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HAMOOD UR REHMAN COMMISSION REPORT

REASONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT
This commission of Inquiry was appointed by the President of Pakistan
in December, 1971 to inquire into
and find out "the circumstances in which the Commander, Eastern
command, surrendered and the
members of the Armed Forces of Pakistan under his command laid down
their arms and a ceasefire was
ordered along the borders of West Pakistan and India and along the
ceasefire line in the State of Jammu
and Kashmir." After having examined 213 witnesses the Commission
submitted its report in July 1972.
2. Before we submitted that report of necessity we did not have the
evidence of most of the persons taken
as prisoners of war, including the major personalities, who played a
part in the final events culminating in
the surrender in East Pakistan with the exception only of Major
General Rahim. Although we did our best
to reconstruct the East Pakistan story with the help of such material,
as was then available, inevitably our
conclusions had to be of a tentative character. We also felt that
since we had found reasons adversely to
comment upon the performance of some of the major figures involved it
would have been unfair to pass
any final judgment upon them without giving them an opportunity of
explaining their own view point. For
this reason we said that "our observations and conclusions regarding
the surrender in East Pakistan and
other allied matters should be regarded as provisional and subject to
modification in the light of the
evidence of the Commander, Eastern Command, and his senior officers as
and when such evidence
becomes available." (Page 242 of the Main Report).
Commission Reactivated
3. Accordingly, after the prisoners of war and the civil personnel who
had also been interned with the
military personnel in India returned to Pakistan, the Federal
government issued a notification directing
"that the Commission shall start inquiry at a place and on a date to
be fixed by it and complete the inquiry
and submit its report to the President of Pakistan, with its findings
as to the matters aforesaid, within a
period of two months commencing from the date the commission starts
functioning." A copy of this
notification is annexed as Annexure A to this Chapter. Lt. Gen.(Retd.)
Altaf Qadir, who had also
previously acted as Military Adviser to the Commission, was
re-appointed as such as also was Mr. M.A
Latif as Secretary to the Commission. At the request of the commission
the government also appointed
Col. M.A Hassan as Legal Advisor.
4. The commission issued a Press Release on the 1st June, 1974
offering an opportunity to the prisoners
of War and others repatriated from East Pakistan to furnish such
information as might be within their
knowledge and relevant to the purposes of the Commission. A copy of
this Press Release is in Annexure
B to this Chapter.
Proceedings
5. Commission held an informal meeting at Lahore on the 3rd June, 1974
to consider various preliminary
matters and then decided to resume proceedings at Abbottabad from the
16th July, 1974. In the meantime
a number of questionnaires were issued to various persons, including
those who were at the helm of
affairs in East Pakistan, at the relevant time and others whom we
considered likely to have relevant
knowledge. Statements were also sent from members of armed forces,
civil services and the police
services involved and we then proceeded after scrutiny of these
statements to summon the witnesses.
We recorded evidence of as many as 72 persons and these included
particularly Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi,
Commander Eastern Command, Major Generals Farman Ali, Jamshed ad the
generals who held during
the relevant time commands of divisions, Rear Admiral Sharif, who was
the senior most Naval Officer,
Air Commodore Inam the senior most Air Officer, and civilian
personnel, including the then Chief
Secretary Mr. Muzaffar Hussain and the Inspector General of Police Mr.
Mahmood Ali Chaudhry.
Besides, Maj. Gen. Rahim was reexamined. The only exception which was
unavoidable was that Dr.
Malik who till very nearly the end was the Governor of East Pakistan,
but in his case also we had
firsthand evidence of every important event and we, therefore, now
feel ourselves competent to submit
our final conclusions.
6. After the examination of evidence the Commission, finding itself
unable to submit its report for a
number of reasons by the 15th of September 1974, asked for time which
was extended till the 15th of
November 1974 and again till the 30th November 1974. At the conclusion
of the recording of evidence on
the 5th September 1974 we had to disperse principally because two of
us were required to attend the
special session of the Supreme Court at Karachi from the 9th to the
21st September, 1974 and the
President had also to proceeded to Geneva to attend an International
Conference. We, therefore,
reassembled on the 23rd of October, 1974 at Abbottabad to prepare this
Supplement to our main report.
Scheme of the Supplementary Report
7. In general although we have examined a considerable volume of fresh
evidence we have found no
reason whatever to modify the conclusions that we reached and stated
in the Main Report; if anything by
reasons of more detailed information we are confirmed in those
conclusions. We, therefore, propose to
avoid a repetition of what we stated in the Main Report except to some
slight degree necessary for
restating briefly some of the conclusions with which we are
principally concerned in this supplement.
There are also some matters upon which our information was then scanty
if not negligible and, these we,
therefore, propose to deal with in some detail. We do, however,
propose to write this, supplement,
following the same pattern as far as is practicable, as we did in the
main report. In Part II of that report we
dealt with the political background and to this we now intend to add
only matters which occurred in 1971,
or to be more specific on and after the 25th March, 1971. We have
nothing to add to Part III of the Main
Report dealing with International Relations. As to Part IV we propose
to say nothing in regard to the
military aspect in so far as it concerned West Pakistan except to a
limited extent as to its repercussions in
East Pakistan and as to some controversy that has been raised before
us as to the wisdom of opening the
Western Front at all.
Of necessity in this part, however, we shall deal in greater detail
with the matters dealt with in Chapters
II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX of the Main Report in so far as
they concern East Pakistan. We then
propose to deal with the subject of discipline of the armed forces in
East Pakistan which would include
the questions of alleged military atrocities in East Pakistan. We
shall of necessity, mainly in this part,
have to deal with the individual conduct of several persons though
aspects of this will emerge from earlier
Chapters. We shall then need to discuss some evidence which has come
before us suggesting that there
were, during the period of captivity in India, concerted efforts on
the part of some high officers to present
a consistent, if it necessarily accurate, account of what took place.
We propose finally to wind up this
supplement by making the recommendations.
GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN
CABINET SECRETARIAT
(Cabinet Division)
Rawalpindi, the 25th May, 1974
No. 107/19/74-Min -Whereas the Commission of Inquiry appointed under
the late Ministry of Presidential
Affairs Notification No. 632 (1)/71, dated the 26th December, 1971,
had, in its report of 8th July, 1972,
submitted, inter alia, that the Commission's findings with regard to
the courses of events in East Pakistan
were only tentative and recommended that "as and when the Commander
Eastern Command and other
senior officers now prisoners of war in India are available, a further
Inquiry should be held into the
circumstances which led to the surrender in East Pakistan";
AND WHEREAS all the prisoners of war and civil internees have now
returned to Pakistan;
AND WHEREAS the Federal Government is of the opinion that it is
necessary in the light of the
recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry to finalise the said
inquiry as to the circumstances which
led to the surrender in East Pakistan, after examining any of the said
prisoners of war and civil internees
whose examination is considered necessary by the Commission;
Now, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (I)
of Section 3 o the Pakistan
Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1956 (VI of 1956) the federal government
is pleased to direct that the
commission shall start inquiry at a place and on a date to be fixed by
it and complete the inquiry and
submit its report to the President of Pakistan, with its findings as
to the matter aforesaid, within a period
of two months commencing from the date the Commission starts functioning.
Sd/
VAQAR AHMAD
Cabinet Secretary.
Lahore, the 1st June, 1974
PRESS RELEASE
The War Inquiry Commission which has been asked by the government of
Pakistan to resume its
deliberations and submit a final report was appointed by the then
President of Pakistan, Mr. Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto, on the 26th December, 1971 to enquire into the circumstances
in which the Commander, Eastern
Command surrendered and the members of the armed forces of Pakistan
under his command laid down
their arms and a ceasefire was ordered along the borders of West
Pakistan and India and along the
ceasefire line in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Commission is
headed by the Chief Justice of
Pakistan, Mr. Justice Hamoodur Rahman. The other two members of the
Commission are Mr. Justice S.
Anwarul Haq, Judge, Supreme Court of Pakistan and Mr. Justice Tufaif
Ali Abdur Rahman, Chief Justice
of Sid and Baluchistan High Court. Lt. Gen (Rtd) Altaf Qadir and Mr.
M.A Latif, Assistant Registrar of
the Supreme Court of Pakistan are Military Adviser and Secretary of
the Commission, respectively.
The Commission which had started its proceedings in camera in
Rawalpindi on the 1st February, 1972
recorded evidence of 213 witnesses. It had submitted its report to the
then President of Pakistan on the
12th July, 1972. In the Report the Commission had observed that its
findings with regard to the causes of
surrender in East Pakistan were only tentative. It, therefore,
recommended that as and when the
Commander, Eastern Command and other senior officers who were in India
at that time were available, a
further inquiry should be held into the circumstances which led to the
surrender in East Pakistan. Now
that all the prisoners of war and civil internees have returned to
Pakistan, the Government has asked the
Commission to complete this part of its inquiry.
A temporary office of the Commission has been set up for the present
in the Supreme Court building at
Lahore and the Commission has decided that before commencing its
proceeding a place to be announced
later on the members of the public civil services and the armed forces
who were either prisoners of war in
India or were otherwise repatriated from East Pakistan should be given
an opportunity to furnish to the
commission such relevant information as may be within their knowledge
relating to the causes of
surrender in East Pakistan. This information should be submitted in
writing, preferably 5 copies, as briefly
as possible by the 30th June, 1974 at the latest to the Secretary of
the Inquiry Commission care of
Supreme Court of Pakistan, Lahore. The informant should also state
whether he will be willing to appear
before the Commission.
All such information and particulars of the persons given the
information will be strictly confidential. It
may be mentioned that according to a public announcement of the
Government of Pakistan published in
newspapers on the 11th January, 1972 all proceedings before the
Commission would be in camera and the
statements made before and addressed to it would be absolutely
privileged and would not render a person
making any such statement liable to any civil or criminal proceedings
except when such statement is false.
The Commission is empowered to call before it any citizen of Pakistan
to seek information. The
Commission can if necessary even issue warrants to secure the
attendance of any person unless he is
otherwise exempted by law from personal appearance before a Court. The
serving personnel of defence
services who are willing to give evidence before the Commission should
have no apprehension of
victimization for assisting the Commission in its task.
THE MORAL ASPECT
Introductory
In Chapter I of Part V of the Main Report, we have dealt at some
length with the moral aspect of the
causes of our defeat in the 1971 War. This became necessary in view of
the vehement assertions made
before the Commission by a large number of respectable witnesses drawn
from various sections of
society, including highly placed and responsible Service Officers, to
the effect that due to corruption
arising out of the performance of Martial Law duties, lust for wine
and women and greed for lands and
houses, a large number of senior Army Officers, particularly those
occupying the highest positions, had
not only lost the will to fight but also the professional competence
necessary for taking the vital and
critical decisions demanded of them for the successful prosecution of
the war. It was asserted by these
witnesses that men given to a disreputable way of life could hardly be
expected to lead the Pakistan Army
to victory.
2. After analysing the evidence brought before the Commission, we came
to the conclusion that the
process of moral degeneration among the senior ranks of the Armed
Forces was set in motion by their
involvement in Martial Law duties in 1958, that these tendencies
reappeared and were, in fact, intensified
when Martial Law was imposed in the country once again in March 1969
by General Yahya Khan, and
that there was indeed substance in the allegations that a considerable
number of senior Army Officers had
not only indulged in large scale acquisition of lands and houses and
other commercial activities, but had
also adopted highly immoral and licentious ways of life which
seriously affected their professional
capabilities and their qualities of leadership.
3. We then offered specific comments on the conduct of certain high
officers including the Commander,
Eastern Command, Lt. Gen A.A.K. Niazi. However, we observed, in
Paragraph 35 of that Chapter, that
"as we have not had the opportunity of putting these allegations to
Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi any finding in
this behalf must await his return from India where he is at present
held as a prisoner of war". We have
now examined not only Lt. Gen. Niazi but certain other witnesses as
well in relation to his personal
conduct, and the general allegations made against the Pakistan Army
during its operations in the former
East Pakistan, and are accordingly in a position to formulate our
final conclusions in the matter.
Effect of Martial Law Duties
4. In the situation that developed after the military action of the
25th of March 1971, the civil
administration in East Pakistan practically came to a standstill, and
the burden of running the Province
fell heavily upon the Army Officers. Their involvement in civil
administration continued unabated even
after the induction of a sizable number of senior civil servants from
West Pakistan, including the Chief
Secretary, the Inspector General of Police and at least two Division
Commissioners.
5. According to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. M.A.K Chaudhry
(Witness No. 219), "after the
disturbances of March-April 1971, there was a Military Governor with a
Major General as his adviser at
the head of the civil administration. There was a parallel Martial Law
administration at all levels. All
wings of administration, relating to law and order were under the
control of Martial Law Authorities. A
West Pakistan Deputy Inspector General of Police in the field was not
permitted by the local Martial Law
Authorities to come to the Provincial Headquarters" for a conference
with the Inspector General of Police.
In the view of Syed Alamdar Raza (Witness No. 226), Commissioner of
Dacca Division, "efforts were
made to make civilian officers responsible or at least routine matters
within the general supervision and
control of the Army Officers, but no substantial results could be
achieved. Those Bengali Officers who
had been restored lacked confidence and were not sure if their
loyalties were not suspected. Action was
taken against them, even their arrests were ordered without any body
knowing about it, including their
superiors or the Government of East Pakistan."
6. The Army's involvement in civil administration did not come to an
end even with the installation of a
civilian governor (viz. Dr. A.M Malik), and the ministers appointed by
him. The observations made in
this behalf by Maj Gen. Rao Farman Ali (Witness No. 284), who held the
appointment of Maj General
(Civil Affairs) in the governor's Secretariat are worth quoting:
"A fully civil government could not be formed in East Pakistan as had
been announced by the ex-
President. Dr. Malik an old man and politician, had a weak
personality. He could not annoy, the Martial
Law Administrator (Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi) also because of the
unsettled conditions obtaining in the
Wing. Gen Niazi, on the other hand, cherished and liked power, but did
not have the breadth of vision or
ability to understand political implications. He did not display much
respect for the civilian Governor,.....
The Army virtually continued to control civil administration".
7. The impression created on the mind of the West Pakistani civilian
officials, then serving in East
Pakistan, has been stated thus by Mr. Mohammad Ashraf, (Witness No.
275), former Additional Deputy
Commissioner, Dacca: "The installation of a civilian governor in
September 1971 was merely to
hoodwink public opinion at home and abroad. Poor Dr. Malik and his
ministers were figureheads only.
Real decisions in all important matters still lay with the Army. I
remember the first picture of the new
Cabinet. Maj. Gen Farman Ali was prominently visible sitting on the
right side of the Governor, although
he was not a member of the Cabinet."
8. This impression is fortified by the fact that at a later stage even
the selection of candidates for the byelections
ordered by General Yahya Khan was made by Maj Gen Farman Ali. Lt. Gen
Niazi and some of
his subordinate Martial Law Administrators have no doubt claimed that
they allowed full liberty of action
to the civilian officials at various levels, but even they have
conceded that in the peculiar situation
prevailing in East Pakistan after the military action the Army
necessarily continued to be deeply
concerned with the maintenance of law and order, the restoration of
communications and the revival of
economic activity in the Province.
9. The evidence of Officers repatriated from India leaves no doubt
that this extensive and prolonged
involvement of the Pakistan Army in Martial Law duties and civil
administration had a disastrous effect
on its professional and moral standards. According to Brig. M.
