ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF BANGLADESH-THE PRICE OF DEFEAT

[Amar-Sonar-Bangla]

India Denounces Pakistan ‘Encirclement Policy’

India Times


By Amar-Sonar-Bangla

October 9th 2002

Tensions flared again along the 4,000 km-long Eastern Indo-Pak border yesterday. Indian army sources report an escalation in exchanges of morter and artillery fire near Dinajpur and Rajshahi. Several villages on both sides of the border have been evacuated as both sides prepare for a military buildup.

The tension is directly linked to Islamabad’s recent decision to initiate deployment of it’s new Shaheen II nuclear-capable ballistic missile units in East Pakistan. With a range exceeding 1,700 kilometers, Eastern Indian cities such as Calcutta have for the first time come under the range of Pakistani missiles.

New Delhi last week reacted angrily to reports of the construction of hardened missile silo’s near Khulna and Tangail. Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh stated ‘we will not stand idle against Pakistan’s aggressive encirclement policy’. Meanwhile fears of a clash grow as Indian forces mass along their common Eastern border.

Both India and Pakistan have fought a war over the strategically placed province. Known to India as Bangladesh and Pakistan as East Pakistan. Since 1971 the troubled province has witnessed a rapid escalation of political violence and authoratarian government reactions. Low level insurgency still grips much of the countryside.

The war proved inconclusive for both powers, with native Bengali’s caught in the middle of their power games. Although Indian forces with the aid of Bangladeshi rebels were on the verge of taking Dacca, they were hastily withdrawn after a US ultimatum and the sighting of a US Carrier group in the Indian Ocean. Henry Kissinger, US Foreign Secretary at the time, later wrote how the US decision to intervene on behalf of Pakistan, had been a ‘close run thing’.

In the ensuing battle Pakistani forces defeated the poorly armed Mukti bahini and drove it back across the border into India by 1973. Sheikh Mujubur Rahman, leader of the outlawed Nationalist Awami League, was executed in 1974 on charges of ‘high treason against Pakistan and Islamic Unity’. A technocratic civilian government was installed in 1974 after the end of emergency rule.

Bangladeshi sources from around the world claim that between one and three million Bangladeshi’s were killed and ten million, mainly hindu Bengali’s, forced into exile during the war and later pacification operations as the Pakistani army went on a rampage of rape and pillage. UN figures put the true figure at around one million dead. This is a continuing source of resentment amongst Bengali’s and an obstacle to peace.

The Federal Pakistani government has always strenuously denied these accusations and points to the controversial ‘Independant’ Hamdoor Commission report which exonerated the rank and file of the army in the early eighties. Finding a handful of senior officers guilty of ‘criminal and unjustified excesses in pursuit of terrorists’. Including the then commander of East Pakistani forces, General Niazi, who shortly after committed suicide rather than stand trial.

However, Islamabad continues to accuse New Delhi of supporting and infiltrating Bangladeshi separatist groups such as the Mukti Bahini and the Communist Peoples Army to destabalise and weaken the administration of East Pakistan. Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Abdul Sattar is reported as claiming in 1999, ‘we all know the so-called Mukti bahini terrorists are equipped, trained and indoctrinated in training camps in Assam.’ India has consistantly denied this, stating it only provides ‘moral and political’ support for the ‘liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistani domination’.

New President General Musharraf is widely seen as a Liberal on issues concerning increased autonomy for East Pakistan. He began on a sure footing last April in his first state visit to the East. He laid a wreath in the Shaheed Memorial at Dacca University and stated his ‘ profound regret at the loss of life on all sides’ during the 1971 conflict. He called upon the unifying bond of Islam to help heal the wounds in Pakistani society caused by the war.

He announced a raft of new political and economic measures designed to liberalise and rejuvinate the stagnant East Pakistani economy. New Federal funds being made available to invest in increasing industrialisation. A new Ministry of East Pakistan will be created to cater to the specific needs of Bangladesh.

He then announced the release of 21 Awami League leaders including Bahauddin Nasim, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir and Haji Selim who were arrested in 1992 during the military crack down after the assassination of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by a Bangladeshi soldier in her bodyguard contingent. This won him much support from ordinary Bengali’s for the extension of his Presidency by five years. As noticed by the high turn out in the referendum.

