Reminiscing March 26, 1971
A.H. Jaffor Ullah
March 26, 1999
OPINION
Reminiscing March 26, 1971
by Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah
There comes a time in everyone's life that defines a turning point in one's
life. You tend to remember that moment, that event until the day you die.
You ask an American of my generation to tell you such a defining moment of
his or her life, he, or she will most likely answer by saying that November
22, 1963, was that day when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in
Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. However, to a Russian the defining moment could
very well be the day when USSR successfully launched the world's first
artificial satellite into the outer space on October 4, 1957. For my
father's generation that defining moment could have been the day Bengal was
separated into two parts solely based on religion on that fateful day of
August 14, 1947.
For my generation that defining moment finally arrived on a tenebrous day on
March 26, 1971. If you would ask any Bengalis from Bangladesh who is now 38
years and above where he or she was on that day, he or she will be able to
answer you in some detail. Well, my kismet brought me to America about 560
days earlier to March 26, 1971. Thus, I was far removed from the epicenter
of Bangladesh movement. Somehow, however, I was able to connect mentally to
what was going on in Dhaka and elsewhere in occupied Bangladesh during those
tumultuous days. The western news agencies did a superlative job informing
the rest of the world the unfolding events especially after the historic
speech of Sheikh Mujib at Ramna Race Course on March 7. From television news
and newspaper stories, we knew that there was an impasse in transfer of
power to the Bengalis who had own the general election of December 10, 1970.
But little did I know how Pakistani army generals as Yahya Khan, Hamid Khan,
Gul Hassan, Tikka Khan, A.A. Niazi, Rao Farman Ali, Mitha, Rahim Khan and
scores of Brigadiers were secretly meeting in Rawalpindi Cantonment to draw
the blueprint of Bangladesh genocide. To unleash an unprecedented reign of
terror, Pakistani military was transferring thousands of army men round the
clock from the garrisons of West Pakistan to Dhaka and Chittagong by
commercial airlines (PIA) and sea vessels. These generals even told their
enlisted men that East Pakistanis were becoming Hindus; soon they will join
India. Thus, it is up to them to secure the integrity of this nation
emancipated by Quiaid-e-Azam. The future of Jinnah's Pakistan rests in their
hand.
Sitting far away from East Pakistan little did I know the resolve of the
Pakistani military. Nevertheless, when the final blow came in the midnight
of March 26, 1971, I was 700 miles away from my campus in Ohio. I was in
Daytona Beach, Florida with a group of American students to get away from
the harsh Midwestern winter weather. It was an inter-session break. We just
arrived to Atlantic coast of Florida two days ago. Cold winter rain shower
drenched us in Daytona Beach. We decided to move inland to Sarasota, which
is on the Gulf Coast, to get away from Atlantic rain showers. I did not hear
any significant news about the political impasse in the radio, although I
heard in the radio that Pakistani military President M. Aga Yahya was in
Dhaka trying to break the impasse. The press reports emanating from Dhaka
were trying to convey that message to the rest of the world. In reality,
however, Pakistani military was busily building up a force of 90,000 men to
quell the "rebellion" in the breakaway province. They were not ready in the
first or second week of March. So, to buyout the time they had to bring the
spoiler politician from Sindh (Z.A. Bhutto) and his partner in crime -
General Yahya to Dhaka telling rest of the world that they are making
progress as a sinister plot to wipe out 3 million Bengalis was about to
unfold.
Brigadier Z.A. Khan in his memoir "The way it was" mentioned ruefully that
East Pakistan was lost because Pakistani army moved too late on March 26,
1971. He opined that if Pakistani army had moved in early March, perhaps
East Pakistan would be now under their fold. What a preposterous idea!
In the early morning of March 26, I was asleep inside a tent. I didn't
realize that my tent-mate, Dave, and Rodney slipped away earlier to get some
freshly brewed coffee and check the weather outside. My slumber was broken
by some noise outside the tent. My friend Dave yelled, "Jaffor, Jaffor, wake
up man. You've got a new country now call Bang.. Bangla Desh."
I hurriedly woke up and came outside the tent. I saw both Dave and Rodney
holding up the unfolded newspaper (A newspaper published from Tampa,
Florida, whose name I cannot recall now) and reading the news intently.