Salcemullah, who was commanding 203
(A) Brigade in East Pakistan, "prolonged commitment on Martial Law
duties and interment security roles
had affected the professional standards of the Army." According to
Rear Admiral M. Sharif (Witness No.
283) who was the Flag Officer Commanding the Pakistan Navy in East
Pakistan, "the foundation of this
defeat was laid way back in 1958 when the Armed Forces took over the
country ..." While learning the art
of politics in this newly assigned role to themselves, they gradually
abandoned their primary function of
the art of soldiering, they also started amassing wealth and usurping
status for themselves." Similar views
were expressed before us by Commodore I.H. Malik (Witness No. 272) who
was the Chairman of the
Chittagong Port Trust until the day of surrender, Brigadier S.S.A
Qasim, former Commander Artillery,
Eastern Command, Col. Mansoorul Haw Malik, former GS-I, 9 division,
East Pakistan, and Col. Ijaz
Ahmad (Witness No. 247) former Colonel Staff (GS) Eastern Command, to
mention only a few.
10. The fresh evidence coming before the Commission has thus served
only to reinforce the conclusions
reached by us in the Main Report that the involvement of the Pakistan
Army in Martial Law duties and
civil administration had a highly corrupting influence, seriously
detracting from the professional duties of
the Army and affecting the quality of training which the Officers
could impart to their units and
formations, for the obvious reason that they did not have enough time
available for this purpose, and
many of them also lost the inclination to do so.
Living off the Land
11. A new aggravating factor made its appearance in East Pakistan in
the wake of the military action of
the 25th of March 1971, when units of the Pakistan Army undertook
"sweep operations" throughout the
Province to deal with the Awami League insurgents. The Army had to go
out into the countryside without
adequate logistic arrangements, and was compelled, at least in the
early stages of its operations to take its
requirements of foodgrains and other essential supplies from civilian
sources. Unfortunately, however, the
practice appears to have persisted even when it became possible to
make proper logistic arrangements.
There is evidence to the effect that civilian shops and stores were
broken into by the troops without
preparing any record of what was taken and from where. The need for
commandeering vehicles,
foodstuffs, medicines and other essential supplies can certainly be
appreciated, but this should have been
done under a proper method of accounting so that compensation could be
paid on return of normal
conditions. As no such procedure was adopted, it led to a general
feeling among the troops, including
their officers that they were entitled to take whatever they wanted
from wherever they liked. This appears
to us to be the genesis of the looting alleged to have been indulged
in by the Army in East Pakistan.
12. In the early stages this method of procurement seems to have been
encouraged by senior commanders,
including Lt. Gen Niazi, whose remarks on the very first day of his
taking over command from Gen Tikka
Khan have already been quoted by us in an earlier chapter, viz: "what
have I been hearing about shortage
of rations? Are not there any cows and goats in this country? This is
enemy territory. Get what you want.
This is what we used to do in Burma." (vide Maj Gen Farman Ali's
Evidence). Gen Niazi did not, of
course, accept having made any such statement and asserted that
"whatever we took we gave a chit so that
civil government should pay for that". This assertion is not supported
by other officers. On the contrary,
some officers like Lt. Col. Bukhori, (Witness No. 244) have made a
positive statement that even written
orders were received by them emanating from the Eastern Command to
live of the land during sweep
operations.
13. However, at a later stage the Eastern Command and the divisional
Commanders issued strict
instructions in an effort to stop such practices, and some Commanders
caused searches to be carried out of
the barracks occupied by the troops for the recovery of looted
material which included television sets,
refrigerators, typewriters, watches, gold, airconditioners and other
attractive items. We were informed that
in several cases disciplinary action by way of Courts of Inquiries was
initiated but the cases could not be
finalised for one reasons or the other before the surrender on the
16th of December 1971.
Glaring Cases of Moral Lapses Amongst
Officers Posted in East Pakistan
(1) Lt. Gen A.A.K. Niazi
14. In the Main Report we have mentioned the allegations, and the
evidence relating thereto as regards the
personal conduct of Gen Yahya Khan, Gen. Abdul Hamid Khan the late Maj
Gen (Retd) Khuda Dad
Khan, Lt. Gen A.A.K. Niazi, Maj Gen Jehanzeb and Brig Hayatullah. We
wish to supplement those
observations as regards Lt. Gen Niazi.
15. From a perusal of Paragraphs 30 to 34 of Chapter 1 of Part V of
the Main Report, it will be seen that
the graveness of the allegations made against Lt. Gen. Niazi is that
he was making money in the handling
of Martial Law cases while posted as G.O.C Sialkot and later as G.O.C
and Martial Law Administrator at
Lahore; that he was on intimate terms with one Mrs. Saeeda Bukhari of
Gulberg, Lahore, who was
running a brothel under the name of Senorita Home, and was also acting
as the General's tout for
receiving bribes and getting things done; that he was also friendly
with another woman called Shamini
Firdaus of Sialkot who was said to be playing the same role as Mrs.
Saeeda Bukhari of Lahore; that
during his stay in East Pakistan he came to acquire a stinking
reputation owing to his association with
women of bad repute, and his nocturnal visits to places also
frequented by several junior officers under
his command; and that he indulged in the smuggling of Pan from East
Pakistan to West Pakistan. These
allegations were made before the Commission by Abdul Qayyum Arif
(witness No. 6), Munawar Hussain,
Advocate of Sialkot (Witness No. 13), Abdul Hafiz Kardar (Witness No.
25), Maj Sajjadul Haq (Witness
No. 164), Squadron Leader C.A Wahid (Witness No. 57) and Lt. Col Haliz
Ahmad (Witness NO. 147).
16. During the present phase of our inquiry damaging evidence has come
on the record regarding the ill
repute of General Niazi in sex matters, and his indulgence in the
smuggling of Pan. A mention may be
made in this behalf of the statements made before us by Lt. Col.
Mansoorul Haq (Witness No. 260), ex
GSO-I, 9 div. Lt Cdr. A.A. Khan (Witness No. 262), of Pakistan navy,
Brig I.R Shariff (Witness No. 269)
former Comd. Engrs. Eastern Command, Mr. Mohammad Ashraf (Witness No.
275) former Addl. D.C.
Dacca, and Lt. Col. Aziz Ahmad Khan (Witness No. 276). The remarks
made by this last witness are
highly significant: "The troops used to say that when the Commander
(Lt. Gen. Niazi) was himself a
raper, how could they be stopped. Gen. Niazi enjoyed the same
reputation at Sialkot and Lahore."
17. Maj Gen Qazi Abdul Majid Khan (Witness No. 254) and Maj Gen Farman
Ali (Witness No. 284)
have also spoken of Gen Niazi's indulgence in the export of Pan.
According to Maj Gen Abdul Majid,
Brig Aslam Niazi, commanding 53 Bde, and Senior Superintendent of
Police Diljan, who was residing
with Gen Niazi in the Flag Staff House at Dacca, were helping Gen
Niazi in the export of Pan. Maj Gen
Farman Ali has gone to the extent of stating that "Gen Niazi was
annoyed with me because I had not
helped him in Pan business. Brig Hamiduddin of PIA had complained to
me that Corps Headquarter was
interfering in transportation of Pan to West Pakistan by placing
limitation on poundage. I told ADC to
Gen Niazi, who visited me in my office, that this was a commercial
matter and should be left to the
arrangements arrived at between PIA and Pan exporters." We understand
that the insinuation is that a son
of Gen Niazi was engaged in the export of Pan from East Pakistan to
West Pakistan. According to Major
S.S. Haider (Witness NO. 259) and Brig Atta Mohammed (Witness No. 257)
even Brig Baqir Siddiqui,
Chief of Staff, Eastern Command, was a partner of Gen Niazi in the
export of Pan.
18. The allegations mentioned in the preceding paragraphs were put to
Lt. Gen. Niazi during his
appearance before us, and he naturally denied them. When asked about
his weakness for the fair sex, he
replied, "I say no. I have been doing Martial Law duties. I never
stopped anybody coming to see me. I
became very religious during the East Pakistan trouble. I was not so
before. I though more of death than
these things."
19. As regards the allegation that he was indulging in the export of
Pan, he stated that he had ordered an
enquiry into the matter on the complaint of a man called Bhuiyan who
was aggrieved by the monopoly
position occupied by the Pan exporters. He alleged that in fact Brig
Hamiduddin and PIA staff were
themselves involved in the smuggling of Pan.
20. From the mass of evidence coming before the Commission from
witnesses, both civil and military,
there is little doubt that Gen. Niazi unfortunately came to acquire a
bad reputation in sex matters, and this
reputation has been consistent during his postings in Sialkot, Lahore
and East Pakistan. The allegations
regarding his indulgence in the export of Pan by using or abusing his
position in the Eastern Command
and as Zonal Martial Law Administrator also prima facie appear to be
well-founded, although it was not
our function to hold a detailed inquiry into the matter. It is for the
Government to decide whether these
matters should also form the subject of any inquiry or trial which may
have to be ultimately held against
this officer.
(2) Maj Gen Mohammad Jamshed, former GOC 36 (A) Division, East Pakistan
21. Col. Bashir Ahmad Khan (Witness No. 263) who was posted as DDML,
Eastern Command, stated
before the Commission that the wife of Maj Gen Jamshed Khan had
brought some currency with her
while being evacuated from Dacca on the morning of 16th of December
1971. He further alleged that Lt.
Col Rashid, Col. Staff o the East Pakistan Civil Armed Forces,
commanded by Maj Gen Jamshed Khan,
was also reported to have been involved in the mis-appropriation of
currency. It further came to our notice
that the General had distributed some money among persons who left
East Pakistan by helicopters on the
morning of 15th or 16th of December 1971.
22. An inquiry was made from Maj Gen Jamshed Khan in this behalf, and
his reply is as under. :
The total sum involved was Rs. 50,000 which I had ordered to be drawn
from the currency that was being
destroyed under Government instructions and the total amount was
distributed by the officers detailed by
me and strictly according to the instruction/rules and regulations to
the Binaries and Bengalis, informers,
and to the needy on night 15/16th December 1971.
A secret fund was placed at my disposal by the Government of East
Pakistan for the purpose of payment
of rewards and purchase of information and in this case the
expenditure was from the secret fund at my
disposal. This fund was non-auditable. The money given to the needy
families who were dispatched by
helicopters on night 15th/16th December, 1971 was from the EPCAF
Director General's Fund. I was the
sole authority to sanction from this fund and considering the
circumstances under which this expenditure
was made I had no intention to recommend recovery from persons concerned.
From the above clarification it will be appreciated that there was no
requirement to furnish details of the
above expenditure to any accounts department."
23. We regret we cannot regard the reply given by Maj. Gen Jasmhed as
satisfactory. Even though the
funds disbursed by him may not be auditable in ordinary circumstances,
it would have been appropriate
and advisable for him to supply such information as was possible for
him to do in the circumstances once
the question of the disposal of these funds had arisen on the basis of
information supplied to the
Commission by officers who heard of these transactions in East
Pakistan and later in the prisoners of war
camps. We suggest, therefore, without necessarily implying any
dereliction on the part of the general, that
the matter should be enquired into further so that the suspicion
surrounding the same is cleared in the
General's own interest.
(3) Brig Jehanzeb Arbab, former Commander 57 Brigade.
(4) Lt. Col. (Now Brig) Muzaffar Ali Khan Zahid, former CO 31 field Regiment.
(5) Lt. Col. Basharat Ahmad, former CO 18 Punjab
(6) Lt. Col. Mohammad Taj, CO 32 Punjab
(7) Lt. Col Mohammad Tufail, Col 55 Field Regiment
(8) Major Madad Hussain Shah, 18 Punjab
24. The evidence of Maj Gen Nazar Hussain Shah (Witness No. 242 GOC 16
Div, Maj Gen M.H Ansari
(Witness NO. 233) GOC, 9 Div, as well as of Brig Baqir Siddiqui
(Witness No. 218) Chief of Staff,
Eastern Command, disclosed that these officers and their units were
involved in large scale looting,
including the theft of Rs. 1,35,00,000 from the National Bank Treasury
at Siraj Gaj. This amount was
intercepted by a JCO at the Paksi Bridge crossing when it was being
carried in the lower part of the body
of a truck. The driver of the truck produced a chit reading "released
by Major Maddad". We were
informed that a Court o Inquiry was conveyed under the Chairmanship of
Maj Gen M.H Ansari who had
recorded some evidence, but could not complete the inquiry owing to
the outbreak of war.
25. The GHQ representative was not able to inform us as to what action
had ultimately been taken by
GIIQ in respect of these officers, except that Brig Jehanzeb Arabab
had been appointed to officiate as
GOC of a Division. The Commission feels that this appointment, before
the completion of the inquiry and
exoneration of the officer from any blame, was highly inadvisable on
the part of the GHQ. We
recommend that action should now be taken without delay to finalise
the proceedings of the inquiry
commenced by Maj Gen Ansari in? East Pakistan. There should be no
difficulty in re-constructing the
record, if necessary as the material witness appear to be now
available in Pakistan.
26. Before we conclude this Chapter, we would like to state that we
had no desire to embark on any
inquiry into personal allegations of immorality an dishonestly against
senior Army Commanders, but
were persuaded to examine these matters owing to the universal belief
that such infamous conduct had a
direct hearing on the qualities of determination and leadership
displayed by these officers in the 1971 war.
We have regretfully found that this was indeed so. It is, therefore,
imperative that deterrent action should
be taken by the Government, wherever it is justified by the facts, in
order to maintain the high moral
standards and traditions for which the Muslim Army of Pakistan was
justly proud before degeneration set
in.
Alleged atrocities by the Pakistan Army
As is well-known, the conduct of the Pakistani army, while engaged in
counter-insurgency measures is
East Pakistan since March 1971, has come in for a lot of criticism
from several quarters. We had occasion
to deal with the subject in Paragraphs 5-8 of Chapter II of Part V of
the main report. We have examined
this question further in the light of fresh evidence recorded by us.
Misdeeds of the Awami League Militants:
2. It is necessary that this painful chapter of the events in East
Pakistan be looked at in its proper
perspective. Let it not be forgotten that the initiative in resorting
to violence and cruelty was taken by the
militants of the Awami League, during the month of March, 1971,
following General Yahya Khan's
announcement of the Ist of March regarding the postponement of the
session of the National Assembly
scheduled for the 3rd of March 1971. It will be recalled that from the
1st of March to the 3rd of March
1971, the Awami League had taken complete control of East Pakistan,
paralysing the authority of the
federal government. There is reliable evidence to show that during
this period the miscreants indulged in
large scale massacres and rape against pro-Pakistan elements, in the
towns of Dacca, Narayanganj,
Chittagong, Chandragona, Rungamati, Khulna, Dinajpur, Dhakargaoa,
Kushtia, Ishuali, Noakhali, sylhet,
Maulvi Bazaar, Rangpur, Saidpur, Jessore, Barisal, Mymensingh,
Rajshal??, Pabna, Sirojgonj, Comilla,
Brahman, Baria, Bogra, Naugaon, Santapur and several other smaller places.
3. Harrowing tales of these atrocities were narrated by the large
number of West Pakistanis and Biharis
who were able to escape from these places and reach the safety of West
Pakistan. For days on end, all
through the troubled month of March 1971, swarms of terrorised
non-Bengalis lay at the Army-controlled
Dacca airport awaiting their turn to be taken to the safety of West
Pakistan. Families of West Pakistani
officers and other ranks serving with East Bengal units were subjected
to inhuman treatment, and a large
number of West Pakistani officers were butchered by the erstwhile
Bengali colleagues.