Reaction to Islamabad’s new policy of concessions and persuasion has been mixed. Governor-General
Golman Azam of the ruling Jaamat I Islam Party welcomed the new approach and said he hoped it would herald a new chapter in East-West relations. He stated it was the wish of all Bengali’s, whether Islamist or secular, that East Pakistan play its role in a strong Pakistan. However, it must be said that his party has lost much support in recent years due to the report by UN Human Rights Watch, blaming his party for human rights excesses and election fraud during the period of emergency rule in East Pakistan following the 1992 assassination.

The exiled leader of the Awami League, Sheikh Hasina Wajed (daughter of bongobondu Mujib) told a conference in Calcutta yesterday, ‘we are not fooled by Pakistani overtures. This is but a stunt by Musharraf to help place nuclear missiles in Bangladesh. The problems faced by Bengali’s today can only be solved by freedom, democracy and a independant Bangladesh, as was my fathers vision’.

Given such polarised views in domestic Bengali politics, the province will remain a powder keg and a sour point in Indo-Pak relations for the foreseeable future. The recent escalation merely comes as a warning to the International Community about the dangers of a nuclear flashpoint if a negotiated settlement to the East Pakistan problem cannot be found which aids both India and Pakistan and the Bangali people.

Looks a pretty bleak Collaborationist/Islamist dominated future to me.

So what do the posters think of my alternate history scenario?

Let's be thankful we have Bangladesh!!!

Comments most welcome.

[S_BIBI]

Originally posted by Amar-Sonar-Bangla
India Denounces Pakistan ‘Encirclement Policy’

India Times


By Amar-Sonar-Bangla

October 9th 2002

Tensions flared again along the 4,000 km-long Eastern Indo-Pak border yesterday. Indian army sources report an escalation in exchanges of morter and artillery fire near Dinajpur and Rajshahi. Several villages on both sides of the border have been evacuated as both sides prepare for a military buildup.

The tension is directly linked to Islamabad’s recent decision to initiate deployment of it’s new Shaheen II nuclear-capable ballistic missile units in East Pakistan. With a range exceeding 1,700 kilometers, Eastern Indian cities such as Calcutta have for the first time come under the range of Pakistani missiles.

New Delhi last week reacted angrily to reports of the construction of hardened missile silo’s near Khulna and Tangail. Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh stated ‘we will not stand idle against Pakistan’s aggressive encirclement policy’. Meanwhile fears of a clash grow as Indian forces mass along their common Eastern border.

Both India and Pakistan have fought a war over the strategically placed province. Known to India as Bangladesh and Pakistan as East Pakistan. Since 1971 the troubled province has witnessed a rapid escalation of political violence and authoratarian government reactions. Low level insurgency still grips much of the countryside.

The war proved inconclusive for both powers, with native Bengali’s caught in the middle of their power games. Although Indian forces with the aid of Bangladeshi rebels were on the verge of taking Dacca, they were hastily withdrawn after a US ultimatum and the sighting of a US Carrier group in the Indian Ocean. Henry Kissinger, US Foreign Secretary at the time, later wrote how the US decision to intervene on behalf of Pakistan, had been a ‘close run thing’.

In the ensuing battle Pakistani forces defeated the poorly armed Mukti bahini and drove it back across the border into India by 1973. Sheikh Mujubur Rahman, leader of the outlawed Nationalist Awami League, was executed in 1974 on charges of ‘high treason against Pakistan and Islamic Unity’. A technocratic civilian government was installed in 1974 after the end of emergency rule.

Bangladeshi sources from around the world claim that between one and three million Bangladeshi’s were killed and ten million, mainly hindu Bengali’s, forced into exile during the war and later pacification operations as the Pakistani army went on a rampage of rape and pillage. UN figures put the true figure at around one million dead. This is a continuing source of resentment amongst Bengali’s and an obstacle to peace.

The Federal Pakistani government has always strenuously denied these accusations and points to the controversial ‘Independant’ Hamdoor Commission report which exonerated the rank and file of the army in the early eighties. Finding a handful of senior officers guilty of ‘criminal and unjustified excesses in pursuit of terrorists’. Including the then commander of East Pakistani forces, General Niazi, who shortly after committed suicide rather than stand trial.

