Liberation War and high road to Karachi
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Nehal Adil
After travelling a full circle of history, both Bangladesh and Pakistan have thrown off the long night of military dictatorship. In Pakistan, Awami National Party and the Awami League fought shoulder to shoulder with Peoples Party against religious fundamentalist forces. In Bangladesh, the Awami League led a fourteen-party alliance to electoral victory. December 16, 1971 saw the inglorious surrender of the genocidal forces of Pakistan. In fact it was their rescue mission by the trick of the invisible power that created this conflict and genocide in which the people of all the parts of Indian subcontinent became innocent victims. The war criminals were rescued unharmed. Though today we hear the cry for the trial of the war criminals, we must go back to history to find the origin of this crime. It goes back not to December 16, 1971 but to October 8, 1958, when the then Army Chief General Ayub Khan backed by the open support of American Ambassador scrapped Pakistan's first Republic and declared Martial Law. Twenty days later he became President of Pakistan removing Eskander Mirza. He called it revolution. Is it today of any significance if Eskander Mirza was from Murshidabad and a descendent of General Mirza Jafar Ali? I would not take any pride if Pakistan's first President was a Bangalee like him. He was a devoted pro-British, civil servant planted in independent Pakistan. I often meet in Dhaka Mahfuz Khan, a fellow journalist who worked with me in the Daily People which became the first target of Pakistan Army assault on March 25, 1971. Karachi was the Federal Capital of Pakistan. Our compensation for the loss of Federal Capital Delhi and also the big city, Calcutta, the provincial capital of Bengal, was used for building up Karachi capital of a small province Sind and a cantonment town to a national megalopolis. It was Pakistan's commercial capital too. Our jute and tea would be marketed from there. Our foreign currency earning would be used to enrich its super rich. That was the saga of disparity that brought the end of Pakistan. We still uphold our demand to Pakistan's federal territory and federal asset. That is our just demand as the then foreign minister Abdus Samad Azad ascertained. Those demands were discarded by our pro-Pakistani military regimes. Pakistan broke up not for any fault of ours. Ayub Khan illegally removed the capital of Pakistan from Karachi to Islamabad. For that he needed the approval of the national assembly and both the provincial assemblies. Ayub Khan never followed that procedure. The Awami League, the largest political party of the then Pakistan never approved the illegal annexation of Karachi to West Pakistan. It was Karachi that Awami League's founder and the former Prime Minister of undivided Bengal and undivided Pakistan had chosen as his home. As such we have still an emotional attachment to that city where millions of ethnic Bangalees; and their nearest East Indian cousins, the Biharis, live even today. It was the Biharis who were turned against the Bangalees by the army. That was one of the reasons of break up of Pakistan. But today both Bangalees and Biharis are badly treated in Pakistan. In 1969, on my return to Karachi from Germany via Middle East by bus, Hassan Shahryar, then a student of Karachi University and a silent activist of our self-determination movement, made me acquainted with Karachi Bangalees. Almost all of them were Awami Leaguers. They gave heroic reception to Bangabandhu when he visited Karachi before the election. Karachi Bangalees still carry the banner Awami League that is why Awami League survives there with other democratic forces. Hassan Shahryar ultimately took me to Khalil Ahmed Tirmizi, self-declared Secretary General of Karachi Provincial Awami League. Karachi was a part of Sind. But Mr Tirmizi declared Karachi as a separate Province. Many still want Karachi to be a separate province. I think Mr Tirmizi came from Calcutta to Karachi with Mr Suhrawardy. He needed someone to help him with press releases of All Pakistan Awami League whose office was in Sadr. The office was in a bad shape. Mr Tirmizi was an extremely friendly person. He felt I needed a good chair, a good table, a typist and a peon. He kindly managed all. But I felt instead of those expenses, he could give me a good salary for my work which I had offered free for national interest, though I was not an Awami Leaguer. Mr Tirmizi offered me a very comfortable chair which he said, "Shahid Saheb used to sit here and nobody since has