4. These atrocities were completely blacked out at the time by the
Government of Pakistan for fear of
retaliation by the Bengalis living in West Pakistan. The Federal
Government did issue a White Paper in
this behalf in August 1971, but unfortunately it did not create much
impact for the reason that it was
highly belated, and adequate publicity was not given to it in the
national and international press.
5. However, recently, a renowned journalist of high-standing, Mr
Qutubuddin Aziz, has taken pains to
marshal the evidence in a publication called "Blood and Tears". The
book contains the harrowing tales of
inhuman crimes committed on the helpless Biharis, West Pakistanis and
patriotic Bengalis living in East
Pakistan during that period. According to various estimates mentioned
by Mr. Qutubuddin Aziz, between
100,000 and 500,000 persons were slaughtered during this period by the
Awami League militants.
6. As far as we can judge, Mr Qutubuddin Aziz has made use of
authentic personal accounts furnished by
the repatriates whose families, have actually suffered at the hands of
the Awami League militants. He has
also extensively referred to the contemporary accounts of foreign
correspondents then stationed in East
Pakistan. The plight of the non-Bengali elements still living in
Bangladesh and the insistence of that
Government on their large-scale repatriation to Pakistan, are factors
which appear to confirm the
correctness of the allegations made against the Awami League in this behalf.
7. We mention these facts not in justification of the atrocities or
other crimes alleged to have been
committed by the Pakistani Army during its operations in East
Pakistan, but only to put the record straight
and to enable the allegations to be judged in their correct
perspective. The crimes committed by the
Awami League miscreants were bound to arouse anger and bitterness in
the minds of the troops,
especially when they were not confined to barracks during these weeks
immediately preceding the
military action, but were also subjected to the severest of
humiliations. They had seen their comrades
insulted, deprived of food and ration, and even killed without rhyme
or reason. Tales of wholesale
slaughter of families of West Pakistani officers and personnel of
several units had also reached the
soldiers who were after all only human, and reacted violently in the
process of restoring the authority of
the Central Government
The Nature of Allegations
8. According to the allegations generally made, the excesses committed
by the Pakistani Army fall into
the following categories:-
a) Excessive use of force and fire power in Dacca during the night of
the 25th and 26th of March 1971
when the military operation was launched.
b) Senseless and wanton arson and killings in the countryside during
the course of the "sweeping
operations" following the military action.
c) Killing of intellectuals and professionals like doctors, engineers,
etc and burying them in mass graves
not only during early phases of the military action but also during
the critical days of the war in December
1971.
d) Killing of Bengali Officers and men of the units of the East Bengal
Regiment, East Pakistan Rifles and
the East Pakistan Police Force in the process of disarming them, or on
pretence of quelling their rebellion.
e) Killing of East Pakistani civilian officers, businessmen and
industrialists, or their mysterious
disappearance from their homes by or at the instance of Army Officers
performing Martial Law duties.
f) Raping of a large number of East Pakistani women by the officers
and men of the Pakistan army as a
deliberate act of revenge, retaliation and torture.
g) Deliberate killing of members of the Hindu minority.
Substance of Evidence
9. In view of the seriousness of the allegations, their persistence
and their international impact as well as
their fundamental importance from the point of view of moral and
mental discipline of the Pakistan
Army, we made it a point of questioning the repatriated officers at
some length in this behalf. We feel that
a brief reference to some typical statements made before us by
responsible military and civil officers will
be instructive, and helpful in reaching the necessary conclusions.
10. Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi, apparently in an endeavour to put the blame
on his predecessor, then Lt. Gen.
Tikka Khan, stated that "military action was based on use of force
primarily, and at many places
indiscriminate use of force was resorted to which alienated the public
against the Army. Damage done
during those early days of the military action could never be
repaired, and earned for the military leaders
names such as "Changez Khan" and "Butcher of East Pakistan." While the
military action was on, the
then Martial Law Administration alienated the world press by
unceremoniously hounding out foreign
correspondents from East Pakistan, thus losing out in the propaganda
war to the Indians completely." He
went on to add: "on the assumption of command I was very much
concerned with the discipline of troops,
and on 15th of April, 1971, that is within four days of my command, I
addressed a letter to all formations
located in the area and insisted that loot, rape, arson, killing of
people at random must stop and a high
standard of discipline should be maintained. I had come to know that
looted material had been sent to
West Pakistan which included cars, refrigerators and air conditioners
etc." When asked about the alleged
killing of East Pakistani officers and men during the process of
disarming, the General replied that he had
heard something of the kind but all these things had happened in the
initial stages of the military action
before his time. He denied the allegation that he ever ordered his
subordinates to exterminate the Hindu
minority. He denied that any intellectuals were killed during
December, 1971. He admitted that there
were a few cases of rape, but asserted that the guilty persons were
duly punished. He also stated that
"these things do happen when troops are spread over. My orders were
that there would not be less than a
company. When a company is there, there is an officer with them to
control them but if there is a small
picket like section, then it is very difficult to control. In Dacca
jail we had about 80 persons punished for
excesses."
11. Another significant statement was made in this regard by Maj. Gen.
Rao Barman Ali, Adviser to the
Governor of East Pakistan namely: "Harrowing tales of rape, loot,
arson, harassment, and of insulting and
degrading behaviour were narrated in general terms.... I wrote out an
instruction to act as a guide for
decent behaviour and recommended action required to be taken to win
over the hearts of the people. This
instruction under General Tikka Khan's signature was sent to Eastern
Command. I found that General
Tikka's position was also deliberately undermined and his instructions
ignored...excesses were explained
away by false and concocted stories and figures."
12. About the use of excessive force on the night between the 25th and
26th March 1971, we have a
statement from Brigadier Shah Abdul Qasim (witness No. 267) to the
effect that "no pitched battle was
fought on the 25th of March in Dacca. Excessive force was used on that
night. Army personnel acted
under the influence of revenge and anger during the military
operation." It has also been alleged that
mortars were used to blast two Residence Halls, thus causing excessive
casualties. In defence, it has been
stated that these Halls were at the relevant time not occupied by the
students but by Awami League
insurgents, and were also being used as dumps for arms and ammunition
stored by the Awami League for
its armed rebellion.
13. Still another significant statement came from Brigadier Mian
Taskeenuddin (Witness No. 282):
"Many junior and other officers took the law into their own hands to
deal with the so-called miscreants.
There have been cases of interrogation of miscreants which were far
more severe in character than normal
and in some cases blatantly in front of the public. The discipline of
the Pakistani army as was generally
understood had broken down. In a command area (Dhoom Ghat) between
September and October
miscreants were killed by firing squads. On coming to know about it I
stopped the same forthwith."
14. Maj. Gen. Nazar Hussain Shah, GOC 16 Division, conceded that
"there were rumours that Bengalis
were disposed of without trial." Similarly, Brigadier Abdul Qadir Khan
(Witness No. 243) Commander
93 (A)? admitted that "a number of instance of picking up Bengalis did
take place." Lt. Col. S. S. H.
Bokhari, CO of 29 Cavalry, appearing as Witness no 244, stated that
"In Rangpur two officers and 30
men were disposed of without trial. It may have happened in other
stations as well." An admission was
also made by Lt. Col. S. M. Naeem (Witness No 258) CO of 39 Baluch
that "innocent people were killed
by us during sweep operations and it created estrangement amongst the public."
15. Lt Col. Mansoorul Haq, GSO-I, Division, appearing as Witness No
260, has made detailed and
specific allegations as follows:
"A Bengali, who was alleged to be a Mukti Bahini or Awami Leaguer, was
being sent to Bangladesh-a
code name for death without trial, without detailed investigations and
without any written order by any
authorised authority."
Indiscriminate killing and looting could only serve the cause of the
enemies of Pakistan. In the harshness,
we lost the support of the silent majority of the people of East
Pakistan.... The Comilla Cantt massacre (on
27th/28th of March, 1971) under the orders of CO 53 Field Regiment,
Lt. Gen. Yakub Malik, in which 17
Bengali Officers and 915 men were just slain by a flick of one
Officer's fingers should suffice as an
example.
There was a general feeling of hatred against Bengalis amongst the
soldiers and officers including
Generals. There were verbal instructions to eliminate Hindus.
In Salda Nadi area about 500 persons were killed.
When the army moved to clear the rural areas and small towns, it moved
in a ruthless manner, destroying,
burning and killing. The rebels while retreating carried out reprisals
against non-Bengalis.
16. Several civilian officers have also deposed in a similar vein, and
it would suffice to quote here the
words of Mr. Mohammad Ashraf, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Dacca,
to whose evidence we have
also referred earlier in another context. He stated that "after the
military action the Bengalis were made
aliens in their own homeland. The life, property, and honour of even
the most highly placed among them
were not safe. People were picked up from their homes on suspicion and
dispatched to Bangladesh, a term
used to describe summary executions. .... The victims included Army
and Police Officers, businessmen,
civilian officers etc....There was no Rule of Law in East Pakistan. A
man had no remedy if he was on the
wanted list of the Army.... Army Officers who were doing intelligence
were raw hands, ignorant of the
local language and callous of Bengali sensibilities."
17. About the attitude of senior officers in this behalf, Brigadier
Iqbalur Rehman Shariff (Witness no.
269), has alleged that during his visit to formations in East Pakistan
General Gul Hassan used to ask the
soldiers "how many Bengalis have you shot".
18. The statements appearing in the evidence of Lt. Col. Aziz Ahmed
Khan (Witness no 276) who was
Commanding Officer 8 Baluch and then CO 86 Mujahid Battalion are also
directly relevant. "Brigadier
Arbbab also told me to destroy all houses in Joydepur. To a great
extent I executed this order. General
Niazi visited my unit at Thakargaon and Bogra. He asked us how many
Hindus we had killed. In May,
there was an order in writing to kill Hindus. This order was from
Brigadier Abdullah Malik of 23
Brigade."
19. While the extracts of evidence given above reflect the general
position in regard to the allegations we
are considering, it appears to be necessary to deal specifically with
certain matters brought to the notice of
the Prime Minister of Pakistan by the Bangladesh authorities, or which
have otherwise been particularly
mentioned by certain witnesses appearing before the Commission during
the present session.
Painting the Green of East Pakistan Red
20. During his meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan at Dacca on
Friday, the 28th of June 1974, the
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sh. Mujibur Rehman, complained inter-alia
that Maj Gen Rao Farman Ali had
written in his own hand on Government stationery that "The green of
East Pakistan will have to be
painted red." Sh. Mujibur Rehman promised to supply a photostat copy
of this document to the
Government of Pakistan." The same has since been received and is added
to annexure "A" to this chapter.
The insinuation is that this writing amounted to a written declaration
of the intentions of the Pakistan
Army and the martial law administration in East Pakistan to indulge in
large-scale bloodshed in order to
suppress the movement for Bangladesh. This writing is being put
forward as a proof of the killings
alleged to have been carried out in East Pakistan during the military
operations.
21. We asked Maj. Gen. Farman Ali to explain the significance of this
writing and the circumstances
under which it came to me made by him. He has stated that the words
"the green of East Pakistan will
have to be painted red" were uttered by one of the NPA leaders in
Paltan Maidan, Dacca in a public
speech during June 1970. The Martial Law headquarters thought that
these words had been uttered by Mr
Mohammad Toha of the NAP, and the General was asked to call for the
explanation of Mr Tolia and warn
him not to say things prejudicial to public peace. To remind himself
he wrote these words down on the
back of his table diary, when they were repeated to him on telephone
by Lt. Gen. Yakub, the then Zonal
Martial Law administrator in East Pakistan. Toha later denied having
uttered these words and mentioned
the names of Qazi Zafar and Rashid Memon in this connection. As these
gentlemen had gone
underground, General Farman Ali could not take any further action
against them. The General has further
explained that as Mr Toha and his associates had communist leanings,
these words were intended to
convey their conviction and objective that East Pakistan would be
turned into a communist state, and not
that there would be bloodshed. Finally, Maj. Gen. Farman Ali has
stated that he did not give any
importance to this note and it must have fallen into the hands of his
Bengali Personal Assistant, when the
diary for the year 1970 was replaced at the close of that year.
22. From the photostat copy sent to the Government of Pakistan by the
Government of Bangladesh, it
becomes clear that the paper on which these words are written was
apparently in the nature of a writing
pad on which notes are jotted down as an aid to memory. The paper
bears the heading:-
"Governor's Secretariat, East Pakistan"
Then there are miscellaneous entries, which do not have any connection
with each other, for instance,
"Siraj-Iqbal Hall, D.C."
Below these words a line in ink is drawn and then appear the words
"Case against Mr. Toha and others".
These words are followed by the telephone number of the Chief Justice
and then by some other entries
relating to some accommodation and the name of one Mr. Karamat. Then
appear the words in question,
enclosed by a circle in black ink. There is a further entry of an
Officer's name below these words, which
apparently has no connection with this matter.
23. A perusal of this document leave no doubt in our mind that it was
indeed in the nature of a writing pad
or table diary on which the General made miscellaneous notes during
course of his work. The words
"Case against Mr Teha and others", appearing in the same page, do
support Maj. Gen. Farman Ali's
contention that it was in this connection that he noted these words to
remind himself, while confronting
Mr Toha as directed by the Martial Law Administrator. We consider that
it is highly fanciful to regard this
note as being in the nature of a solemn declaration of Maj. Gen.
Farman Ali's intention to shed blood on
the soil of East Pakistan. The explanation given by the General
appears to us to be correct.
24. This again is a matter, which was specifically raised by Sh.
Mujibur Rehman during his meeting with
the Prime Minister at Dacca. According to Maj. Gen. Farman Ali it was
on the 9th and 10th of December
1971 that he was rung up in the evening by Maj. Gen. Jamshed, who was
the Deputy Martial Law
Administrator for Dacca Division and asked to come to his headquarters
in Peelkhana. On reaching the
headquarters he saw a large number of vehicles parked there. Maj. Gen.
Jamshed was getting into a car
and he asked Maj. Gen. Farman Ali to come along. They both drove to
Headquarters of Eastern
Command to meet Gen. Niazi and on the way Maj. Gen. Jamshed informed
Gen. Farman that they were
thinking of arresting certain people. Gen. Farman Ali advised against
it. On reaching General Niazi's
headquarters he repeated his advice, on which Gen. Niazi kept quiet
and so did Gen. Jamshed. Gen.
Farman Ali has stated that he cannot say anything as to what happened
after he came away from the
headquarters but he thinks that no further action was taken.
25. When questioned on this point, Lt. Gen. A. A. K. Niazi stated that
the local Commanders had, on the
9th of December 1971, brought a list to him which included the names
of miscreants, heads of Mukti
Bahini etc but not any intellectuals but he had stopped them from
collecting and arresting these people.
He denied the allegation that any intellectuals were in fact arrested
and killed on the 9th December 1971
or thereafter.
26. Maj. Gen. Jamshed has, however, a slightly different version to
offer. He says that it was on the 9th
and 10th of December 1971 that General Niazi expressed his
apprehension of a general uprising in the
Dacca city and ordered him to examine the possibility of arresting
certain persons according to lists which
were already with the various agencies, namely the Martial Law
Authorities and the Intelligence Branch.
A conference was held on the 9th and 10th of December 1971 in which
these lists were produced by the
agencies concerned and the total number of persons to be arrested came
to about two or three thousand.