However, Islamabad continues to accuse New Delhi of supporting and infiltrating Bangladeshi separatist groups such as the Mukti Bahini and the Communist Peoples Army to destabalise and weaken the administration of East Pakistan. Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Abdul Sattar is reported as claiming in 1999, ‘we all know the so-called Mukti bahini terrorists are equipped, trained and indoctrinated in training camps in Assam.’ India has consistantly denied this, stating it only provides ‘moral and political’ support for the ‘liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistani domination’.

New President General Musharraf is widely seen as a Liberal on issues concerning increased autonomy for East Pakistan. He began on a sure footing last April in his first state visit to the East. He laid a wreath in the Shaheed Memorial at Dacca University and stated his ‘ profound regret at the loss of life on all sides’ during the 1971 conflict. He called upon the unifying bond of Islam to help heal the wounds in Pakistani society caused by the war.

He announced a raft of new political and economic measures designed to liberalise and rejuvinate the stagnant East Pakistani economy. New Federal funds being made available to invest in increasing industrialisation. A new Ministry of East Pakistan will be created to cater to the specific needs of Bangladesh.

He then announced the release of 21 Awami League leaders including Bahauddin Nasim, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir and Haji Selim who were arrested in 1992 during the military crack down after the assassination of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by a Bangladeshi soldier in her bodyguard contingent. This won him much support from ordinary Bengali’s for the extension of his Presidency by five years. As noticed by the high turn out in the referendum.

Reaction to Islamabad’s new policy of concessions and persuasion has been mixed. Governor-General
Golman Azam of the ruling Jaamat I Islam Party welcomed the new approach and said he hoped it would herald a new chapter in East-West relations. He stated it was the wish of all Bengali’s, whether Islamist or secular, that East Pakistan play its role in a strong Pakistan. However, it must be said that his party has lost much support in recent years due to the report by UN Human Rights Watch, blaming his party for human rights excesses and election fraud during the period of emergency rule in East Pakistan following the 1992 assassination.

The exiled leader of the Awami League, Sheikh Hasina Wajed (daughter of bongobondu Mujib) told a conference in Calcutta yesterday, ‘we are not fooled by Pakistani overtures. This is but a stunt by Musharraf to help place nuclear missiles in Bangladesh. The problems faced by Bengali’s today can only be solved by freedom, democracy and a independant Bangladesh, as was my fathers vision’.

Given such polarised views in domestic Bengali politics, the province will remain a powder keg and a sour point in Indo-Pak relations for the foreseeable future. The recent escalation merely comes as a warning to the International Community about the dangers of a nuclear flashpoint if a negotiated settlement to the East Pakistan problem cannot be found which aids both India and Pakistan and the Bangali people.

Looks a pretty bleak Collaborationist/Islamist dominated future to me.

So what do the posters think of my alternate history scenario?

Let's be thankful we have Bangladesh!!!

Comments most welcome.

hhhhmmmm long thread again.......

[Amar-Sonar-Bangla]

Hi S_BIBi

This time its interesting! Just read it!

Took me best part of a hour to compose.

Basically asking 'What happens if Bangladesh loses the war in 1971'?

Future don't look too good for Bangladesh in my alternate scenario.

[S_BIBI]

Originally posted by Amar-Sonar-Bangla
Hi S_BIBi

This time its interesting! Just read it!

Took me best part of a hour to compose.

Basically asking 'What happens if Bangladesh loses the war in 1971'?

Future don't look too good for Bangladesh in my alternate scenario.

Hello Bangla

okay what i will do print it out and read it.. cause i feel very tired...

SO how are u !!!..

[Anika]

At first I was like, this is a LONG thread that I have to read. But I enjoyed it, very interesting bro.

You put a lot of effort into this, well done.

[Fahi]

Its late and too long for me, for this hour. But hey you put alot of effort into it. Keep it up.

[titir]

well my friend amar-sonar-bangla, u really have taken a lot of pain for dreaming(!) it....though seemed very weird at places and would not conform to my(or anybodyelse's) imagination abt the same subject...but then imaginations r personal things and ur effort is appreciable...
why don't u rather imagine abt wht's going to happen to Bangladesh in future basing on the present context?it'd be more time conforming.