On March 25, 1971, the army occupation of East Pakistan turned into a genocide. On the late afternoon of March 25, the political confusion ended abruptly when the last President of united Pakistan, Yahya Khan, suddenly flew home to West Pakistan. Just prior to mid-night when the city was about to seek refuge from all the hustle and bustle of daily chores, the attack came. The Pakistani army indiscriminately attacked the Bengalis. The attack was orchestrated and carried out by the Eastern Command of Pakistan which was comprised of only one infantry division, i.e. 14 Division, with its Headquarters in Dhaka. Of the four brigades of 14 Division, the 57 Brigade was located in Dhaka, the 23 Brigade at Rangpur, the 107 Brigade at Jessore and the 53 Brigade was at Cumilla and Chttogram. This Eastern Command of Pakistan Army -- "which had brought up to strength of about 40,000 men scattered throughout East Bengal -- moved up against the 5,000 Bengali police with their headquarters at Rajarbagh in Dhaka. At the same time they attacked the detachments -- 1000 men -- of the East Pakistan Rifles at Pielkhana..." (Jackson, 1975: 33).
All over the country the attacks were carried out with precision as laid down in their "Operation Search Light." "[O]n 25 March when his green telephone rang at about 11 a.m., Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan, Chief of Eastern Command, was on the line. He said, 'Khadim [Major General Khadim Hussain Raja, the General Officer Commanding 14 Division in East Pakistan], it is tonight.' In addition, Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan and his staff were to spend the night at the Martial Law Headquarters in the Second Capital to watch the progress of action in and outside Dhaka" (Salik, 1997: 71). 'The Butcher Khan, like Nero, wanted to see how 'Rome was burnt'.
Prior to the final attack, the Pakistani command tried to either remove Bengali officers from commanding positions or disarm them and weaken the strength of the only existing Bengali regiment run by Bengali officers. During the third week of February 1971, there was a conference in Dhaka of all Brigade Commanders where decision was taken to deploy the four units of Bengali Regiments in different civil duties across the country.
Army tanks went in different directions to demolish different targets. One contingent rolled through the main street from airport to the city and attacked a newspaper office in front of the Radio Pakistan Dhaka office, and the same contingent took over the control of the radio station. Another went towards Dhaka University and attacked students' dorms. This attacked was actually video tapped by a professor of East Pakistan (Later Bangladesh) University of Engineering and Technology University, and the tape was smuggled out of the country as a first hand report of the massacre to the outside world. The area where the attacked took place in the student dorms, there were also selective break-ins at the faculty residences and a couple of professors were killed on that fearful night. Part of this attack was captured quite vividly by historian Wolpert: "US M-24 tanks led the Punjabi-Baluchi assault upon student dormitories on the campus of the University of Dacca. Iqbal and Jagnath halls were filled with sleeping students and faculty when the tanks opened fire and continued shooting at least five minutes. Soldiers crouched behind the tanks then charged into the shell-battered dorms with fixed bayonets and killed all persons still alive: students, professors, caretakers, and servants. Tikka Khan's troops were thorough."
The Pakistani military ruler had been preparing for this crack down if not for a long time, since March 1st, the day they postponed the meeting of newly elected National Assembly. Especially after March 7 when the whole population started its non-cooperation movement against the central rule following directions from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Pakistani ruler became very annoyed but could not blame Mujib for treason, as Mujib did not declare 'independence'. Since that date, the army was preparing the blue print to attack Bengalis.
Obviously, it was a fact that West Pakistani armies committed genocide in East Pakistan. People may try to ignore the veracity of the attack and downplay the atrocities committed by the members of Pakistani army and some of their stooges like the members of Al-Badr and Al Shamas, "two separate wings" of Razakar's organisation permitted to function by the central authority in August of 1971 at the local level by recruiting members from the disgruntled political party like Jamat-e-Islam and Muslim League. "Well- educated and properly motivated students from the schools and madrasas were put in Al-Badr Wing, where they were trained to undertake 'Specialized Operations', while the remainder were grouped together under Al-Shams, which was responsible for the protection of bridges, vital points, and other areas," Niazi wrote. However, Niazi did not elaborate on "Specialized Operations," but those who lived through the period were very much aware of the meaning of "Specialized Operations"-killing innocent Bengalis. One author writes, "Most recruits were drawn from the Urdu-speaking Bihari population. The Razakaras' state-sponsored terrorism completed the social, political and cultural divide between the Biharis and the Bengali majority." (Talbot, 1998: 209).
Currently, for political purposes, many may try to minimise the magnitude of the sufferings of ordinary people by siding with those who unlashed the atrocities, but in the core of their hearts, they knew the fateful night of March 25 in 1971, the historical day for all the Bengalis for time immemorial. One thing is certain that while the Pakistani Army targeted the Bengalis, no Urdu speaking people were attacked by the Pakistani Army. Rather, there were stories about how many Bengalis survived the initial attack by speaking Urdu loudly and gave the attacking army an impression that they were non-Bengalis by ethnicity. Pakistani army tried to diffuse the genocide issue by suggesting that the army was targeting "Bengali separatists," and was suggesting that they were not all Bengalis who favoured the creation of Bangladesh by separating from Pakistan. Even a foreigner opposed this view,"[W]e object to the use of term the "Bengali separatists" as being inaccurate and pejorative. The struggle in East Pakistan is between West Pakistan Armed Forces and non-Bengali civilians on one side and Bengalis on the other side," (Blood, 2002: 279) thus is called a "Selective Genocide."
Dr Mokerrom Hossain is a Professor at the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Virginia State University, United States of America (USA). mhossain@vsu.edu. The piece is excerpted from the writer's book titled 'From Protest to Freedom: The Birth of Bangladesh.'