used it but I feel you deserve it. I have no other free chair." It took me some time to realise by Shahid Saheb he meant Hussein Shahid Suhrawardy, the late Prime Minister and the self-declared only link between the two wings of Pakistan. Awami League leadership, it appeared was determined to believe Yahya Khan, the Army and the Americans will hand over power to them. I did not believe this theory. My firm belief was that we were going to land in a liberation war to get rid of military dictatorship. To me Pakistan Army had not only Punjabees but Bangalee traitors too. The nation learned that bitter truth on August 15, 1975 when I was with my tears in far off Paris. I did not last there long. I met in Nazrul Academy of Karachi, a well-suited gentleman, Mr Shafiq Rehman. He said he was publishing an English weekly, the Express, with Alamgir Kabir and Zahir Raihan to help the liberation process of Bangladesh. I came back to Bangladesh to work for Express and the People, both supporting our liberation struggle. But we must feel guilty of negligence after liberation. Karachi Bangalees were cut off from Bangladesh. There was no direct communication. Many of them fled via Kabul taking risks of their life. In Bangladesh, only those who worked with Pakistan Government got job in Bangladesh government while others were left unattended. I had talked with late Abdus Samad Azad, the then foreign minister. He said, "Do what you can as a citizen. We have not created this situation." What we needed was humanitarian support for Bangalees in Pakistan. I heard from Hassan Shahryar that Mr Tirmizi made a few visits to Bangladesh. Before the Liberation War, when I had decided to come back to Dhaka, Farouq Alamgir and Matiur helped me to buy ticket. But my good friend Muhaddeth, who was always practical, advised me against any new mad venture. But in the book by our teacher Rehman Sobhan, I came to know Muhaddeth too had come back to the East. Bangabandhu had always insisted on our share to federal assets and federal territory and Mr Bhutto would routinely decline. But we have not renounced that claim. A democratic Pakistan and democratic Bangladesh can settle those questions for democracy and prosperity of our common home, the South Asian Sub-continent. That is the high road to Karachi. We go back to Shahid Suhrawardy and Bangabandhu to that commitment.
After travelling a full circle of history, both Bangladesh and Pakistan have thrown off the long night of military dictatorship. In Pakistan, Awami National Party and the Awami League fought shoulder to shoulder with Peoples Party against religious fundamentalist forces. In Bangladesh, the Awami League led a fourteen-party alliance to electoral victory. December 16, 1971 saw the inglorious surrender of the genocidal forces of Pakistan. In fact it was their rescue mission by the trick of the invisible power that created this conflict and genocide in which the people of all the parts of Indian subcontinent became innocent victims. The war criminals were rescued unharmed. Though today we hear the cry for the trial of the war criminals, we must go back to history to find the origin of this crime. It goes back not to December 16, 1971 but to October 8, 1958, when the then Army Chief General Ayub Khan backed by the open support of American Ambassador scrapped Pakistan's first Republic and declared Martial Law. Twenty days later he became President of Pakistan removing Eskander Mirza. He called it revolution. Is it today of any significance if Eskander Mirza was from Murshidabad and a descendent of General Mirza Jafar Ali? I would not take any pride if Pakistan's first President was a Bangalee like him. He was a devoted pro-British, civil servant planted in independent Pakistan. I often meet in Dhaka Mahfuz Khan, a fellow journalist who worked with me in the Daily People which became the first target of Pakistan Army assault on March 25, 1971. Karachi was the Federal Capital of Pakistan. Our compensation for the loss of Federal Capital Delhi and also the big city, Calcutta, the provincial capital of Bengal, was used for building up Karachi capital of a small province Sind and a cantonment town to a national megalopolis. It was Pakistan's commercial capital too. Our jute and tea would be marketed from there. Our foreign currency earning would be used to enrich its super rich. That was the saga of disparity that brought the end of Pakistan. We still uphold our demand to Pakistan's federal territory and federal asset. That is our just demand as the then foreign minister Abdus Samad Azad ascertained. Those demands were discarded by our