A Bangali Perspective...

[tza]

As Salam wa alikum,

Tell me from where you bring these statistical figures of killings and raped? WHO told you that all these crimes where done by Pakistani's? Who wer Mukti Bahni's? Where were Indian agents?

Regarding statistics, simply look at the discrepancy of 1-3 million. Another way to put it is 2 plus or minus 1 million. The reality is this is a guess, at best an educated guess. Some of the Poli-Science teachers of my wife in Bangladesh consider this as an overestimate. I know 2 of my family members were killed. Whatever the real number is, it’s not small, and that is for sure. I have seen pictures of thousands of dead bodies.

Regarding some EYE-WITNESS accounts of what happened in Bangladesh, Here are some of the things a Pakistani Nationalist/Patriot won't like.

My Grandfather (dada) was taken from his home by the Pakistani army. He was old enough at that time to have his oldest son married with kids. He never fought in the war. My family was told they were taking him in for questioning. Few days later my Father found his body laying in the side of the river. If the Pakistani army suspected something, Islam demanded an open/fair trial.

One day Pakistani army came to mother's home. One of them pointed a gun at my mother and asked her to recite the shahadah. She did recite it and she was let go. My mother believes if she was a Hindu she would be dead. Islam does not give the right to kill someone simply because they were Hindu.

I have uncle who was part of the Pakistani army before the war. He died during the war when he fought the Pakistani army.

I have a Grandfather and an Uncle who were civilians before. When the war started, they escaped to India. There they were trained and fought the Pakistani army. India always had an interest in weakening Pakistan. What better way to do that then to break it up. But that does not mean the Mukti Judda were agents of India. Just like De Gulle was not a British agent during WWII.

Alhamdullilah, I can tell you that no one in my family was raped, but that does not mean it did not happen.

My impression regarding your post is that although you talk of this Muslim Ummah, you still have some Pakistani Nationalism/Patriotism in you. May Allah (swt) help you remove any traces of this evil.

Here are some things that a Bengali Nationalist/Patriot won't like.

The word razakar is used for many different things, I will give 3 examples.

1. Those who supported Pakistani army
2. Those who did not want to separate
3. Those who killed/raped/stole Bengalis

Some have the opinion that anyone who does one of these has also done the other. Although

1 implies 2: obviously true

1 implies 3: Not always true. An example is one of my uncles who is "1" but a Hindu falimy had shelter in his home. To this day they SHOW gratitude. Many forget that before 71, Awami League was a political party, and although enjoyed the support of overwhelming majority, there were someBengalis who voted for the Pakistani political party, just like there were some Pakistani who voted for the Awami league. Ironically this same uncle is local leader of the Awami League.

2 implies 1 and 2 implies 3: Not always true. My Nana did not want to separate but at the same time did not provide any support to Pakistani army. His life was threatned by fellow bangalis after the war. His cousin the Mukti Juddah helped to save his life.

3 implies 1 and 3 implies 2: Not always true (Alhamdullilah, None of my family falls under "3"). They were simply thugs who were in it for themselves. The war in Iraq should shed light. We saw so many people steal after the fall of Baghdad. Did they support Americans? No, they just wanted to steel. One of the evil of war is that there is no law and order, as was the case in 71. That is a signal to killers/rapist/thieves that they can get away with anything they want. Here the pakistani army has ashare ion the guilt for not stopping them.

When it comes to war, people have a tendency to act like George Bush, "You are either with us, or your with the terrorist". Many Bengali have the same mentality. Either you supported the war or you are responsible for the killing/raping. Hence, for some extremist the punishment for not supporting the war is death. Unfortunately for too many other Bengalis, the punishment is if you get killed we will act like we don't know about it.

Most Baharies fall into category 1 or 2 and not 3. But they are labeled as razakar, and people things that means 3. So when someone oppresses one of them, many Bengalis call it Justice.

[tza]

As Salam wa likum,

To Br. Hasan_Ali_Imam. I lenjoyed reading your post. Although I disagree with you in one thing. This is regarding ASB's claim that 95% were killed by Pakistan. Any number anyone gives is no more then a guess after all, and can never be verified. Althought I think 95% maybe too high, ASB is right that it does not take a genious to figure out that most had to be killed by pakistan.

