University of Virginia Library

Yahya Khan And The Bleeding Of Bengal

By S.M. HUSSAIN

—Ed.)

A few points are worth
stressing. First, Bangla Desh is
not a second Biafra, Bangla
Desh is not a region inhabited
by a minority ethnic group and
it is not (with West Pakistan)
part of one geographical entity.

Secondly, Bengali freedom
fighters are not a band of
bearded revolutionaries with
unflinching faith in sustained
armed uprising. The leaders of
Bangla Desh are liberal
democrats and come from
middle class families. All of
them have been elected to the
national and provincial
legislatures and all belong to
the Awami League Party.

This is the fundamental
difference between them and
the Ceylonese rebels, who were
not elected representatives of
the people. Like Mrs.
Bandernaike and her cabinet
colleagues, the Awami League
representatives were the de jure
government. However, whereas
in Ceylon the outgoing
government transferred power
to Mrs. Bandernaike after she
had been elected in Pakistan
General Yahya Khan refused to
transfer power to Sheik
Mujibur Rahman after he had
been elected and his party had
won an absolute majority. By
virtue of the mandate the
people have given him through
their votes, Mujib is the
legitimate government.

Usurper

Yahya, on the other hand, is
a usurper who has seized power
by force. The difference
between Yahya and the
Ceylonese rebels, then, is that
the latter tried to seize—power
by force and failed, but that
Yahya succeeded.

Those countries which
helped Mrs. Bandernaike's
government against the rebels
and who are supporting and
helping the Bangla Desh
Government against Yahya's
military junta are consistent in
their stand. Those countries
which supported Bandernaike's
government and are now siding
with Pakistani military
usurpers are following a double
standard.

Thirdly, the freedom fight
in Bangla Desh was not, in its
inception, a preplanned,
organized armed uprising. Until
March 25, 1971, the Awami
League wanted to fulfill its
pledge to give autonomy to the
provinces. Yahya kept the
Awami leaders engaged in
political negotiations, and
during the whole period of
negotiations he shipped troops
from West Pakistan and
deployed them all over East
Pakistan.

The military action which
began at 11 p.m. on March 25,
1971, came as an absolute
surprise to the Bengalis,
thousands of whom died in
their sleep. Sheik Majib who
suspected Yahya of bad faith
and had knowledge of the
impending military action
some hours before it was
launched, decided to wait for
the military authorities to
come and take him into

custody, and did not escape to
organize and lead a guerrilla
fight.

Bengali Brutalities

After about a week of
military brutalities, the
surviving Bengalis, who saw
their wives, children and
relatives being killed and
tortured and who themselves
were fleeing for their lives,
turned around in a desperate
attempt to save their lives by
hitting back their pursuers with
whatever they could lay their
hands on. It is this elementary,
primeval instinct of thousands
of hounded Bengalis that has,
over the last seven months,
taken the shape of the Mukti
Bahini or Liberation Army.

If anybody deserves more
than anybody else the credit or
discredit for making the
Bengalis take up arms against
Yahya's troops, it is Yahya
Khan himself. The Awami
leaders who escaped the
holocaust could only have
done what they are doing,
namely, organized the
spontaneous uprising of the
Bengalis and used it to liberate
the place which is their home,
but to which they cannot
return so long as it remains
under the occupation of the
West Pakistani troops.

Fourthly, how does India fit
into the picture? Whatever
weight may be given to the
traditional hostility between
India and Pakistan and to
India's desire to see Pakistan
wither away, such hostility
certainly is not the major
determinant of India's decision
to support with her armed
forces the cause of Bangla
Desh.

Indira Gandhi has, at least
twice, alluded to the factor
that weighs heavily on her
mind. She has said that east
India is an explosive region and
that it may go out of control.
Though she has refrained from
elaborating upon her remark,
one should be able to
understand its implications
from what has been happening
in the Indian provinces around
Bangla Desh.

Tribes

The ultra leftist Naxalites
have made functioning of a
democratic political system
almost impossible in West
Bengal. They believe in armed
insurrection. Sections of the
Nagas and Mizoos, two tribes
living in the mountainous
region of Assam, which borders
on China, have long been
waging a guerrilla war against
the government. Another hilly
tribe, the Tipras of the
Tipperrah state, which bulges
into Bangla Desh on its
eastern fringe, has become
restless and some of the Tipras
have adopted terrorist tactics.