via UNHCR
I get very squeamish over military intervention. Often it results in more human rights violations that it was intended to stop. But the case of Bangladesh makes me less cynical about military-led humanitarian interventions than I would otherwise be. Bangladesh is better off than it could possibly have been under the brutal military rule of Pakistan.
On December 16, 1971, a dramatic ceremony took place at the Rama Race Course in what was then East Pakistan. The picture was beamed across the world showing Pakistani General A.A.K. Niazi signing an “instrument of surrender” with Indian General J.S. Aurora watching. Forever more, Bangladeshis know this day Bijoy Dibosh or Liberation Day.
As George Harrison put it succinctly in his song during the now iconic Concert for Bangladesh in the summer of 1971, something needed to be done:
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Where so many people are dying fast
And it sure looks like a mess
I’ve never seen such distress
In the end, this Indian military intervention was an important victory for human rights. The Pakistani Army was engaged in brutal massacres of intellectuals and minorities, forcing an estimated 10 million people from their homes and leaving upwards of 3 million dead. The scenes of families living in sewage pipes outside of Calcutta, India was seared into the memory of the world. The UNCHR called the 1971 crisis as the “most dramatic exodus of the 21st Century”.
So, the deed was done. Bangladesh was free. No longer would it be called East Pakistan or the “Eastern Wing”. No longer would West Pakistani elites treat their language with disdain. No longer would West Pakistani elites willfully violate the economic, social and cultural rights of the Bengali people.
It hasn’t been easy for the country in these 40 years. There have been some incredibly violent political struggles that have scarred the landscape of the country to this day. Between 1975 and 1982, there were at least 12 violent coup attempts, 7 of them successful.
Women’s rights have come a long way but much work remains to be done. During the 1971 civil war, there were thousands of reported cases of rape by Pakistani soldiers. No one has ever faced justice for these war crimes.
Security forces continue to engage in disappearances and violent suppression of protests. There has been only rather sloppy efforts at justice for the crimes of 1971.
But, Bangladeshis across the economic, social, cultural and political divide understand the importance of human rights and engage in the slow process of ensuring human rights for all. This is done by organizations such as the Grameen Foundation or BRAC which uses rights-based models of development to ensure that economic livelihoods are improved without causing harm. Ain-o-Salish Kendra is a force to be reckoned with as the Bangladesh equivalent of the ACLU.
George Harrison started the song with a rationale about why he organized the Concert for Bangladesh:
My friend came to me
With sadness in his eyes
He told me that he wanted help
Before his country dies
Well Ravi Shankar’s country (the friend that George Harrison was referring to in the song) not only did not die, but it is alive and thriving. Happy birthday, Bangladesh!
As a longtime AIUSA supporter, seriously offended by the misrepresentation of the facts and a one-sided view of a misunderstood reality of the days gone by. My grandfather, a decorated Pakistani Major served the people of East Pakistan with the same heart as he did the west — no questions asked. For 2 long years, he devoted his blood and sweat to his brothers out east, unable to see his own newborn son. The son who would become my father. A father, who in turn would lead the first International NGO back to Monsoon ravaged Chittagong days after my younger sister’s birth. The people and the author need to look deeper and rethink their beliefs. Beliefs that are closer to the past reality than the one traceable to the trouble agents in the middle.
Yes, yes, there is a lot of really horrible attempts at trying to rewrite the sordid history of the brutality of the Pakistani Army in Bangladesh in 1971. Those revisionist faux-historians should have a look at the Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas' expose about the deeds committed by your grandfather's comrades in the Pakistani Army: http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-…
Perhaps your "grandfather, a decorated Pakistani Major" didn't get involved in the massacres and mass rapes of Bengalis in East Pakistan– there were a few of course. But, it doesn't diminish the horrors that people in East Pakistan faced in 1971.
Yes, yes, there is a lot of really horrible attempts at trying to rewrite the sordid history of the brutality of the Pakistani Army in Bangladesh in 1971. Those revisionist faux-historians should have a look at the Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas' expose about the deeds committed by your grandfather's comrades in the Pakistani Army: http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-…
Perhaps your "grandfather, a decorated Pakistani Major" didn't get involved in the massacres and mass rapes of Bengalis in East Pakistan– there were a few of course. But, it doesn't diminish the horrors that people in East Pakistan faced in 1971.
Yes, yes, there is a lot of really horrible attempts at trying to rewrite the sordid history of the brutality of the Pakistani Army in Bangladesh in 1971. Those revisionist faux-historians should have a look at the Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas' expose about the deeds committed by your grandfather's comrades in the Pakistani Army: http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-…
Perhaps your "grandfather, a decorated Pakistani Major" didn't get involved in the massacres and mass rapes of Bengalis in East Pakistan– there were a few of course. But, it doesn't diminish the horrors that people in East Pakistan faced in 1971.
Yes, yes, there is a lot of really horrible attempts at trying to rewrite the sordid history of the brutality of the Pakistani Army in Bangladesh in 1971. Those revisionist faux-historians should have a look at the Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas’ expose about the deeds committed by your grandfather’s comrades in the Pakistani Army: http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0613_71_genocide.htm
Perhaps your “grandfather, a decorated Pakistani Major” didn’t get involved in the massacres and mass rapes of Bengalis in East Pakistan– there were a few of course. But, it doesn’t diminish the horrors that people in East Pakistan faced in 1971.
Amnesty should help Bangladesh War crimes trial.
Though India was a saviour of bangladeshis from wrath of pakistani brutalities in 1971. Bangladeshis are still adamanet in not accepting obligations.They do not care for the sacrifices indian soldiers made for their liberation at Hilli,Kushtia and Ashuganj.They are still haters of indians and Hindus, This is all due to Lord Carzon british viceroy decision to divide India into two bangali halves in 1906 All Moghul emperiors converted present bangal into muslim state by forceful conversions. All are sins of our forefathers.