According to him, arrangements for accommodation, security guards,
missing and the safety of the
arrested persons from bombing/strafing by the Indian Air Force
presented insurmountable problems and
therefore, he reported back to Gen. Niazi that the proposal be
dropped. He states that thereafter no further
action was taken in this matter.
27. From the statements made by the three Generals who appear to be
directly concerned in the matter, it
seems that although there was some talks of arresting persons known to
be leaders of the Awami League
or Mukti Bahini so as to prevent chances o a general uprising in Dacca
during the closing phases of the
war with India, yet no practical action was taken in view of the
circumstances then prevailing, namely the
precarious position of the Pakistan Army and the impending surrender.
We consider, therefore, that unless
the Bangladesh authorities can produce some convincing evidence, it is
not possible to record a finding
that any intellectuals or professionals were indeed arrested and
killed by the Pakistan Army during
December 1971.
Killings During Disarming of East Pakistan Units
28. In the evidence specific allegations were made before the
Commission that Lt. Col. Yakub Malik, CO
of 53 Field Regiment was responsible for the killing of 17 Officers
and 915 other ranks at Comilla Cantt.,
while disarming 4 EBR, 40 Field Ambulance and Bengali SSG personnel.
An explanation was
accordingly called from this officer, in which he has denied the
allegation, and has asserted that resistance
was put up by the particular units aforementioned as a result of which
casualties were sustained on both
sides. He asserts, however, that in April 1971 when the situation
stabilised a large number of disarmed
Bengali personnel detained in the barracks were reported to
Headquarters 9 Div., thus implying that no
such killing took place during the disarming process towards the end
of March 1971.
29. Similar allegations have also been made before the Commission
regarding the disarming of East
Pakistani personnel of 29 Cavalry at Rangpur, although the number of
persons said to have been killed is
mentioned as being only two officers and 30 other ranks. An
explanation was called from the
Commanding Officer, Brigadier, Saghir Hussain and he has denied the
allegation stating that all the
personnel, barring a few who had either deserted or did not return
from leave, were safely evacuated to
West Pakistan under arrangements of Eastern Command, and they were
later repatriated to Bangladesh
along with other East Pakistani personnel.
30. The evidence before the Commission in respect of these allegations
is obviously not conclusive, It is
possible that there may have been other instances of casualties
inflicted during the disarming of East
Pakistani personnel. The Commission feels that the Army authorities
must conduct a thorough inquiry
into these matters so as to elicit the truth and fix responsibility.
Magnitude of Atrocities
31. In the circumstances that prevailed in East Pakistan from the 1st
of March to the 16th of December
1971, it was hardly possible to obtain an accurate estimate of the
toll of death and destruction caused by
the Awami League militants and later by the Pakistan Army. It must
also be remembered that even after
the military action of the 25th of march 1971, Indian infiltrators and
members of the Mukti Bahini
sponsored by the Awami League continued to indulge in killings, rape
and arson during their raids on
peaceful villages in east Pakistan, not only in order to cause panic
and disruption and carry out their plans
of subversion, but also to punish those East Pakistanis who were not
willing to go along with them. In any
estimate of the extent of atrocities alleged to have been committed on
the East Pakistani people, the death
and destruction caused by the Awami League militants throughout this
period and the atrocities
committed by them on their own brothers and sisters must, therefore,
be always be kept in view.
32. According to the Bangladesh authorities, the Pakistan Army was
responsible for killing three million
Bengalis and raping 200,000 East Pakistani women. It does not need any
elaborate argument to see that
these figures are obviously highly exaggerated. So much damage could
not have been caused by the entire
strength of the Pakistan Army then stationed in East Pakistan even if
it had nothing else to do. In fact,
however, the army was constantly engaged in fighting the Mukti Bahini,
the Indian infiltrators, and later
the Indian army. It has also the task of running the civil
administration, maintaining communications and
feeding 70 million people of East Pakistan. It is, therefore, clear
that the figures mentioned by the Dacca
authorities are altogether fantastic and fanciful.
33. Different figures were mentioned by different persons in authority
but the latest statement supplied to
us by the GHQ shows approximately 26,000 persons killed during the
action by the Pakistan Army. This
figure is based on situation reports submitted from time to time by
the Eastern Command to the General
Headquarters. It is possible that even these figures may contain an
element of exaggeration as the lower
formations may have magnified their own achievements in quelling the
rebellion. However, in the
absence of any other reliable date, the Commission is of the view that
the latest figure supplied by the
GHQ should be accepted. An important consideration which has
influenced us in accepting this figure as
reasonably correct is the fact that the reports were sent from East
Pakistan to GHQ at a time when the
Army Officers in East Pakistan could have had no notion whatsoever of
any accountability in this behalf.
34. The falsity of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's repeated allegation that
Pakistani troops had raped 200,000
Bengali girls in 1971 was borne out when the abortion team he had
commissioned from Britain in early
1972 found that its workload involved the termination of only a
hundred or more pregnancies. Question
of Responsibility
35. For almost three years now, the world has repeatedly heard a list
of 195 names said to have been
prepared by the Dacca authorities in connection with the commission of
these atrocities and crimes. As
the Commission has not been supplied with a copy of this list, it is
not possible for us to comment upon
the justification or otherwise of the inclusion of any particular
names therein. It is, however, clear that the
final and overall responsibility must rest on General Yahya Khan, Lt.
Gen. Pirazada, Maj Gen. Umar, Lt.
Gen. Mitha. It has been brought out in evidence that Maj. Gen. Mitha
was particularly active in East
Pakistan in the days preceding the military action of the 25th of
March 1971, and even the other Generals
just mentioned were present in Dacca along with Yahya Khan, and
secretly departed there on the evening
of that fateful day after fixing the deadline for the military action.
Maj. Gen. Mitha is said to have
remained behind. There is also evidence that Lt. Gen Tikka Khan, Major
Gen. Farman Ali and Maj. Gen
Khadim Hussain were associated with the planning of the military
action. There is, however, nothing to
show that they contemplated the use of excessive force or the
Commission of atrocities and excesses on
the people of East Pakistan.
36. The immediate responsibility for executing the plan of this action
fell on Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan who
succeeded Lt. Gen. Mohammad Yakub on the 7th of March 1971 as Zonal
Administrator, Martial Law, as
well as Commander Eastern Command. This last responsibility was passed
on by him to Lt. Gen. A.A.K.
Niazi on the 7th of April 1971. From that day until the day of
surrender the troops in East Pakistan
remained under the operational control of Lt. Gen. Niazi who also
assumed powers of the Martial Law
administrator on the appointment of a civilian Governor in August
1971. It is a question for determination
as to what share of responsibility must rest on these commanders for
the excesses allegedly committed by
the troops under their Command. It is in evidence that Lt. Gen. Tikka
Khan was always willing to redress
grievances and take disciplinary action whenever complaints of
excesses were brought to his notice. It has
also to be said that both these Generals had issued repeated warnings
to troops to refrain from acts of
violence and immorality. At the same time there is some evidence to
suggest that the words and personal
actions of Lt. Gen. Niazi were calculated to encourage the killings and rape.
37. The direct responsibility of the alleged excesses and atrocities
must, of course, rest on those officers
and men who physically perpetuated them or knowingly and deliberately
allowed them to be so
perpetuated. These officers and men not only showed lack of discipline
in disobeying the directives of the
Eastern Command and Zonal Martial Law Administrator, but also indulged
in criminal acts punishable
under the Army Act as well as the ordinary law of the land.
Conclusions and Recommendations
38. From what we have said in the preceding paragraphs it is clear
that there is substance in the
allegations that during and after the military action excesses were
indeed committed on the people of East
Pakistan, but the versions and estimates put forward by the Dacca
authorities are highly coloured and
exaggerated. Some of the incidents alleged by those authorities did
not take place at all, and on others
fanciful interpretations have been deliberately placed for the purpose
of maligning the Pakistan army and
gaining world sympathy. We have also found that the strong provocation
was offered to the army owing
to the misdeeds of the Awami League. It has also been stated that use
of force was undoubtedly inherent
in the military action required to restore the authority of the
Federal Government. Nevertheless, inspite of
all these factors we are of the view that the officers charged with
the task of restoring law and order were
under an obligation to act with restraint and to employ only the
minimum force necessary for the purpose.
No amount of provocation by the militants of the Awami League or other
miscreants could justify
retaliation by a disciplined army against its own people. The Pakistan
Army was called upon to operate in
Pakistan territory, and could not, therefore, be permitted to behave
as if it was dealing with external
aggression or operating on enemy soil. Irrespective, therefore, of the
magnitude of the atrocities, we are of
the considered opinion that it's necessary for the Government of
Pakistan to take effective action to punish
this who were responsible for the commission of these alleged excesses
and atrocities.
Inquiries and Trials
39. On the basis of the evidence coming before the Commission, we have
been able to indicate only in
general terms the direct and indirect responsibility of certain senior
commanders and others, but the
question of fixing individual responsibility and awarding punishment
appropriate thereto need to be
determined according to the prescribed procedures available under the
Pakistan Army Act and other
applicable laws of the land. We would, accordingly, reiterate the
recommendation made by us in
Paragraph 7 of Chapter III of Para V of the main report that the
Government of Pakistan should set up a
high-powered Court or Commission of Inquiry to investigate these
allegations, and to hold trials of those
who indulged in these atrocities, brought a bad name to the Pakistan
Army and alienated the sympathies
of the local population by their acts of wanton cruelty and immorality
against our own people. The
composition of the Court of Inquiry, if not its proceedings, should be
publicly announced so as to satisfy
national conscience and international opinion.
40. The Commission feels that sufficient evidence is now available in
Pakistan for a fruitful inquiry to be
undertaken in this regard. As the Government of Bangladesh has been
recognised by Pakistan, it may be
feasible to request the Dacca authorities to forward to this Court of
Inquiry whatever evidence may be
available with them.
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF CERTAIN SENIOR ARMY COMMANDERS
In Chapters 1, 2 and 5 of Part 5 of the main report we have dealt with
the moral and disciplinary aspects
of tee events and causes leading to the defeat of the Pakistan Army in
the 1971 war, and have also
touched upon the individual responsibility of certain senior officers.
In the preceding two chapters of the
Supplementary Report, we have offered further observations on these
aspects and have commented upon
the conduct of certain Army Officers posted in East Pakistan. There,
however, still remains the question
of determining whether any disciplinary action is called for against
certain senior army commanders for
their failings in the discharge of their professional duties in the
conduct ad prosecution of the war in East
Pakistan.
Nature of Disciplinary Action
2. In view of the glaring weaknesses and negligence displayed by some
of the senior officers operating in
East Pakistan, we have anxiously considered the nature of the
disciplinary action required in the case. We
find that there are several provisions in the the Pakistan Army Act
1952 having a direct bearing on this
matter. In the first place, there is section 24 which is in the
following terms:- "24. Offences in relation to
enemy and punishable with death. Any person to this Act who commits
any of the following offenses,
that is to say,-
(a) Shamefully abandons or delivers up any garrison, fortress,
airfield, place, post or guard committed to
his charge or which it is his duty to defend, or uses any means to
compel or induce any commanding
officer or any other person to do any of the said acts;
or (b) in the presence of any enemy, shamefully casts away his arms,
ammunition, tools or equipment, or
misbehaves in such manner as to show cowardice;
or (c) intentionally uses word or any other means to compel or induce
any person subject to this Act, or to
the Indian Air Force Act, 1932 (XIV of 1932) or Pakistan Air Force Act
1953 or too the Pakistan Navy
Ordinance, 1961, t abstain from acting against the enemy or to
discourage such persons from acting
against the enemy;
or (d) directly or indirectly, treacherously holds correspondence with
or communicates intelligence to, the
enemy or who coming to the knowledge of such correspondence or
communication treacherously omits to
discover it to his commanding or other superior officer;
or (e) directly or indirectly assists or relies the enemy with arm,
ammunition, equipment, supplies or
money or knowingly harbours or protects an enemy not being a prisoner;
or (f)treacherously or through cowardice sends a flag of truce to the enemy;
or (g) in time of war, of during any operation, intentionally
occasions a false alarm in action, camp,
garrision or quarters, or spreads reports calculated to create alarm
or despondency;
or (h) in time of action, leaves his commanding officer, or quits his
post, guard, picquet, patrol or party
without being regularly relieved or without leave;
or (i) having being made a prisoner of war, voluntarily serves with or
aids the enemy;
or (j) knowingly does when on active service any act calculated to
imperil success of the Pakistan forces
or any forces-operating therewith or of any part of such forces'
shall, on conviction by court martial, be
punished with death or with such less punishment as it is in this Act
mentioned",
. Section 25 is also relevant, and reads as under:-
25. Offences in relation to the enemy and not punishable with death.
Any person subject to this Act who,
on active service -
(a) without order from his superior officer leaves the ranks in order
to secure prisoner, animals or
materials, or on the pretence of taking wounded men to the rear;
or (b) without orders from his superior officer, willfully destroys or
damages any property;
or (c) is taken prisoner for want of due precaution or through
disobedience of orders or wilful neglect of
duty, or, having been taken prisoner, fails to rejoin service when he
is able to do so;
or (d) without due authority, either holds correspondence with, or
communicates intelligence, or sends a
flag of truce to the enemy;
or (e) by words of mouth, or in writing, or by signals, or otherwise
spreads reports calculated to create
alarm or despondency;
or (f) in action, or previously to going into action, uses words
calculated to create alarm or despondency;
shall on conviction by court martial, be punished with rigorous
imprisonment for a term which may
extend to fourteen years, or with much less punishment as is in this
Act mentioned".
4. Finally, there is section 55 which is of a general nature, and
provides;- "55. Violation of good order and
discipline-Any person subject to this Act who is guilty of any act,
conduct, disorder and of military
discipline shall , on conviction by court martial, be punished with
rigorous imprisonment for a term which
may extend to five years, or with such less punishment as is in this
Act mentioned"
5. We are fully cognizant of the fact that defeat in war, even
entailing surrender, is not necessarily
punishable as a military offence unless it has been occasioned by
wilful neglect of the Commander
concerned in the performance of his duties in respect of the
appreciation of the situation regarding the
enemy's intention, strength, own resources, terrain, etc; or in the
planning and conduct of the operations;
or a wilful failure to take action as required under the
circumstances. A callous disregard of the
recognised techniques and principles of warfare would clearly amount
to culpable negligence, and could
not be excused as an honest error of judgement. A deliberate failure
to adopt the proper courseof action to
meet a certain contingency cannot be covered by taking shelter behind
the plea that his superiors did not
advise him properly in time. It further appears to us that every
Commander must be presumed to possess
the calibre and quality, appurtenant to his rank, and he must per
force bear full responsibility for all the
acts of omission and commission, leading to his defeat in war, which
are clearly attributable to culpable
negligence on his part to take the right action at the right time, as
distinguished from (illegible) or
circumstances beyond his control. He would also be liable to be
punished if he shows a lack of will to
fight and surrenders to the enemy at a juncture when he still had the
resources and the capability to put up
resistance. Such an act would appear to fall clearly under clause (a)
of section 24 of the Pakistan Army
Act.
