Strom over AK Khandker\\\'s book

A K Khandker (AKK) has enflamed the political platform with his book 1971 Bhetoray Bairay. The book has also brought the former Deputy Chief of the Mukti Bahini bagful of abuses and insults. The ruling party supporters have condemned him into the same league as late President Ziaur Rahman whom they called a Pakistan ISI agent, and Kader Siddiki, whom they named as a neo-Razakar. They have accused AKK of taking money from ISI to write the book as a part of conspiracy by anti-liberation forces against Bangladesh!
Critics have used the meanest adjectives to attack the war hero where even his presence at the historic surrender ceremony on December 16, 1971 as Deputy Chief of the Mukti Bahini has been trashed. They have stated that AKK was loitering in Kolkata on  December 16, 1971 and was lifted by the Indians and taken to Dhaka for the ceremony, thus undermining the role of Mukti Bahini in the liberation war and India in that war. They further stated that even his dress in shirt and trouser and not war fatigues indicated that he was not actively involved in the liberation war!
The ruling party supporters and other critics of AKK are shocked because he said in the book that Bangabandhu ended his historic March 7 speech with "Joy Pakistan" after saying "Joy Bangla." They have also been angered because AKK has said that Bangabandhu did not announce the independence of Bangladesh before he surrendered and that the Awami League was not prepared to fight the war of liberation. These statements in AKK's book have hit the AL's interpretation of the 1971 war of liberation with the force of a political tsunami.
Ironically, in attacking AKK, the Awami Leaguers have hit at their own base. They have used foul language to abuse him but have not been able to put forward convincing arguments to dismiss the issues of history that the war hero has raised in his book. Instead of convincing arguments, they have argued that anyone who contradicts or questions the contribution of Bangabandhu in the war of liberation of Bangladesh is a traitor and does not deserve to live in Bangladesh.
I have worked with AKK for five years, between 1980-82, in Canberra and between 1983-86 in New Delhi. He talked to me about the events of 1971 many times over. Except the issue of "Joy Pakistan", all the other issues that have brought AKK heaps of abuse from the Awami League have been written the same way as he had told me in one-to-one conversations I had with him.
The "Joy Pakistan" issue has surprised me as it has many others. But the other issues that have angered the Awami Leaguers have been discussed and written in the public domain before AKK's book. Tajuddin's daughter's book is more graphic against the AL's version of history on the issues of declaration of the war and its preparedness than AKK's book.
To those who know him, AKK is nothing like the villain that his present opponents have tried to make him. If patriotism means being prepared to do for the country whatever it requires to ensure and protect its independence, then he should be anyone's patriot. In those long conversations I had with him, he would tell me repeatedly how from March 01, 1971 he would walk from his residence to the old airport and watch the Pakistanis bring in every flight of PIA paramilitary from the then West Pakistan dressed in the Awami dress.
His own intelligence being the second in command of the East Pakistan base of the Pakistan Air Force told him in no uncertain terms that the Pakistanis were involved in sham negotiations with Bangabandhu to buy time to strike upon the people of the then East Pakistan.
AKK had also told me of his closeness with his Punjabi boss and how easy it would have been for him and those in contact with him before March 25 to destroy the Air Force arsenal.
As many would remember, the Pakistanis used the Air Force extensively for strafing to physically control the land after the Pakistanis started their genocide on the night of March 25, 1971. AKK's contact with the AL's political leadership to destroy the Air Force's arsenal was turned down with contempt.
Similar attempt by Brigadier Majumdar in Chittagong from where the announcement of independence was made and the first salvos at the Pakistani army by the freedom fighters to make the first move was also turned down.
No historical evidence has yet turned up to suggest that the AL had contacted the Bengali members of Pakistani's military, EPR, Police to prepare for the war of independence.
There is no evidence either that the AL itself had any armed cadre for such a war in which the Pakistanis massacred hundreds of thousands of men, women and children. In fact, these Bengali officers/soldiers/armed personnel defected and spontaneously started their armed response to the Pakistani genocide on their own and did not wait for a declaration of independence. The AL's leadership had crossed into India and Bangabandhu had surrendered to the Pakistanis without any contact with them.
AKK, like the rest of those who joined the freedom movement from defence forces' background, decided to join the war of liberation on his own accord. He left Dhaka within days of the start of Pakistani genocide with his family and joined the liberation war risking his life and those of his wife and children who accompanied him.
The way the members of the ruling party in which the opposition JP also joined and abused AKK in parliament was unbelievable. Members wanted the book banned, AKK arrested and tried as a traitor. The body language of these members was particularly significant, full of venom like they wanted to physically tear the war hero apart. Those who watched this surreal session in parliament were left wondering where those who attacked AKK with such venom were during the liberation war.
The AL came to power in 2008 riding the crest of a popularity wave. AKK as the President of the Sector Commanders Forum was instrumental in motivating the Projonmo to vote for the AL on the spirit of 1971.
It is also significant that those who were with AKK at the launching of his book were not BNP or Jamaat but stalwarts of the AL's cultural front. They must have read the book underlining that many prominent Awami Leaguers like, for instance, Dr. Anisuzzaman have not dismissed the book the way Awami League's top political leadership has.
AKK has not been disrespectful to Bangabandhu personally in the book. His book's basic theme nevertheless is that the genocide of the Pakistanis that started on March 25, 1971 transformed people in such manner that it did not matter who announced the independence or who led it because the people were determined to die for freedom. His regret is that had the AL been better prepared for the war of liberation, there would have been lesser miseries and deaths in that war. In fact, dispassionate reading of his book would give the BNP many issues to criticise because AKK does not give Ziaur Rahman any of the credit that the party gives him for announcing the declaration of independence and his role in the liberation war.
There is nothing wrong in the criticism against AKK's book but there is nothing right either in the manner the ruling party men and supporters have subjected him to abuse, humiliation and insults. Finance Minister AMA Muhith made this point explicitly when he asked those who oppose his book to write his/her own book and refute the points/issues with which they differ.
However, the Awami Leaguers have shown no intention of taking up AMA Muhith's suggestion and have kept up their abuse on their belief that all glory of independence of Bangladesh should go to Bangabandhu and the Awami League - a belief that is now falling apart. AKK's book and that of Tajuddin's daughter would be of tremendous value when attempts are made at some future time to get out of the AL's zero-sum interpretation of history and seek out a balanced view of the 1971 liberation war.
Doubt lingers also in the minds of many who are not AL supporters whether Bangabandhu said "Joy Pakistan". However, the onus is on AKK's opponents to prove he is wrong. The only way to do this is to bring out a record of the entire speech. Meanwhile, the Awami Leaguers who are now attacking AKK should spare a moment and consider that they are not doing Bangabandhu or their role in 1971 any favour by condemning the country's top liberation war heroes - Maulana Bhasani, MAG Osmani, Ziaur Rahman, Kader Siddiki, and now AKK - as anti-liberation force and ISI agents.
Meanwhile, AKK has resigned as Chairman, Sector Commanders' Forum that has enhanced his standing with those who think that those who fought with arms in 1971 are the country's real heroes. He has not budged even a bit from what he wrote in the book.
The writer is a retired career Ambassador.  

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