by Abuzar Ilyas
The current security and political scenario of Pakistan is somewhat identical to the circumstances with which our Army was faced, in 1971 in East Pakistan, which resulted into the Fall of Dhaka, in terms of how our Army was maligned. According to some people with Anti-Pakistani Ideology and Anti-Pakistan-Armed-Forces thinking, all the rapes and killings in East Pakistan in 1971 were done by Pakistan Army! The same type of propaganda is on top these days against Pakistan Army and ISI in addition to the Sindh Rangers and Frontier Corps!
Those who have aimed to distort Pakistan’s history have been propagating false narrative on the event of East Pakistan’s separation, with the aim to disrespect the Two-Nation-Theory and the very existence of Pakistan. The dire allegations that paint a picture of a brutal, barbaric force are the killing of 3 million and in some accounts 2 million Muslims by the Pak Army.
It is a fact that 40,000 troops from one division and five brigades were deployed on all borders of East Pakistan against Indian Aggression at that time. According to simple math, if the tension lasted from March to December of 1971, it would roughly make 250 days in all. In these math’s, around 12,000 people would be needed to be killed in every single day in order to kill the alleged 3 million people; which was impossible because the Pak Army, which was also confronting an enemy force 10 times, and a 2 times bigger internal insurgency (the Mukti Bahini), simply cannot rape or kill 12000 human beings in a day. If that would have been the case, 3 million bullets were needed to kill 3 million people, in case of “one shot one kill”, which was impossible in East Pakistan Scenario when our troops fought with daggers and rods against enemy forces, which could not have been that effective. The fact is that the regular Pakistan Army troops and FF and East Pakistan Rifles Jawans fought against the enemy by using Guerrilla tactics just for defending their motherland against the enemy. Just like in East Pakistan, the politicians and the media – that had unfortunately connived with the enemy, – blamed the Army to have been fighting against “own people”; the same type of propaganda is going on today in Pakistan about the Pakistan Army, asserting that they are fighting against “own people” in North West Pakistan.
The point to ponder upon is that if 2 million people were slaughtered in East Pakistan in 1971 from March to December, who actually did that? There are three plausible possibilities; the Indian backed Mukti Bahini; or Indian Army; or the fighting capable Tibetan Fighters who are still creating insurgency in the Tibet Province of Great China. The exposure of the ‘Agartala Conspiracy’ – which the Pakistani premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), unfolded in its report (Early 1968) – gave proofs to the Government and SC of that time upon Sheikh Mujeeb’s secret deal with the Indians; but the Courts and the Politicians intentionally forgave Mujeeb just to achieve reconciliation, and resorted to political bargaining. While the same facts have been persistently used to create the Anti-Pakistan rhetoric.
Hail to Gen Niazi that his revolver saved the lives of the Bengali people. The Bengali genocide stopped by surrendering a pistol which was a clever move from Gen Niazi. The traitors or the idiots of that time blamed Gen Niazi for his defeat in East Pakistan, but no one appreciated his clever move which saved millions of more lives to be slaughtered. A baseless propaganda against Gen Niazi was launched just because he lost the war, which was a reality, but the false narrative of lies resulted into the collapse of the morale of Pakistan Army. The same type of Propaganda against the FC and the Rangers, the two next to Army paramilitary forces of Pakistan, is on the peak these days. Maj Gen Rizwan Akhter of Sindh Rangers, and IG FC Baluchistan Maj Gen Obaidullah Khattak, are intentionally being humiliated by the Supreme Court, Media and Politicians in different baseless cases and allegations. It was not a coincidence when two cases were opened against the FC, pressing upon them allegations of killing Central Asian Terrorists in Quetta, and against the Rangers for killing a dacoit in Karachi. Both the cases were uplifted by the Media as hot news and the whole Media, Politicians and Judiciary blamed the heads of the said institutions for the incidents.
It is also a historical fact that the Elections conducted under the worst case scenario in East Pakistan, which resulted in the victory of Sheikh Mujeeb as per the Agartala Agreement between Mujeeb and India, were anything but fair; the eye-witness accounts are available wherein people have testified upon the fact that the Indian terrorists themselves voted for Awami League of Mujeeb and the pro-Pakistan Bengalis were not allowed to vote. The same type of plans have been made by our enemies for Pakistan today, when they want to engage our Armed Forces in Karachi and North West Pakistan in addition to the Elections deployment of the Army. This will scatter Pakistan Army’s power inside Pakistan, and India will attack us under Cold Start and Limited War Doctrines just like they did in East Pakistan. This article is a warning for Pakistanis. People should open their eyes and see what is really going on around them.
Abuzar Ilyas is researcher and Geo-political analyst. He tweets @AbuzarIlyas