Need and Justification for Trial and Punishment
6. Having heard the views of a large number of witnesses drawn fro m
all sections of society, professions
and services, the Commission feels that there is consensus on the
imperative need to book these senior
army commanders who have brought disgrace and defeat to Pakistan by
their professional incompetence,
culpable negligence and wilful neglect in the performance of their
duties, and physical and moral
cowardice in abandoning the fight when they had the capability and
resources to resist the enemy. WE are
also of the view that proper and firm disciplinary action , and not
merely retirement from service, is
necessary to ensure against any future recurrence of the kind of
shameful conduct displayed during the
1971 war W e believe that such action would not only satisfy the
nations demand for punishment where it
is deserved, but would also serve to emphasise the concept of
professional accountability which appears
to have been forgotten by senior army officers since their involvement
in politics, civil administration and
Martial Law duties.
Cases Requiring Action by Way of Court Martial
7. In Part III of the present report, we have discussed and analysed
at some length the concept of defence
of East Pakistan adopted by Lt. Gen Niazi, and the manner in which he
and his Divisional and Brigade
Commanders formulated their plans to implement that concept within the
resources available to them in
East Pakistan. We have then narrated the important events involving
the surrender of well-defended
strong points and fortresses without a fight , desertion of his area
of responsibility by a Divisional
Commander, disintegration of brigades and battalions in frantic and
foolish efforts to withdraw from
certain posts , and abandoning of the wounded ad the sick in callous
disregard of all human and military
values. We have also seen how the Eastern Command had failed to plan
for n allout war with India and
particularly to provide for the defence of Dacca which had been
described as the political and military
lynch-pin of East Pakistan. We have also described the painful events
leading to the ultimate surrender of
such a large body of men and materials to the Indian Army at juncture
when, by all accounts, the Pakistan
Army was still able to put up resistance for anything upto two weeks
or more. In this context we have also
taken note of the inexplicable orders issued by the Eastern Command to
stop the destruction of war before
material before the surrender , and the abject and shameful attitude
adopted by the Commander, Eastern
Command, at various stages of the surrender ceremonies in the presence
of the Indian Generals. Finally,
we have observed that during his period of captivity at Jabbalpur
(India) Lt General Niazi made efforts to
persuade, by threats and inducements, his subordinate Commanders to
present a coordinated story so as to
mitigate his responsibility for the debate.
8. Judged in the light of this analysis of the events leading to the
surrender of our surrender of our Army
in East Pakistan, and the relevant provisions of the Pakistan Army Act
and the considerations thereto, as
outlined in the preceding paragraphs, we are of the considered opinion
that the following senior officers
ought to be tried by court martial on the charges listed against them
, and we recommend accordingly.
(1) Lt Gen A.A.K. Niazi, Commander, Eastern Command
(i) That he wilfully failed to appreciate the imminence of all-out war
with India, inspite of all indications
to the contrary, namely the declarations of the Indian Prime Minister
and other important Government
leaders, the signing of the Indo-Soviet treaty in August, 1971, the
amassing of eight divisions of the
Indian Army, eleven squadrons of the Indian Air Force, and a large
task force of the Indian Navy in and
around East Pakistan , and the clear warning given to him by the GHQ
on the basis of reliable intelligence
regarding Indian plans of invasion of East Pakistan, with the n
consequence that he continued to deploy
his troops in a forward posture although that deployment had become
entirely unsuited for defence against
open Indian aggression;
(ii) That he displayed utter lack of professional competence,
initiative and foresight, expected of an Army
Commander of his ran, seniority and experience, in not realising that
the parts of his mission concerning
anti-insurgency operations and ensuring that "no chunk of territory"
was to be allowed to be taken over by
the rebels for establishing Bangladesh, had become irrelevant in the
context of the imminence of all-out
attack by India on or about the 21st of November ,1971, and that the
mast important part of his mission
from that juncture onwards was to "defend East Pakistan against
external aggression"' and "keep the
Corps in being and ensure the entity of East Pakistan"' with the
result that he failed to concentrate his
forces in time , which failure later led to fatal results;
(iii) That he displayed culpable negligence in adopting the concept of
fortresses and strong points without
fully understanding its technical implications as regards their
ability to lend mutual support, availability
of the necessary reserves to strike at the enemy in the event of his
by passing any of the fortresses or
overwhelming them with superior numbers , and the existence of a
non-hostile population, with the
disastrous consequence that was forced to surrender even though
several of the fortresses and strong
points were still intact on the 16th of December, 1971;
(iv) That he was guilty of criminal negligence in not including in his
operational instruction No. 4 of
1971, issued on the 15th of July, 1971, any clear directive for a
planned withdrawal of forces behind ??
river obstacles to face the Indian onslaught and to defend what may be
described as the Dacca Triangle
for the purpose of keeping East Pakistan in being by giving up
non-vital territory;
(v) That he in fact showed wilful neglect and culpable negligence of
the worst order in failing to make
any positive plan for the defence of Dacca;
(vi) That he displayed lack of generalship and mature judgement in
requiring his subordinate commanders
to simultaneously maintain a forward defence posture, occupy unmanned
fortresses, and yet not withdraw
from any position without sustaining 75% casualties and obtaining
clearance from two-up, a variation
from the norm of one-up, with the result that several formation
commanders felt confused and bewildered
and acted in a manner prejudicial to the sound conduct of operations
and resulting in unnecessary
casualties, as well as disorder and chaos arising from haphazard and
unplanned withdrawals under
pressure from the enemy;
(vii) That he displayed culpable negligence and wilful disregard of
established principles of warfare by
denuding Dacca of all regular troops by moving out 53 Brigade, which
had been previously held as Corps
reserve, on the expectation that he would be getting more troops as
agreed to by GHQ on the 19th of
November, 1971;
(viii) That he was guilty of criminal negligence in not ensuring
beforehand satisfactory arrangements for
transport, ferries, etc., with the result that even his last minute
desperate efforts to withdraw troops from
forward positions for the defence of Dacca were unsuccessful, and
whatever troops did manage to reach
Dacca did so minus their heavy equipment, besides suffering
unnecessary casualties en route.
(ix) That he wilfully failed to defend Dacca, and agreed to a shameful
and premature surrender inspite of
his own assertion before the Commission that Indians would have
required at least a period of seven days
to mount the offensive and another week to reduce the defences of
Dacca, notwithstanding the
shortcomings of his concept and plans, inadequacies and handicaps in
respect of men and materials as
compared to the enemy, the absence of air support and the presence of
Mukti Bahini in and around Dacca.
(x) That he deliberately and wilfully sent unduly pessimistic and
alarming reports to GHQ with a view to
eliciting permission to surrender as he had lost the will to fight as
early as the 6th or 7th of December,
1971, owing to his own mismanagement of the entire of war and his
inability to influence , inspire and
guide the subordinate Commanders;
(xi) That he wilfully, and for motives and reasons difficult to
understand and appreciate, stopped the
implementation of denial plans, with the result that large quantities
of valuable war materials wee handed
over intact to the Indian forces after surrender, inspite of the fact
that GHQ had specifically ordered by
their Signal of the 10th December ,1971, to carry out denial plans;
(xii) That he displayed a shameful and abject attitude in agreeing too
surrender when he had himself
offered a ceasefire to the Indian Commander-in-Chief; in signing the
surrender document agreeing to lay
down arms to the joint command of the Indian forces and the Mukti
Bahini; in being present at the Dacca
Airport to receive the victorious Indian General Arora; in ordering
his own ADC to present a guard of
honour to the said General; and in accepting the Indian proposal for a
public surrender ceremony which
brought everlasting shame to the Pakistan Army.
(xiii) That he was guilty of conduct unbecoming a Officer and
Commander of his rank and seniority in
that he acquired a notorious reputation for sexual immorality and
indulgence in the smuggling of Pan
from East to West Pakistan, with the inevitable consequence that he
failed to inspire respect and
confidence in the mind of his subordinates impaired his qualities of
leadership and determination, and
also encouraged laxity in discipline and moral standards among the
officers and men under his command;
(xiv) That during the period of his captivity as a prisoner of war in
Jabbalpur (India) and on repatriation to
the Pakistan he made efforts to subvert the truth by trying to
exercise undue influence on his Divisional
and Brigade Commanders by offering them threats and inducements , so
as to persuade them to present
before th GHQ Briefing Committee and the Commission of Inquiry , a
coordinated and coloured version
of the events in East Pakistan for the purpose of mitigating his own
responsibility for the defeat; and
(xv) That, on repatriation to Pakistan, he deliberately adopted a
false and dishonest stand to the effect that
he was willing and able to fight but was ordered to surrender by
General Yahya Khan, and that as a
dutiful soldier he had no option but to obey the said order against
his best judgement.
2. Maj Gen Mohammad Jamshed, ex-JOC 36 (ad hoc) Division, Dacca
(i) That having been appointed as GOC 36 (ad hoc) Division for the
express purpose of taking over from
14 Div., major responsibility for the defence of Dacca, he wilfully
failed to plan for the same, in
accordance with sound principles of warfare, and showed culpable lack
of initiative in this behalf;
(ii) That in the aforesaid capacity he wilfully neglected to point out
to Lt Gen Niazi, during various
conference, the inadequacy of the resources at his disposal for the
defence of Dacca, pointing out after the
19th of Nov, 1971, when 53 Brigade was sent out of Dacca to Feni;
(iii) That he displayed gross neglect in ordering the abrupt
withdrawal of 93 Brigade from Jamalpur to
Dacca without planning for it, well knowing that it was defending
Dacca by holding that fortress, and in
consequence of this ill-planed move 93 Brigade got completely
disintegrated enroute owing to the capture
by the enemy of the Brigade Commander and a considerable portion of the Brigade;
(iv) That he showed complete lack of courage and will to fight in that
he acquiesced in the decision of the
Commander, Eastern Command, to surrender to surrender to the Indian
forces at a juncture when it was
still possible, in spite of the paucity o resources, to hold the enemy
for a period of two weeks or so;
(v) That he deliberately and wilfully neglected to inform the
authorities concerned, on his repatriation to
Pakistan, about the facts that he had got distributed Rs 50,000 out of
Pakistan currency notes and other
funds at his disposal or under his control, amongst certain evacuated
from Dacca on the morning of
December, 1971, and the manner in which he did so.
(3) Maj Gen M. Rahim Khan, ex-GOC 3? (ad hoc) Division
(a) In Paragraphs 9 to 11 of Chapter III of P art V of the Main Report
, we had occasion to comment upon
the conduct of Maj Gen Rahim Khan, GOC 39 (ad hoc) Division, who
abandoned his Division , and
evacuated his Divisional HQ from Chandpur , of course, with the
permission of the Commander, Eastern
Commander, with no replacement, and with the consequence that his
Division disintegrated and had to be
replaced with another Headquarter called the Narayan Sector Headquater
under a Brigadier. We had then
recounted that the conduct of Maj Gen Rahim Khan in abandoning his
troops and shifting to a place
outside his area of responsibility prima facie called for a proper
inquiry to determine whether the General
was guilty of dereliction of duty or/and cowardice. We also added some
other points which needed to be
looked into in this behalf.
(b) As Maj Gen Rahim Khan was one of the senior officers serving in
East Pakistan during the war, he
voluntarily appeared before the Commission during the present session,
primarily for the purpose of
clearing his position. As will be seen from a detailed discussion of
the operation of the 39 (ad hoc)
Division in the narration of the military events, the Commission is
far from satisfied with the performance
of this General Officer. In the light of the information now available
we now consider that he should be
tried by a court martial on the following charges:
(i) That he shameful cowardice and undue regard for his personal
safety in seeking, and obtaining,
permission from the Eastern Command to abandon his Division and vacate
his Divisional Headquarters
from Chandpur on the 8th of December 1971, simply because Chandpur was
threatened by the enemy,
with the result that he deserted his troops and his area of
responsibility in the middle of the war with
India;
(ii) That y his wilful insistence on moving by day against competent
advise, owing to fear of Mukti
Bahini, caused the death of fourteen Naval ratings and four officers
of his own HQ, besides injuries to
several others, and to himself due to strafing by Indian aircraft;
(iii) That in his anxiety to get away from Chandpur, he wilfully
abandoned valuable signal equipment
with the result that the communication system of the Division
disintegrated and his subordinate
commanders and troops were left to their own fate;
(iv) That he on the 12th of December, 1971, by word of mouth,,, caused
alarm and despondency by
General Niazi, Jamshed and Farman Ali that "it is all over , let us
call it a day"' and that the Mukti Bahini
might resort to massacre'
(v) That he wilfully avoided submitting a debriefing report to GHQ, on
being specially evacuated to
Pakistan in early 1971, so as to conceal the circumstances of his
desertion from his Div HQ at Chandpur
with the consequence that the authorities were persuaded to appoint hi
as Chief of the General Staff
without any knowledge of his performance in East Pakistan
4. Brig. G.M. Baqir Siddiqui, former COS, Eastern Command, Dacca
(i) That as Chief of Staff, Eastern Command, he was guilty of wilful
neglect in failing to advise the
Commander , Eastern Commander, on sound professional lines in regard
to the matters mentioned in
charges (i) to (ix) framed against Lt. Gen Niazi;
(ii) That he wilfully collaborated with, and assisted, the Commander,
Eastern Command, in sending
unduly pessimistic and alarming reports and signals to GHQ with a view
to elicit permission to surrender,
as he had also lost the will to fight owing to his culpable negligence
and failure in the performance of his
professional duties as the Chief of Staff of the Eastern Command;
(iii) That he showed culpable disregard of sound principles of
planning for the war in that he excluded the
Commanders of the supporting arms like signals, engineers, logistics,
medical, etc. from full participation
before the plans of the Eastern Command were finalized, with the
result that the full benefit of the advice
of these Commanders was not available to Lt Gen Niazi at the proper time;
(iv) That he was guilty of culpable negligence in not properly
advising the Commander, Eastern
Command, of the imminence and enormity of the Indian threat even
though he had been fully briefed in
this behalf by the GHQ at a conference in Rawalpindi in October 1971,
and he also similarly failed to
advise the Commander on the imperative need of readjusting troops to
meet this threat;
(v) That he was responsible for abrupt changes in command in the
middle of the war , and also for giving
orders to subordinate formations over the head of their superior
commanders, thus resulting in uncertainty
and confusion during the critical days of the war;
(vi) That he wilfully, and for motives and reasons difficult to
understand and appreciate stopped the
implementation of denial plans with the result that large quantities
of valuable war materials were handed
over intact to the Indian forces after the surrender, in spite of the
fact the GHQ had specifically ordered by
their of the 10th December 1971 to carry out denial plans;
(vii) That in particular, he instructed the commander Signals to keep
the inter-wing transmitter in
operation even after the surrender, apparently for the purpose of
conveying recommendations to GHQ for
the grant of gallantry awards etc. with the result that this valuable
equipment fell intact into the hands of
the enemy;
(viii)That he was unduly friendly with the enemy during the period of
his captivity, so much so that he
was allowed to go out shopping in Calcutta, a facility not allowed to
anyone else by the Indians;
(ix) that he acted against good order and the custom of the Service in
being instrumental in conveying
threats and inducements to formation commanders for the purpose of
presenting a coordinated story
before the GHQ and the Commission of Inquiry in regard to the events
leading to surrender in East
Pakistan.
