, বন্দুক, বেয়নেট দিয়ে বাংলাদেশের মানুষকে আর স্তব্ধ করা যাবেনা। কেননা জনতা আজ ঐক্যবদ্ধ।
লক্ষ্য অর্জনের জন্যে যে কোনো ত্যাগ স্বীকারে আমাদের প্রস্তুত থাকতে হবে। ঘরে ঘরে গড়ে তুলতে হবে প্রতিরোধের দুর্গ। আমাদের দাবী ন্যায়সঙ্গত। তাই সাফল্য আমাদের সুনিশ্চিত।
জয় বাংলা
১৯/৩/৭১
This struggle of ours is for the complete liberation of seventy million people of Bangladesh. Our struggle will go on until our rights are secured. The people of Bangladesh will no longer be cowed down by bullets, guns and bayonets for today the people are united.
We must be ready for any sacrifice in order to achieve our goal. Every home must be turned into a fortress of resistance. Ours is a just demand. So we are sure to win.
Jai Bangla.
(English version of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s message-facsiile on page35.)
Published by Prof. Dilip Chakravarty, Secretary, Calcutta University Bangladesh Sahayak Samity. Senate House Darbhanga Building Calcutta-12 and printed by Mr. Ajit Mohan Gupta, Bharat Prototype Studio 71/1, College Street. Calcutta - 12, Price: Rupee one only.