Dave said, "The army had butchered quite a few Bengalis last night in Dacca.
Tanks are everywhere that's what the report says."
Rodney said, "Pakistani army had taken control of Dacca. Your leader Sheikh
had already slipped into neighboring India."
Although my heart froze hearing the news of deaths and destruction, the news
of Sheikh Mujib in safe haven in West Bengal brought immense joy and
happiness to my ailing heart.
I forcefully took the main section of the newspaper and could not believe my
eyes seeing the headline in big bold three inches lettering. It said, "Rebel
leader declares Bangla Desh. Army took control of capital." What I gleaned
from the report was following: On behalf of Sheikh Mujib, the rebel leader,
radio announcements were made from "Independent Bangladesh Radio" asking
people to resist Pakistani army aggression. Dhaka city was under the control
of Pakistani army and there was loss of lives in the wee hours of March 26.
The news report mentioned the wholesale desertion of Bengali soldiers from
Bengal Regiment of Pakistani army and East Pakistan Rifles both stationed in
Chittagong. Thus, in one respect Chittagong was our last hope for newly-born
country. The announcements from Independent Bangladesh Radio did a
phenomenal job in boosting the morals of Bengalis all over Bangladesh. My
friends from back home told me that the radio announcements mentioned the
name of Brigadier Mazumdar and Major Ziaur Rahman. The announcement said
something like this - "Brigadier Mazumdar and Major Ziaur Rahman of Swadhin
Bangladesh army are asking our people to come to Lal-dighi'r Maidan (in
Chittagong city) with any arms they may have to resist Pak army's
aggression."
Later we learned that both Brigadier Mazumdar and Sheikh Mujib were arrested
immediately before March 26 and shipped to West Pakistan. The course of
Bangladesh liberation war would have been a different one if Brigadier
Mazumdar could be there in Chittagong in control of Bengal regiment. The
other consequence of this would have been on Major Zia's career in future
Bangladesh army. With senior officer as Brigadier Mazumdar sidelined by
Pakistani army, the career of certain junior officers (Ziaur Rahman and
Khaled Mussharrof in particular) took a sharp upward move right after
December 16, 1971. I do not know whether Brigadier Mazumdar is aware that
his absence from Chittagong during 1971 changed the course of Bangladesh
history. Newly formed Bangladesh army needed veteran officers like Brigadier
Mazumdar to keep the aspiring future generals in check. History is the
silent observer of what did go wrong in Bangladesh army. The young nation
paid a very dear price for the restlessness of a few rogue officers.
While different thoughts were rushing through my mind (like whether my
family members in Dhaka were okay or not), my American college friends
stepped in to cheer me up. Rodney said, "We should celebrate the declaration
of independence of Bangla Desh. What do you say, Jaffor?"
I replied, "I'm afraid Rodney, the human cost would be too great to
establish Bangladesh. The civil war just got started and who knows how long
this will continue."
I asked my friends whether it would be possible for us to head home to Ohio.
I remember very well that while my American friends were frolicking on the
beach, I was glued to the car radio listening to the hourly CBS news update,
every hour for the next 24 hours. The news report on Bangladesh was sketchy
at most. Most news was coming from Calcutta.
My American friends realized that I was not enjoying this trip anymore. On
March 27, we packed our camping gears and headed back home to Ohio. We drove
non-stop from Sarasota to Cincinnati, a distance of about 900 miles. On
March 28, I reached Cincinnati. I immediate contacted two other students
from East Pakistan, namely, Hasan Ali and Jamal Khan. Both of them were
devastated hearing the news of death and destruction in Dhaka. Jamal Khan
being an alumnus of Dhaka University was very upset hearing Pak military led
destruction of halls and staff quarter.
At the time I used to share a house with two students from West Pakistan,
namely Junaid Siddique from Karachi, and Muhammad Idrees from Lahore. Junaid
being a Muhajir was very sympathetic to our cause, but Idrees who was from
Punjab was very anti-Mujib.
He blamed Mujib and India for all the problem of 'East Pakistan.' I did not
want to become involved in a fracas with Idrees. However, I remember clearly
telling Idrees that 'East Pakistan' was a history by then and it was just a
matter of time before Bangladesh becomes an independent sovereign nation.