5. Brig Mohammad Hayat, former Comd. 107 bde. (9 Div)
(i) That as Commander 107 Bde., he displayed neglect in not
formulating a sound plan for the defence of
the fortress of Jessore;
(ii) That while launching counter attack at Gharibpur he neglected to
obtain full information about the
enemy strength, and did not himself command this important Brigade
counter attack, in consequence
whereof he lost seven tanks, his en suffered heavy casualties, and the
defence of Jessore fortress was
seriously jeopardised;
(iii) That on a report that enemy tanks had broken through the
defences of Jessore he, without even
verifying the same, shamefully abandoned the fortress of Jessore
without a fight on the 6th of December
1971, delivering intact to the enemy all supplies and ammunition dumps
stocked in the fortress, and
without issuing any orders to his unit in contact with the enemy, who
had to fight their own way during
the following night.
(iv) That after abandoning Jessore without contact with the enemy, he
withdrew to khulna in wilful and
intentional violation of the clear orders of G.Q.C. 9 Division to
withdraw to Magura in the event of a
forced withdrawal fro jessore, thus making it impossible for the
Divisional Commander to give battle to
the enemy across the Madhumati River.
6. Brig. Mohammad Asla Niazi, former Cod., 53 Bde (39Ad hoc Div.)
(i) That as Commander 53 Bde. he displayed culpable lack of
initiative, determination and planning
ability in that he failed to prepared defences of Mudafarganj as
ordered by the G.O.C. 39 (As hoc)
Division on the 4th of December 1971, with the result that the place
was occupied by the enemy on or
about the 6th of December 1971 , thus seriously endangering the line
of communication between Tripura
and Chandpur where the Divisional Headquarters was located;
(ii) That he showed culpable lack of courage, planning ability and
determination in failing to eject the
enemy fro Mudafarganj as ordered by the GOC on the 6th of December
1971, with the result that
contingents of 23 Punjab and elements of 21 A.K. surrendered to an
Indian unit on the 11th of December
1971 in highly adverse circumstances, without water or food and the
ammunition having been nearly
exhausted;
(iii) That he shamefully abandoned the Fortress of Laksham on or about
the 9th of December 1971, which
it was his duty to defend;
(iv) That he displayed wilful neglect in failing to properly organize
ex-filtration of his troops fro the
fortress at Laksha to Comilla on the 9th of December 1971, with the
result that out of a strength of about
4000 men only about 500 or so, including the Brigade Commander himself
and C.O. 39 Baluch with
approximately 400 men surrendered to the enemy when he was barely
three miles outside Comilla, and as
a consequence 53 Bde and all its battalions thus disintegrated;
(v) That he wilfully acted in callous disregard of military ethics in
abandoning at Laksha 124 sick and
wounded with two Medical Officers who were deliberately not informed
about the proposed vacation of
the fortress; and
(vi) That while vacating the fortress of laksha he wilfully and
intentionally abandoned all heavy weapons,
stocks of ammunition and supplies for the use of the enemy, without
implementing the denial plan;
8. Cases Requiring Departmental Action
(1) Brig. S.A. Ansari, ex-Comd, 23 Bde, (Div)--
This officer assumed command of 23 Bde on the 14th of November 1971
and was responsible for the civil
districts of Rangpur and Denajpur, except the small area of Hilli
which was under the control of 205 Bde.
Right from the beginning he seems to have been losing ground, starting
with the loss of Bhurungamari
which was attacked by the Indians on the 14th or 15th of November
1971. His troops then lost the
important position of Pachagarh mainly owing to Brig. Ansari's
inability to readjust his position. He then
abandoned Thakargaon between 28th and 30th of November 1971 without
offering any resistance to the
enemy. As a result of these reverses he was relieved of his command on
the 3rd of December 1971. His
Divisional Commander, Maj. Gen. Nazar Hussain Shah formed a poor
opinion of his performance in
battle and we have no hesitation in endorsing the same fro evidence
coming before us. We are of the view
that he did not display qualities of courage, leadership and
determination. The Commission feels that this
Officer is not fit for further retention in service.
(2) Brig. Manzoor Ahmad, ex-Comd 57 Bde (9 Div)--
This Officer did not conduct the battle with sufficient grip and
caused the loss of fortress of Jhenida
without a fight , owing to his inability to clear an enemy block at
Kot Chandpur. Then, contrary to the
Divisional concept and without orders he withdrew his Brigade out of
the Divisional area and had to be
placed under 16 Division. He became detached from his main
Headquarters and remained so till the end.
He could therefore make no contribution to the war and his performance
created the impression that he
was shaky in battle. He does not appear to be fit for further
retention in service.
(3) Brig. Abdul Qadir Khan, ex-Comd, 93 Bde. (36 Div)--
The work and the conduct of Brig. Abdul Qadir Khan has come to the
notice of the Commission in two
capacities, namely as the President of the Inter-Services Screening
Committee at Dacca and later as
Commander of 93 (Ad hoc) Brigade under 36 Division. In the former
capacity, he was responsible for the
screening of military and civilian personnel as well as non-officials
who had either defected during the
Awami League movement or had otherwise come to adverse notice.
Allegations were made that some
persons in his custody were eliminated without trial, or even without
any ostensible cause. However, the
allegations were not substantiated so as to fix personal
responsibility on hi. As Commander 93 (Ad hoc)
Brigade, he was captured by the Indians while withdrawing to Dacca fro
Myensingh under the orders of
Eastern Command. He sees to have reached his ceiling and the
Commission formed the impression that
his further retention in service would not be in the public interest.
We were inferred by the GHQ
representative that the Officer had since been retired.
Performance of Other Senior Officers
9. Besides Lt Gen. A.A.K. Niazi, Maj Gen. Mohammad Jamshed, and Maj
Gen M Rahim Khan, with
whose cases we have already dealt in the preceding paragraphs, there
were four other General Officers
serving in the East Pakistan at the time of the surrender, namely, Maj
Gen M.H. Ansari, GOC 9 Div., Maj
Gen Qazi Abdul Majid, GOC 14 Div., Maj Gen Nazar Hussain Shah, GOC 16
Div., and Maj Gen Rao
Farman Ali, Adviser to the Governor of East Pakistan. Similarly,
besides the Brigadiers, whom we have
noticed in the preceding paragraphs, there were 19 other Brigadiers
serving in various capacities as
Brigade Commanders or Commanders of technical arms. Finally, there was
a Rear Admiral of the Navy
supported by three Commanders and one Air Commodore commanding the PAF
in East Pakistan.
10. While we shall deal with the case of Maj Gen Rao Faran Ali
separately, as he was not commanding
any troops at the relevant time, we cannot help remarking that all the
senior officers stationed in East
Pakistan immediately before and during the war of 1971 must be held
collectively responsible for the
failings and weaknesses which led to the defeat of the Pakistan Army.
However, while assessing their
individual responsibility, the Commission was obliged to take note of
the limitations imposed on them by
the concepts and attitudes adopted by the Eastern Command, the
admitted shortages and deficiencies in
men and materials, faced by them as compared to the vast resources of
the enemy and the general
demoralisation which stemmed fro the culpable acts of commission and
omission on the part of the Army
High Command at Rawalpindi and the Commander Eastern Command, at
Dacca. Finally, there was also
the unfortunate over-riding factor of a long and inherited tradition
of unquestioned obedience and loyalty
to the superior commander, which prevented most of these officers from
questioning the soundness of the
critical decisions and actions taken by the High Command, including
the final act of surrender. Apart
from a few individuals, the large body of officers and men operating
in East Pakistan accepted the final
decision without any thought of disobedience, even though the majority
of them were undoubtedly
willing to fight to the last and lay down their lives for the glory of Pakistan.
11. Keeping in view these factors and circumstances we have examined
the individual performance and
conduct of these senior officers, as will be apparent from the
relevant portions of the Main Report and this
Supplement where we have narrated at some length the military events
as they developed from day-to-day
and we have come to the conclusion that adverse comment reflecting on
theoir suitability for continued
retention in military service would not be justified. We have also not
thought it desirable to single out
officers for special praise either, although it goes without saying
that in several cases the officers did act
with dedication and valour beyond the ordinary call of duty.
PERFORMANCE AND CONDUCT OF JUNIOR OFFICERS
12. In the very nature of things, the Commission was not in a position
to examine at any length the
conduct and performance of officers below the Brigade level although
some cases necessarily came to our
notice where the performance of these officers had a direct bearing on
the fate of important battles which
were fought on various fronts, or where their conduct transgressed the
norms of moral discipline. Such
cases have found mention in the relevant portions of our report, but
by and large cases of these junior
officers must be left to be dealt with by the respective Service
Headquarters who have ordained detailed
briefing reports from all of them and are also in possession of their
performance by their immediate
superiors.
THE ROLE OF MAJ GEN FARMAN ALI
13. Before we conclude this Chapter, brief remarks about the role of
Maj Gen Farman Ali would not be
out of place, for the reason that he has been conspicuously mentioned
in several contexts by the
international press as well as by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
14. This officer remained in East Pakistan continuously from the 28th
of February 1967 to the 16th of
December 1971. He was Commander, Artillery 14 Div., in the rank of
Brigadier from the 28th of
February, 1967 to the 25th of March 1969. On the promulgation of
Martial Law by General Yaahya Khan
on the 25th of March 1969 he was appointed as Brigadier(Civil Affairs)
in the office of the Zonal
Administrator of Martial Law. He was later promoted as Major General
in the same post. From the 4th of
July 1971 to the 3rd of September 1971 he functioned under the
designation of Maj Gen (Political
Affairs), and from the latter date to the 14th of December 1971 he
worked as Adviser to the Governor of
East Pakistan, ceasing to hold this appointment on the resignation of
Dr. A.M.Malik.
15. It was inherent in the appointments held by him since the
promulgation of General Yahya Khan's
Martial Law on the 25th of March 1969 that Maj Gen Farman Ali should
come into contact with civil
officials and political leaders, besides being associated with Army
Officers and Martial Law
Administrators of various levels and grades. He was frankly admitted
before the Commission that he was
associated with the planning of the military action of the 25th of
March 1971, and also with the
subsequent political steps taken by the military regime to noramlise
the situation, including the proposed
by-elections necessiated by the disqual;ification of a large number of
Awami league members of the
National and Provincial Assemblies. Nevertheless, as a result of our
detailed study of the written
statement, submitted by the General and the lengthy cross-examination
to which we subjected him during
his appearence before us, as well as the evidences from other
witnesses from Easty Pakistan, we have
formed the view that Maj Gen Farman Ali merely functioned as an
intelligent, well-intentioned and
sincere staff Officer in the various appointments held by him, and at
no stage could he be regarded as
being a member of the inner military junta surrounding and supporting
General Yahya Khan. We have
also found that at no stage did he advise, or himself indulge in,
actions opposed to public morality, sound
political sense or humanitarian considerations. In this context, we
have already commented at some
length, in a previous Chapter of this Report, on the allegation made
by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman at
General Farman Ali was wanting to "paint the green of East Pakistan
red", and have found that the entire
incident has been deliberately distorted.
16. During the critical days of the war this Officer had no direct
responsibility for military operations, but
he was, nevertheless, closely associated with the Governor of East
Pakistan as well as the Commander
Eastern Command. It was for this reason that he got involved in what
has been called "the Farman Ali
incident". As we have seen in the chapter dealing with the details of
the surrender in East Pakistan, the
message authenticated by Maj Gen Farman Ali for being dispatched to
the United Nations on the 9th of
December 1971had been approved by the Governor of East Pakistan, who
had obtained prior authority
and clearance from the President of Pakistan, namely, General Yahya
Khan, for the purpose of
formulating proposals for a settlement and cessation of hostilities in
East Pakistan. In these circumstances,
the responsibility for its authorship and dispatch could not,
therefore, be placed on this Officer. In fact, he
had, at the time, demanded trial by court martial to clear his
position. In view of thr facts, as they have
now emerged before the Commission, there is no need for any such
enquiry or trial.
17. Maj Gen Farman Ali was present at Headquarters Eastern Command,
during the last phases of the
events when Indian Officers came to meet Lt Gen Niazi for negotiating
the details of the surender. From
the detailed accounts which have come before usof the behaviour and
attitude of both these officers, we
have no hesitation in recording the opinion that at all relevant times
Maj Gen Farman Ali advised Lt Gen
Niazi on correct lines, and if his advice had been accepted, some of
the disgraceful episodes might have
been avoided.
18. We have also examined the reason why the Indian
Commander-in-Chief, General Masnekshaw,
addressed certain leaflets to General Farman Ali by describing him as
Commander of the Pakistan Army.
It appears that on the 8th or 9th December 1971, Lt. Gen. A.A.K.Niazi
had not been seen outside his
command bunker, and there was a broadcast by the BBC that he had left
East Pakistan and that General
Farman Ali had taken over the command of the Pakistan Army. It was for
this reason that nthe Indian
Commander addressed General Farman Ali calling upon him to surrender.
We are satisfied that at no time
did General Farman Ali indulge in any communication with the Indian
Generals. The situation was in any
case rectified when Lt Gen Niazi made a public appearance at Hotel
Intercontinental, Dacca, before
foreign correspondents.
19. An allegation was made before the Commission by Lt Gen Niazi that
Maj Gen Farman Ali had sent
out of East Pakistan a large sum of money, approximately Rs 60,000,
through his nephew who was a
Helicopter Pilot in the Army and left Daccain the early hours of the
16th of December, 1971. We reported
Major General Farman Ali to seek his explanation regarding this
allegation and some other matters. He
has explained that a sum of Rs 60,000/- had been given by the
President of Pakistan to the Governor of
East Pakistan for expenditure at his discretion. After the Governor of
East Pakistan resigned on or about
the 14th December 1971, Maj Gen Farman Ali, as Advisor to the
Governor, became responsible for this
amount. He paid Rs 4000 to Islamia Press, Dacca, and this payment was
within the knowledge of the
Military Secretary to the Governor, who has also been repatriated to
Pakistan. Out of the remaining
amount of Rs 56,000/-, Maj Gen Farman Ali paid Rs 5000/- to Maj Gen
Rahim Khan at the time of his
evacuation from Dacca on the morning of the 16th of December 1971 to
meet the expenses en-route
which may be required not only by Maj Gen Rahim Khan but also by the
other persons who were being
evacuated with him. It was stated Maj Gen Farman Ali that Maj Gen
Rahim Khan had rendered the
necessary account of the sum of Rs. 5000/- given to him.
20. After deducting payments made to the Islamia Press, Dacca, and to
Maj Gen Rahim Khan an amount
of rS 51,000/- WAS left with Maj Gen Farman Ali which he physically
handed over to his nephew Major
Ali Jawaher at the time of his departure from Dacca onj the 16th of
December 1971. Since his arrival in
Pakistan, Maj Gen Farman Ali has deposited Rs 46,000/- in the
Government Treasury and handed over
the treasury receipt to Brig. Qazi, Director Pay and Accounts, GHQ. He
has claimed the remaining
amount of Rs 5000/- on account of house rent allowance sanctioned by
the Government of East Pakistan
for the residence of his wife and family in West Pakistan. He has
stated the sanctioned allowance was Rs
1400/- PM and the period involved was twelve months, so that he could
claim Rs 15000/- but he has
claimed only Rs 5000/-.
21. We are satisfied with the explanation rendered by Maj Gen Farman
Ali, as the facts stated by him are
easily verifiable and we do not think that he would have made
incorrect statements in this behalf before
the Commission.
22. For the foregoing reasons we are of the view that the performance
and conduct of Maj Gen Farman
Ali during the entire period of his service in East Pakistan does not
call for any adverse comment.
CONCLUSIONS
1.This Commission of Inquiry was appointed by the President of
Pakistan in Dec 1971. After examining
213 witnesses, we submitted the Main Report in July, 1972. However, at
that time we did not have before
us the evidence of the major personalities, except Major General M.