[muftee]

My SALAAM to ALL! thanks for comments from rini and others. Once again I am NOT defending any crime act done by any one. If Pak Army did wrong it should be condemned. THING is TRY to find the truth. The rumours are very HARMFUL. Lot od sayings are, " Heard Abouts" as I said earlier. We simple going around and accusing one side without investigation of roles of Mukti Bahni and indian agents. Is it so simple that a person wearing a uniform of one army do something wrong and we belive that person belong to that army or group? Please read carefully what I wrote in earlier mail as I feel you MISS the main point of mine.
RINI, I have broken my boundies with certain geographical limitations. I think Islam itself is a NATIONALITY. What it means when we say I am Bangladeshi or Pakistani? I feel myself above of such limitations. Being a muslim, I love all muslims No matter where they born, what colour, language and culture/ traditions they have. They are ALL of MY NATIONALTY.
Soon I will send a small article about this.
take care
Allah Hafiz
muftee

[Hasan_Ali_Imam]

Br. tza,

assalamu Alaimkum.

Thanks for your comments regarding the statistics issue,

Wassalam
Hasan

[yayati]

Hmmm...

Let us consider these two facts again :

All of Pakistan (Western portion was unaffected by the actions of Mukhti Bahanis) since there is a large geographical block in the way of said peoples. Not only that, this mish-mash of people had never had the intention of conquering anyone.

They focused on their own plight and their own boundaries and that meant that the Pakistani civilian population in the Western portion was totally unaffected.

What does that mean to you?

How can you paint the blame on these people for defending themselves against an onslought and the might of the whole Pakistani's military force? Army men who put the gun to the head of Bangali's and ask them to recite the Shahadah and if they fail to do so or if their whim dictates they would shoot that person.

How much killing of innocents can you stomach?

1?
100?
100,000?
1m?
3m?

The military arsenal of Pakistan were put to use on bengali's. We know that. Army men rounded up villagers and townfolk alike and killed them, we know that.

Accurate profile of the amount of people killed are for Europeans who are obssessed with numbers and record keeping. We Banglas do not have the resources and did not have the will to keep unerring records of such a genocide since the picture and the devastation of the crimes that Pakistan had committed will have been imprinted on the soil forever soaked as it was in blood, and the stench of innocense plundered and of death.

You see in Kosovo and in other European battles, Europeans take great pains to keep accurate records --- they need to keep records for the historians and to keep events fresh in the mind in order to learn from them. We bangla's at the time did not have the resources to painstakingly look over every dead body and make such body counts. Body counts are for historians. Remember we just came out of a famine, straight into a "civil" or "liberation" war (however, you would like to define it) and were about to enter into another famine, so how can we keep count of our dead when there are more deaths to come?

America had sanctioned us as did many arab countries.

Let us ponder on why, after the announcement of an open war with India...Pakistan quit in a matter of days??

Could it be that Pakistani Civilians (western portion)were at risk of being affected??

Could it be that Pakistani "Jawans" were being killed a uncomfortable rate? Who will explain the deaths of patans and punjabi men by Indians? The Pakistani government sure didn't want to, the deaths of banglas didn't matter but the deaths of these Punjabis and Patans would be felt and mourned over and counted for generations to come.

[yayati]

Let us bury this thread now.

Hate is not good.

Let us be practicable and honest with ourselves and our past. Let us be kind and generous in our affections, let us draw our enemies in, and by slight of hand and by dint of exertion, turn them into our friends.

[muftee]

My Salaam to ALL! Comments from Yayati jee are more emotions BUT yet Heard About "facts". None of those governments gone through The Real Facts. Its still lot of stories and it is very UNFORTUNATE that lot of Heard abouts circulating and it means spreading Hatered. I FULLY Agree with you that Hate is NOT good but that is just you showing in your mail. I have said it and saying it 3.rd time that I DO NOT support ONE SINGLE KIlling of anyone by anyone.I believe the main ENEMY in that conflict was India. Zaan-ul.Abdeen is pointing out it in his book. My afraidness is that we TRANSFER probably OUR HATE in coming generations, WHICH is NOT GOOD for future NOT between only these 2 countries, even for whole Muslim Ummah. My point is TO WORK for future and coming generation. I think NOBODY was/is happy with outcome of that conflict between 2 family members. WE cannot UNDONE that BUT we can play a role to diminish the distance, after all these are two Islamic States. I pointed out that we can see what is going around the world. Muslims and Islam is TARGET and we have to join the hands. IT is REQUIRED for ALL Muslim States and MUSLIMS all over the world.
I agree to SHUT this discussion, BUT shut it without Hate and wish that those who come with so called "heard abouts" should weigh it first that what and to whom they are doing favour by all this sayings.
Allah Hafiz
muftee