Apparently, he did not like my comments. On the same very day I took my
belongings out of that house and moved in with Hasan Ali, my old college
roommate.
Within days, all Bengali students from East Pakistan in Midwestern states
telephoned each other to exchange rapidly developing news from occupied
Bangladesh. We contacted Prof. Aminul Islam, a veteran Bengali Professor at
Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. We decided to meet in his house in
the first week of April. When we arrived his home, we saw another Bengali
nervously pacing the living room. He came from Richmond, Indiana, a nearby
town. He introduced him as Mohammed Yunus - a professor of Economics at
Richmond College (now the head of Grameen Bank). Professor Gyanendra
Bhattacharyia also joined us from Oxford, Ohio. Two female students from
Oxford, Ohio also joined us; they were Ameerah Huq and Uma Shaha (grand
daughter of R.P. Shaha). Hamidul Huq Chowdhury's youngest daughter was also
attending the same college with Ameerah and Uma, but she decided not to join
Pro-Bangladesh movement in the Midwest. We always suspected that Miss Huq
would not join us because her father was in cahoots with Pakistanis in
Dhaka.
Thus, within first week of April 1971 an organization was established in
Dayton, Ohio, to promote the independence of Bangladesh. Similar
organization was formed in University of Indiana at Bloomington, University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and in Chicago. Dr. F.R. Khan, the
acclaimed structural Engineer who designed the tallest sears Tower in
Chicago, was instrumental in forming a bigger organization to promote the
independence of Bangladesh in the US.
Jamal Khan and I were invited by to participate in a radio interview with
the NPR affiliate station at University of Cincinnati (WGUC). After our
interview was broadcasted, Pakistani students went to the station asking for
an equal time. But their request was declined. With a minor victory at the
campus, we worked diligently until the middle of December 1971 when it was
all but clear that Bangladesh is a political reality. In the nine-month
period, our campaign took us 750 miles away to New York city and 300 miles
north to Chicago.
Our resources were very limited those days yet we worked assiduously. Our
plaudits and panegyric essays for an independent sovereign nation caught the
imagination of quite a few Americans. We have visited so many local
churches, high schools, and colleges to spread the word of army atrocities
that I lost count. We urged the citizens to write letters to their senators
and congressmen to stop supplying arms to Pakistan. And it did work. Senator
Frank Church of Idaho and Senator Walter Mondel of Minnesota passed a
resolution in senate in April or May to block all arms aid to Pakistan
thereby stifling the efforts of President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger. A local radio station in Cincinnati ran some free ads for
Bangladesh in the summer of 1971. Money was pouring in to help Bangla
refugees in West Bengal. We collected over $20,000 effortlessly in just few
short days.
Looking back 28 years from today, I feel that it was rather difficult to
remain equanimous in the face of impertinence shown by Pakistani military
leaders. We had the courage to speak up. And we did.
Amongst us, however, we had perfidious lover of Bangladesh. They didn't join
Bangladesh movement. Some of them even aided the Pakistanis by speaking
glowingly in favor of Jinnah's Two-Nation theory in seminars in New York
city. Some of them are still vocal. They would rather see a Taliban-style
Jihad taking place in Bangladesh instead of spread of secular thoughts. The
adage - "Once an enemy, always an enemy" fits their temperament quite well.
The spirit of '71 still lingers in my mind. It's like an opiate. Musingly,
it recurs in my thought all the time. In the Bengali ethos, the scar of '71
would always bring bad memories. About three million people gave their lives
for the freedom, but as a nation, we have almost forgotten their sacrifice.
While some of the planners and executioners of Bangladesh Genocide trots
this globe, we do nothing. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh even sits in the
same room with the Prime Minister of this killer nation. What a pity!
How many more articles do we have to write before the Prime Minister of
Bangladesh will realize that it is about the time she should do something to
bring the killers of three million Bengalis to justice. Is it mere a
pernicious thought?
I would be the happiest person in the world, if we could only get one person
of the stature of General Niazi or General Gul Hassan to court to stand
trial for the perdition of three million Bengali souls.
With this thought, I close my essay on "Reminiscing March 26, 1971."