Rahim Khan who had played a part
in the final events culminating in the surrender in East Pakistan.
Accordingly, we stated that "our
observations and conclusions regarding the surrender in East Pakistan
and other allied matters should be
regarded as provisional and subject to modification in the light of
the evidence of the Commander,
Eastern Command, and other senior officers as and when such evidence
becomes available".
2. After the repatriation of prisoners of war from India, the
Commission was reactivated in May, 1974. At
theb resumed session, we have examined as many as 72 persons,
including Lt Gen A.A.K.Niazi,
Commander, Eastern Command, all the Major Generals and Brigadiers who
had served in East Pakistan,
Rear Admiral Sharif, Flag Officer Commanding the Pakistan Navy, Air
Commodore Inam, the senior
most Air Force Officer, and several civilian officers like the chief
Secretary, the Inspector General of
Police, two Divisional; Commissioners etc, Maj.Gen M.Rahim Khan was
re-examined at his own request.
3. As it appeared to us that the defeat suffered by the Armed Forsec
of Pakistan was not merely the result
of military factors alone, but had been brought about as the
cummulative result of political, international,
moral and military factors, we examined all these aspects in our Main
Report at some length. We have
followed the same pattern of study in the present supplementary
Report. Although we are now naturally in
possession of far more detailed information as to the events in East
Pakistan, yet the main conclusions
reached by us on the earlier occassion have remained unaffected by the
fresh evidence now available. In
the paragraphs that follow, we intend briefly to summarise our
conclusions on these major aspects of the
causes of surrender in East Pakistan, making reference, wherever
necessary, to the conclusions already
embodied in the Main Report.
POLITICAL BACKGROUND
4. In the Main Report, we have traced the genesis of the Pakistan
movement, the events preceding the
establishment of Pakistan, and the political developments which took
place between 1947 and 1971,
including a detailed study of the effects of the two Martial Law
periods in hastening the process of
political and emotional isolation of East Pakistan from West Pakistan.
5. We have also, in the Main Report, examined at length the role
played by the two major political parties,
namely, the Awami League in East Pakistan and the Pakistan Peoples
party in West Pakistan, in bringing
about the situation resulting in the postponement of the session of
the National Assembly scheduled to be
held at Daccaon the 3rd of March, 1971. We have then examined the
events occurring between the 1st
and the 25th of March, 1971, when the Awami League had seized power
from the Government of General
Yahya Khan, necessitating resort to the military action of the 25th of
March, 1971. We have also touched
upon the negotiations which Gen Yahya Khan was pretending to hold
during this period with Sh. Mujibur
Rahman on the one hand and political leaders from West Pakistan on the
other. Although he never
formally declared these negotiations to have failed, yet he secretly
left Dacca on the evening of the 25th
of March, 1971, leaving instructions behind for military action to be
initiated when his plane reached the
Karachi area.
6. We have found, as a result of a detailed analysis of the events
surrounding the imposition of the second
Martial Law by General Yahya Khan on the 25th of March, 1969, that he
did not take over the country in
order merely to restore normal conditions and re-introduce the
democratic process. He did so with a view
to obtaining personal power and those who assisted him did so with
full knowledge of his intentions. The
fresh evidence recorded by us has only served to strengthen this
conclusion as to the intentions of Gen
Yahya Khan.
7. All the Senior Army Commanders who were concerned with the
administration of Martial Law in East
Pakistan as well as the senior civil servants who were inducted into
the civil administration in East
Pakistan , have expressed the view that military action could not have
been a substitute for a political
settlement, which was feasible once law and order has been restored
within a matter of few weeks after
the military action. Most of these witnesses have stated that the most
favourable time for a political
settlement was between the months of May and September, 1971, during
which a reasonable amount of
normalcy had been restored and the authority of the Government had
been re-established at least in most
of the urban areas, if not throughout the countryside. However, no
effort was made during these months to
start a political dialogue with the elected re[presentatives of the
people of East Pakistan; instead
fraudulent and useless measures were adopted.
8. The use of excessive force during the military action and the
conduct of some of the officers and men
of the Pakistan Army during the sweep operations had only served to
alienate the sympathies of the
people of East Pakistan. The practice of the troops living off the
land, in the absence of a proper
organisation of their own logistic arrangements during their
operations in the country-side, encouraged
the troops to indulge in looting. The arbitrary methods adopted by the
Martial Law administration in
dealing with respectable East Pakistanis, and then sudden
disappearances by a process euphemistically
called "being sent to Bangladesh" made matters worse. The attitude of
the Army authorities towards the
Hindu minority also resulted in large-scale exodus to India. The
avowed intention of India to disember
Pakistan was only too well known, but even then the need for an early
political settlement was not
realised by General Yahya Khan. The general amnesty declared by him in
August, 1971, proved
ineffective, as it was declared too late, and left much to be desired
in its implementation. It did not result
in the return of any appreciable number of the elected representatives
of the people, who were in any case
valuable hostages in the hands of the Indian authorities who did not
allow them to cross back into
Pakistan.
9. Precious moments were thus wasted, during which the Indians mounted
their training programme for
the Mukti Bahini and started guerrilla raids into Pakistan territory.
General Yahya Khan then embarked
upon his scheme of by -elections in place of the disqualified Awami
League representatives, but these byelections
were an exercise in futility, for the reason that they were supervised
and controlled by the by the
Martial Law administration, and even the selection of the candidates
was being made by a Major General
of the Pakistan Army. In these circumstances, these newly elected
representatives did not have any
authority to speak on behalf of the people.
10. Similarly, the appointment of Dr.Malik as the civilian Governor of
East Pakistan, and the installation
of his ministers, did not produce any impact. These gentlemen did not
command the confidence of the
people, although Dr Malik was personally respected as a veteran
statesman. These attempts at civilization
of the Government of East Pakistan were, therefore, an utter failurein
winning back the confidence of the
people. Power continued to vest in the hands of the Zonal Martial Law
Administrator, namely, Lt Gen
A.A.K.Niazi. In any case, in view of the circumstances prevailing,
namely, the over-riding importance ofd
maintaining law and order and keeping the lines of communication open,
the role of the army continued
to be pre-dominant.
11. Apart, therefore, from the immorality and political expediency of
the kind of military action taken by
General Yahya Khan on the 25th of March, 1971, it was his culpable
failure to arrive at a political
settlement with the Awami League during the crucial months preceding
the war that completely alienated
the sympathies of the population of East Pakistanis, confirming their
suspicion that the Generals were not
prepared to part with political power in favour of the elected
representatives of the people. The refusal of
Gen Yahya Khan to negotiate with the Awami League becomes all the more
significant when we
remember that two of its top leaders, Sh Mujibur Rahman and Dr Kamal
Hussain were in his custody in
West Pakistan, and that almost all the friendly countries had advised
him to arrive at a political settlement
in view of the looming Indian threat of military action.
12. The two direct and devastating consequences of this political
situation brought about by the military
regime itself, since holding the elections of 1970, were the prolonged
involvement of the Pakistan Armyin
counter-insurgency measures throughout the Province, and its forced
deployment in penny-pockets all
along the borders of East Pakistan to prevent infiltration of Mukti
Bahini and Indian agents. In the
presence of these two factors, the Pakistan Army was obviously
fighting a losing battle from the very
start.
INTERNATIONAL ASPECT
13. After exhaustively reviewing the state of our international
relations as they existed immediately
preceedingthe war, we had expressed the opinion, in the Main Report,
that in the background of our
relations with India ever since 1947, it should not have been too
difficult to appreciate that India would do
every thing to precipitate a crisis in East Pakistan.
14. We also took note of the various efforts made by India to
internationalise the refugee problem which
had arisen as a result of the exodus of people from East Pakistan to
India in the wake of the military
action. The Indian propaganda was so successful that all efforts made
by the military regime in Pakistan
to defuse the situation in East Pakistan left the world unimpressed.
The situation was further complicated
by the mutual assistance treaty signed between India and USSR in Aug,
1971. All the Governments
friendly to Pakistan, especially Iran, China and the USA, had made it
clear to Gen Yahya that they would
not be in a position to render bany physical assistance to Pakistan in
the event of an armed conflict with
India. However, the significance of this international situation was
unfortunately completely lost on Gen
Yahya Khan and his associates. They blundered ahead, oblivious of the
fatal consequences of their
international isolation.
15. In the Main Report we also dealt with the activities at the United
Nations during the critical days of
the war, and came to the conclusion that there was no rational
explanation why Gen Yahya Khan did not
take the dispute to the Security Council immediately after the Indian
invasion of East Pakistan on the 21st
of November, 1971, nor was it possible to explain his refusal to
accept the first Russian Resolution, if
indeed the situation in East Pakistan had become militarily so
critical that surrender was inevitable. In this
context we also referred to the message which was handed over by Major
General Farman Ali to Mr Paul
Mure Henry, Representative of the UN at Daccafor onward transmission
to the Secretary General of the
UN, offering certain proposals for a political settlement in East
Pakistan. Finally, we expressed the
opinion that if Gen Yahya Khan as Commander-in-chief of the Army had
shown greater determination
and courage and directed the Eastern Command to hold on somewhat
longer than the 16th of December,
1971, it was quite possible that a satisfactory solution ordering a
cease-firemight have been obtained from
the Security Council.
16. During the present phase of our enquiry nothing has been said by
the witnessesabout the state of our
international relations and their impact on the 1971 war, nor about
the moves in the United Nations except
that Major Gen Farman Ali has clarified the position with regard to
the message attributed to him. He had
stated that the message was drafted under the instructions of the
Governor of East Pakistan who had been
authorised by the President of Pakistan to offer proposals for a
political settlement with the Awami
League, and that he handed over a copy of the same to Mr Paul Mate
Henry as directed by the Governor
of East Pakistan. While this clarification removes the mystery
surrounding the so-called "Farman Ali
incident", it does not in any manner affect the conclusions already
stated by us in the main Report as
regards the international aspect.
THE MILITARY ASPECT
17. While discussing the military aspect of the war in the Main Report
we came to the conclusion that the
major role in the 1971 disaster had been that of the ground forces,
that the strategic concept embodied in
war Directive No.4 of 1967, required a drastic revision in the light
of the political and military situation
developing as a result of the military action in East Pakistan in
March 1971, but the Army High
Command did not carry out any study in depth of the effect of these
new factors, nor did it pay any
attention to the growing disparity between the war preparedness and
the capability of the armed forces of
Pakistan and India as a result of the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Aug 1971.
We dealt at length with the concepts
of defence as well as the plans formulated by the General Headquarters
both for East and West Pakistan,
and pointed out the defects and deficiencies in those plans, apart
from the inadequacy of resources
available on both fronts as compared to those of the enemy. However,
we observed that our study of the
military aspect of the war in East Pakistan, both limited and total,
was inconclusive on account of the nonavailability
of the evidence of the Commander, Eastern Command, and other senior
officers then serving
in East Pakistan.
18. Having now had the advantage of examining these commanders at
considerable length we feel we are
in a position to formulate our final conclusions as to the causes of
surrender in East Pakistan.
19. There has been some controversy as to the exact status of Lt Gen
A.A.K.Naizi, namely, whether he
was a Theatre Commander or merely a Corps Commander,m although he has
been officially described as
Commander, Eastern Command. While a Corps Commander is merely a
Commander of a number of
divisions placed under his command, a Theatre Commander is not merely
in command of all the forces in
the area, including the Naval and the Air Forces. In case of East
Pakistan the Flag Officer Commanding
of the Navy and the Air Force Commanding of the Pakistan Air Force
were directly under their own
respective Commanders-in-chief, although they were instructed to
liaise and coordinate with the
Commander, Eastern Command. Technically speaking, therefore, Gen Niazi
was not a Theatre
Commander and was never designated as such. Nevertheless, situated as
he was, we consider that at least
from the 3rd of Dec 1971 onwards, on which date war broke out on the
Western Front as well, Lt Gen
Niazi became, for all intents and purposes, an independent Corps
Commander, possessing of necessity
and by force of circumstances all the powers of a Theatre Commander,
and even the General
Headquarters expected him to act as such, for there was no possibility
thereafter of replacing him by
another Commander of equivalent rank. General Niazi's conduct of war ,
as also his final decision to
surrender, have, therefore, to be judged in this light.
20. The traditional concept of defence adopted by Pakistan Army was
that the defence of East Pakistan
lies in West pakistan . However Lt Gen Niazi contented before the
Commission that the Indians would
not have started an all-out war in East Pakistan if the Western Front
had not been opened by Pakistan. It
seems to us that this contention is based on a lack of proper
appreciation of the enemy threat which was
fast developing in the Eastern Theatre. It had become quite evident
that the Mukti Bahini, on their own ,
even aftyer their training in India would never be able to face a
pitched battle with the Pakistan Army, and
the Indians could not afford to prolong the war by proxy for an
indefinite period. The plan of capturing a
sizeablr chunk of territory for setting up Bangladesh has also been
frustrated by the forward deployment
of our troops. An all-out war had, therefore, become inevitable for
India, and in such an event the only
course open for Pakistan was to implement the traditional concept of
defending East Pakistan from West
Pakistan in an determined and effective manner. The concept,
therefore, that the defence of East Pakistan
lies in West Pakistan remained valid and if ever there was need to
invoke this concept it was on the 21st
of Nov 1971 when the Indian troops had crossed the East Pakistan
borders in naked aggression.
Unfortunately, the delay in opening the Western front and the
half-hearted and hesitant manner in which it
was ultimately opened only helped in precipitating the catastrophe in
East Pakistan.
21. The Operational instructions issued by the Eastern Command as No.3
of 1971 on thew 15th of July
1971, contemplated a forward defensive posture with strong points and
fortresses which were to be made
logistically self-sufficient to fight a battle lasting for at least 30
days, even if by-passed. They were also
expected to act as firm bases or jumping-off points for actions
against the enemyfrom the flanks or from
behind. Dacca was to be defended at all costs by being made into a
fortress, as it was the lynch-pin, both
politically and militarily.
22. The plan envisaged as many as 25 fortresses and 9 strong points,
consisting mainly of built up areas
such as district or sub-divisional headquarter towns, large villages
and cantonments. The paucity of troops
did not permit them to be manned but it was expected that the troops
deployed along the border and in
counter insurgency operations would gradually fall back and take up
defensive positions within the
fortressesand strong points. His concept further contemplated thatn
the fortresses would be defended to
the last man and last round.
23. the fortress concept postulates 3 essential conditions for its
success namely :
a) that there must be adequate reserves to strike the enemy if
bypasses the fortress, and to give mutual
support to another fortress;
(b). that the fortress must be so located as to be able to mutually
support each other and
(c). that the population in the areas in which such fortresses are
located is not hostile. Gen Niazi was fully
aware that none of these conditions were fulfilled in East Pakistan as
he did not have enough troops to
man 34 fortress and strong points with his then 29 battallions: his
fortress and strong points were so
located that they were not in a position to mutually support each
other, and he also knew that the local
population was hostile and movement of his troops would be made
impossible by the Mukti Bahini. We
are at a loss to understand how he expected the concept to succeed in
these circumstances.
24. The evidence clearly discloses that none of the fortresses were
manned nor did they have protective
defences capable of withstanding enemy attacks supported by armour.