pro-Pakistani military regimes. Pakistan broke up not for any fault of ours. Ayub Khan illegally removed the capital of Pakistan from Karachi to Islamabad. For that he needed the approval of the national assembly and both the provincial assemblies. Ayub Khan never followed that procedure. The Awami League, the largest political party of the then Pakistan never approved the illegal annexation of Karachi to West Pakistan. It was Karachi that Awami League's founder and the former Prime Minister of undivided Bengal and undivided Pakistan had chosen as his home. As such we have still an emotional attachment to that city where millions of ethnic Bangalees; and their nearest East Indian cousins, the Biharis, live even today. It was the Biharis who were turned against the Bangalees by the army. That was one of the reasons of break up of Pakistan. But today both Bangalees and Biharis are badly treated in Pakistan. In 1969, on my return to Karachi from Germany via Middle East by bus, Hassan Shahryar, then a student of Karachi University and a silent activist of our self-determination movement, made me acquainted with Karachi Bangalees. Almost all of them were Awami Leaguers. They gave heroic reception to Bangabandhu when he visited Karachi before the election. Karachi Bangalees still carry the banner Awami League that is why Awami League survives there with other democratic forces. Hassan Shahryar ultimately took me to Khalil Ahmed Tirmizi, self-declared Secretary General of Karachi Provincial Awami League. Karachi was a part of Sind. But Mr Tirmizi declared Karachi as a separate Province. Many still want Karachi to be a separate province. I think Mr Tirmizi came from Calcutta to Karachi with Mr Suhrawardy. He needed someone to help him with press releases of All Pakistan Awami League whose office was in Sadr. The office was in a bad shape. Mr Tirmizi was an extremely friendly person. He felt I needed a good chair, a good table, a typist and a peon. He kindly managed all. But I felt instead of those expenses, he could give me a good salary for my work which I had offered free for national interest, though I was not an Awami Leaguer. Mr Tirmizi offered me a very comfortable chair which he said, "Shahid Saheb used to sit here and nobody since has used it but I feel you deserve it. I have no other free chair." It took me some time to realise by Shahid Saheb he meant Hussein Shahid Suhrawardy, the late Prime Minister and the self-declared only link between the two wings of Pakistan. Awami League leadership, it appeared was determined to believe Yahya Khan, the Army and the Americans will hand over power to them. I did not believe this theory. My firm belief was that we were going to land in a liberation war to get rid of military dictatorship. To me Pakistan Army had not only Punjabees but Bangalee traitors too. The nation learned that bitter truth on August 15, 1975 when I was with my tears in far off Paris. I did not last there long. I met in Nazrul Academy of Karachi, a well-suited gentleman, Mr Shafiq Rehman. He said he was publishing an English weekly, the Express, with Alamgir Kabir and Zahir Raihan to help the liberation process of Bangladesh. I came back to Bangladesh to work for Express and the People, both supporting our liberation struggle. But we must feel guilty of negligence after liberation. Karachi Bangalees were cut off from Bangladesh. There was no direct communication. Many of them fled via Kabul taking risks of their life. In Bangladesh, only those who worked with Pakistan Government got job in Bangladesh government while others were left unattended. I had talked with late Abdus Samad Azad, the then foreign minister. He said, "Do what you can as a citizen. We have not created this situation." What we needed was humanitarian support for Bangalees in Pakistan. I heard from Hassan Shahryar that Mr Tirmizi made a few visits to Bangladesh. Before the Liberation War, when I had decided to come back to Dhaka, Farouq Alamgir and Matiur helped me to buy ticket. But my good friend Muhaddeth, who was always practical, advised me against any new mad venture. But in the book by our teacher Rehman Sobhan, I came to know Muhaddeth too had come back to the East. Bangabandhu had always insisted on our share to federal assets and federal territory and Mr Bhutto would routinely decline. But we have not renounced that claim. A democratic Pakistan and democratic Bangladesh can settle those questions for democracy and prosperity of our common home, the South Asian Sub-continent. That is the high road to Karachi. We go back to Shahid Suhrawardy and Bangabandhu to that commitment.