by Anonymous
In East Pakistan's first national election held in 1970 under Pakistani
military rule, the Pakistan Awami League, which pledged to end
discrimination and economic exploitation of the Bengalese in East Pakistan,
won a landslide victory. However, instead of handing over power, Pakistan's
military, with the help of the Nixon-Kissinger administration, and the
losing Jamat I Islami (JIB) party, set out to destroy the newly elected
Awami Leaguers and their supporters.
On the first night of the "genocide", March 25, 1971, the West Pakistan
military killed almost all the professors in the university quarters, set
fire in the slums, and as people came out they began shooting. Over one
hundred thousand girls and women were raped by these "defenders of Islam".
These "Islamists" enjoyed special status with the CIA during the Soviet era,
and they maintain a strong relationship with the oppressive Saudi and
Pakistan governments.
The JIB introduced a radical Wahabi Islam with which Bengalese were least
familiar. Islam had first come to the region through the Sufi's who were
singers, poets and musicians and did not lust for power or glory. Their
simple life style, and their message of compassion, tolerance, equality and
brotherhood attracted people to Islam.
Archer Blood, then US Consul General, in the most strongly worded letter
from State department officials "that has ever been documented" (Christopher
Hitchens: Trial of Henry Kissinger, p. 45), dispatched a telegram to the
U.S. department of state and to Henry Kissinger, signed by twenty members of
the United States diplomatic team in Bangladesh.
Blood wrote: "Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of
democracy. Our government has failed to denounce atrocities. Our government
has failed to take forceful measures to protect its citizens while at the
same time bending backwards to placate the West Pakistan dominated
government and to lessen any deservedly negative international public
relations impact against them. Our government has evidenced what many will
consider moral bankruptcy, ironically at a time when the USSR sent president
Yahya Khan (military general) a messege defending democracy, condemning the
arrest of a democratically-elected majority party, incidentally pro-west,
and calling for an end to repressive measures and bloodshed. ... but we have
chosen not to intervene, even morally, on the grounds that the conflict, in
which unfortunately the overworked term genocide is applicable, is purely
internal matter of a soverign state. Private Americans have expressed
disgust. We, as professional civil servants, express our dissent with
current policy and fervently hope that our true and lasting interests here
can be defined and our policies redirected." (ibid, p. 45)
Blood was recalled from his post, and "in late April 1971, at the very
height of the mass murders, Kissinger sent a message to Pakistan's General
Yahya Khan, thanking him for his "delicacy and tact". (ibid, p. 45)
The author who is well known to us has personal knowledge of these events,
and wishes to remain anonymous.
[On Aug. 17, their ideology culminated in a series of nearly 500 bomb blasts
that shook the nation and killed three people. . . .
The rise of JMB, observers say, shows how homegrown militancy, invigorated
by foreign funds and leadership radicalized in Afghanistan, has flourished
here because of growing economic inequalities and acrimonious politics that
have crippled the functioning of democracy. . . .
Another JMB leader, Muhammad Asadullah Al-Galib, who was arrested after the
February crackdown, is alleged by intelligence agencies to have received
large funding from the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS), a
Kuwait-based organization. In 2002, the US State Department blacklisted some
RIHS offices, citing their support of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. RIHS and
Galib's organization have reportedly constructed over 1,000 mosques across
Bangladesh and 10 madrassahs.--David Montero, "How extremism
came to Bangladesh," Christian Science Monitor, September 7, 2006]
[Sheikh Hasina has been charged with murder for allegedly masterminding the
deaths of four supporters of a rival party during Dhaka unrest in
October.--"Bangladesh issues
ex-PM warrant," BBC News, April 22, 2007]
"Tajuddin Ahmad: An Inspiration
for Leaders of Tomorrow," July 2008
[A landmark election has swept former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina back to power--Anis Ahmed, "Battered
Bangladesh sees some hope in vote results," BBC News, December 31, 2008]
[What is certain is that the BDR putsch had grand religious and geopolitical
causes which are far more profound than the relative trifle of a salary
raise.--Sreeram Chaulia, "Power play
behind Bangladesh's mutiny," March 3, 2009]