Troops were expected to man these
fortresses after falling back from their forward: even such artillery
or heavy weapons as the troops
possessed were to the fortresses. The withdrawal of the troops to the
fortresses was as was to be expected
in these circumstances, by no means an orderly withdrawal , but in
most casesit was a disorderly retreat,
leaving even the heavy equipment behind. There were no reserves with
any local Commanders, except for
16 Division, and the command reserve of only a brigade strength and
also been committed in the Eastern
sector, through which the maineneny thrust came. This soundness of the
fortress concept thus stood
throughly exposed by the end which it produced.
25. In our view, the concept was utterly inappropriate for achieving
the mission assigned to the
Commander, Eastern Command, of defending East Pakistan and maintaining
his presence in East
Pakistan in the changed situation created by the war launched by the
enemy. The wisest course of action
for Gen Niazi would have been to concentrate his troops in a smaller
area, protected by the major natural
obstacles around the military and political lynch pin- Dacca.
26. At any rate, there should have been a contingency plan for a
planned withdrawal into thew Dacca
triangle to cater for fighting a all-out war with an enemy vastly
superior in resources and capabilities both
on the ground and in the air. The failure on part of the Eastern
Command to so plan amounts to gross
negligence for, in fact , in fact , what was done was merely to give
battle in weakness and be forced to
retreat in disorder. The fortress strategy might have been suitable
for carrying out the counter insurgency
operations, but after the 21st of Nov 1971, it became redundant. The
net result of this strategy was to give
the opposite advantage to the enemy , who at his leisure routed and
dispersed our troops while himself
concentratingly advanced in order towards Dacca.
27. The tragedy with Gen Niazi has been his obsession that he will not
be called upon to fight any major
battles with the Indians in East Pakistan, inspite of enormous Indian
buildup around East Pakistan, the
detailed briefing given by GHQ to his Chief of Staff about the Indian
plans and the advice given to him
by the chief of the General Staff and the Vice-chief of the General
Staff, during their last visit to the
Eastern Theatre, for the deployment of his troops. Gen Niazi's only
reaction to these warnings about the
new threat was to hastily raise two ad hoc Divisions namely 36 Div in
Sept 1971 and 39 Div on the 19th
of Nov 1971 by commiting his command reserves.
28. Lt Gen Niazi tried to justify the deployment of his reserves by
saying that he had been promised 8
more battallions, and if these had been sent, he would have had enough
troops to crteate a command
reserve as also to meet then deficiencies of the new ad hoc
formations. The evidence unfortunately does
not disclose thatn any firm commitment was made by GHQ. We also find
that even if the extra battallions
had been sent the position would not have materially improved as there
was no clear plan for their
dep[loymant. Gen Niazi was thereforenot justified in denuding himself
of his reserves before the actual
arrival of the additional troops.
29. We are also not impressed by the excuse put forwartd by the
Commander, Eastern Command for not
modifying his plans , namely that the mission originally assigned to
him hold every inch of territory in
East Pakistan and to prevent the establishment of Bangladesh by the
capture of any sizeable chunk of
territory, was never changed by the High Command. As an independent
Corps Commande,r, thousands of
miles away from the GHQ, it should have been apparent to him that at
least from the 21 Nov 1971
onwards the more important part of his mission was to defend East
Pakistan and to keep the Corps in
being, by giving up territory if necessary.
30. We also find that it is not correct to say that the mission given
to the Eastern Command was never
changed, because the GHQ had given him through more than one message a
clear indication that territory
had become less important, and that the Command should fight for time
keeping in view only territories
of strategic importance.
31. The detailed narrative of events as given by us in the
Supplementary Report, clearly shows that the
planning was hopelessly defective and there was no plan at all for the
defence of Dacca, nor for any
concerted effort to stem the enemy onslaught with a Div or a Brigade
battle at any stage. It was only when
the general found himself gradually being encircled by the enemy which
had successfully managed to
bypass his fortresses and reached Faridpur , Khulna, Daudkandi and
Chandpur (the shortest route to
Dacca) that he began to make frantic efforts to get the troops back
for the defence of Dacca. It was
unfortunate then too late, the ferries necessary for crossing the
troops over the big Jamna river from the
area of 16 division had disappeared and the Mukti Bahini had invested
the area behind, making vehicular
movement impossible. Orderly withdrawal of troops in time for
concentrated defence was also made
impossibleby the unfortunate orders issued by Lt Gen Niazi that no
withdrawal was to take place unless
cleared two up and without suffering 75% casualties.
32. In the absence of contingency plans for the withdrawal of troops
into the Dacca triangle area behind
the big rivers , to prevent the enemy breakthrough and to deal if need
be with the known capability of the
enemy to heli-drop troops behind our lines after it had acquired
mastery of the air by either eliminating or
neutralising our Air Force of only one squadron, it was not at all a
matter of surprise that the defences
should have collapsed immediately in thin lines in the forward
positions were pierced by the enemy. On
the fourth day of the all-outwar major fortresses were abandoned
without a fight, namely, Jessore and
Jhenidaon the West and the Brahmanbaria in the east. On the next day
the Comilla fortress was isolated
by encirclement from all sides, and on the 9th of Dec . 1971 even a
divisional commander abandoned his
area of responsibility with his headquarters , leaving his formation
behind. On the same day 2 more
fortresses Kushtia and Laksham were abandoned. At the latter fortress
even the sick and the wounded
were left behind. By 10 Dec 1971, even Hilli, where a determined
battle had been fought for 16 days had
to be abandoned. The Brigade returning from Mymensingh got entangled
with heli dropped Indian troops,
and the Brigade Commander and some of his troops were taken prisoner.
33. The painful story of the last few days immediately preceeding the
surrender on 16 dec 1971 has been
narrated in Part 1V of the Supplementary Report. We have come to the
conclusion that there was no order
to surrender, but in view of the desperate picture painted by the
Commander, Eastern Command, the
higher authorities only gave him permission to surrender if he in his
judgement thought it was necessary.
Gen Niazi, could have disobeyed such an order if he thought he had the
capability of defending Dacca.
On his own estimate, he had 26,400 men at Dacca in uniform and he
could have held out for at least
another 2 weeks, because the enemy would have taken a week to build up
its forces in the Dacca area and
another week to reduce the fortress of Dacca. If Gen Niazi had done so
and lost his life in the process, he
would have made history and would have been remembered by the coming
generations as a greaty hero
and a martyr, but the events show that he had already lost the will to
fight after the 7th December 19971,
when his major fortresses at Jessore and Brahman-baria had fallen. The
question of creating history,
therefore, was never in his mind.
34. Even more painful than the military failures of lt. Gen Niazi is
the story of the abjeet manner in
whichhe agreed to sign the surrender document laying down arms to the
so-called joint-command of India
and Mukti Bahini, to be present at the Airport to receive the
victorious Indian General Aurora, to present
a guard of honour to the Indian General, and then to participate in th
epublic surrender ceremony at the
Race Course, to the everlasting shame of Pakistan and its Armed
forces. Even if he had been obliged to
surrender, by force of circumstances, it was nto necessary for him to
behave in this shameful manner at
every step of the process of surrender. the detailed accounts which
have been given befor ethe
commission by those who had the misfortune of witnessing these events,
leave no doubt that Lt. Gen
Nizai had suffered a complete moral collapse during the closing phases
of the war.
35. While undoubtedly the responsibility for these failures lies with
the Commander, Eastern Command,
GHQ cannot escape its responsibility, as the plan had been approved by
it. It was also the responsibilityof
GHQ to correct the mistakes of the Eastern Command, as communications
were open to the last. It was
incumbent upon GHQ to guide, direct and influence the conduct of the
war in the Eastern Theatre, if the
Commander himself in that Theatre was incapable of doing so. But the
GHQ failed in this important duty.
The Commander-in-Chief remained indifferent.
36. While we have not specially condemned the performance of senior
Officers other than Lt Gen A.a.K.
Niazi, Maj Gen Mohammad Jamshed, Maj Gen M. Rahim Khan and some of the
Brigadiers, we cannot
help remarking that all the the Senior Officers stationed in East
Pakistan immediately before and during
the war of 1997 must be held collectively responsible for the failings
and weaknesses whichled to the
defeat of the Pakistan Army. The only thing which goes in their favour
is that while assessing their
individual resonsbility the Commission was obliged to take note of the
limitations imposed upon them by
the concepts and attitudes adopted by the Eastern Command, the
admitted shortages and deficiencies in
men and materials faced by them as comapred to the vast resources of
the enemy, and the general
demoralization which stemmed from the culpable acts of commission and
omission on the part of the
Army High Command at Rawalpindi and the Commander, Eastern Command at
Dacca. Finally, there was
also the unfortnate overriding factor of a long and inherited
tradition of unquestioned obedience and
loyalty to the superior Commander which prevented most of these
Officers from questioning the
soundness of the critical decisions and actions taken by the High
Command, including th efinal act of
surrender.
37. Before we conclude this part of the discussion, we would like to
place on record that, apart from a few
individuals, the large body of Officers and men operating in East
Pakistan accepted the final decision
without any thought of disobedience only owing to their ingrained
sense of discipline, and the majority of
them would have been undoubtedly willingto fight to the last and lay
down their lives for the glory of
Pakistan. The gallantry and determination with which soem of the
battles were fought in East Pakistan has
been acknowledged evenby the enemy.
Professional Responsibility of Certain Senior Army Commanders
38. From the conclusions outlined by us in the preceding paragraphs,
particularly as regards the military
aspect of the debacle it was have become clear that in our view
several senior Army Commanders have
been guilty of serious dereliction of duty in formulating and
executing the defence plans, and since are
even guilty of shamefully abandoning the fortresses which it was their
duty to defend. We have also
found that the Commander, Eastern Command, and his chief of Staff,
Brig. Baqir Siddiqui displayed
wilfull neglect in the matter of the execution of denial plans, with
the result that large quantities of
valuable war materials, equipment, installations, arms and ammunition
were delivered intact to the
Indians at the time of surrender. All these acts of omission and
commission call for deterrent action by
way of court materials wherever permisible under the law. Detailed
recommendations in respect of all
these mateers are contained in the next Chapter.
39. It has come to the notice of the Commission that during his period
of captivity, and even after
repariation to Pakistan, Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi assisted by his Chief
of Staff, Brig. Baqir Siddiqui, has
been makign efforts to influence his Divisional and Brigade
Commanders, by threats and inducements, so
as to persuade them to present a coorinated story of the events in
East Pakistan with a view to mitigating
his own responsibility for the debacle. This is a serious matter and
calls for notice.
40. The surrender in East Pakistan has indeed been a tragic blow to
the nation. By the act of surrender
Pakistan stood dismembered, and the image of the Pakistan Army as an
efficient and excellent fighting
force stood shattered. We can only hope that the nation has learnt the
necessary lessons from these tragic
events and that effective and early action will be taken in the light
of the concluions reached in the report.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In the concluding portion of our Main Report, submitted in 1972, we
had made a number of
recommendations based on our study of the various aspects of the
causes of the debacle of 1971. Some of
these recommendations need to be modified, or amplified, in the light
of the fresh evidence which we
have now recorded: while the need for the others has only been further
emphasised. We believe that the
object of setting up this Commission would be fully realised only of
appropriate and early action is taken
by the Government on these recommendation.
2. Even though it involves a repetition of what we have already said
in the Main Report, we consider that
it would be appropriate if all our recommendations are now finally set
out at one place, for facility of
reference and action. Detailed reasons and justification for these
recommendations will be found in the
relevant Chapters of the Main Report as well as this Supplementary
Report. We are aware that some of
these recommendations have already been implemented, but this would
not appear to be a reason for not
including them in this final summing up.
1. Trials
3. There is concensus on the imperative need of bringing to book those
senior Army Commanders who
have brought disgrace and defeat to Pakistan by their subversion of
the Constitution, usurpation of
political power by criminal conspiracy, their professional
incompetence, culpable negligence and wilful
neglect in the performance of their duties and physical and moral
cowardice in abandoning the fight when
they had the capability and resources to resist the enemy. Firm and
proper action would not only satisfy
the nation's demand for punishment where it is deserved, but would
also ensure against any future
recurrence of the kind of shameful conduct displayed during the 1971
war. We accordingly recommend
that the following trials be undertaken without delay. : -
(i) That General Yahya Kina, General Abdul Hamid Khan, Lt. Gen.
S.G.M.M. Pirzada, Lt. Gen. Gul
Hasan, Maj. Gen. Umar and Maj Gen Mitha should be publicly tried for
being party to a criminal
conspiracy to illegally usurp power from F.M. Mohammad Ayub Khan in
power if necessary by the use
of force. In furtherance of their common purpose they did actually try
to influence political parties by
threats, inducements and even bribes to support their designs both for
bringing about a particular kind of
result during the elections of 1970, and later persuading some of the
political parties and the elected
members of the National Assembly to refuse to attend the session of
the National Assembly scheduled to
be held at Dacca on the 3rd of March, 1971. They, furthermore, in
agreement with each other brought
about a situation in East Pakistan which led to a civil disobedience
movement, armed revolt by the
Awami League and subsequently tot he surrender of our troops in East
Pakistan and the dismemberment
of Pakistan:
(ii) That the Officers mentioned in No. (i) above should also be tried
for criminal neglect of duty in the
conduct of war both in East Pakistan and West Pakistan. The details of
this neglect would be found in the
Chapters dealing with the military aspect of the war
(iii) That Lt. Gen. Irshad Ahmad Khan, former Commander 1 Corps, be
tried for criminal and wilful
neglect of duty in conducting the operations of his Corps in such a
manner that nearly 500 villages of the
Shakargarh tehsil of Sialkot district in West Pakistan were
surrendered to the enemy without a light and
as a consequence the Army offensive in the south was seriously jeopardised;
(iv) That Maj Gen Abid Zahid, former GOC 15 Div, be tried for wilful
neglect of duty and shameful
surrender of a large area comprising nearly 98 villages in the
phuklian salient in the Sialkot district of
West Pakistan, which surrender also posed a standing threat to the
safety of Marala Headworks by
bringing the Indian forces within nearly 1500 yards thereof. He also
kept the GHQ in the dark about
Indian occupation of the Phuklian salient until the loss was
discovered after the war.
(v) That Maj. Gen B.M. Mustafa, former GOC 18 Division, be tried for
wilful neglect of duty in that his
offensive plan aimed at the capture of the Indian position of Ramgarh
in the Rajasthan area (Western
Front) was militarily unsound and haphazardly planned, and its
execution resulted in severe loss of
vehicles and equipment in the desert.
(vi) That Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi, former Commander, Eastern Command, be
court-martialled on 15
charges as set out in Chapter III of part V of the Supplementary
Report regarding his wilful neglect in the
performance of his professional and military duties connected with the
defence of East Pakistan and the
shameful surrender of his forces tot he Indians at a juncture when he
still had the capability and resources
to offer resistance.
(vii) That Maj Gen Mohammad Jamshed, former GOC 36 (ad-hoc) Division,
Dacca, be tried by court
martial on five charges listed against him, in the aforementioned part
of the Supplementary Report, for
wilful neglect of his duty in the preparation of plans for the defence
of Dacca and showing complete Jack
of courage and will to fight, in acquiescing in the decision of the
Commander, Eastern Command, to
surrender to the Indian forces when it was still possible to put up
resistance for a period of two weeks or
so, and also for wilfully neglecting to inform the authorities
concerned, on repatriation to Pakistan, about
the fact of distribution of Rs.50,000 by him out of Pakistan currency
notes and toher funds at his disposal
or under his control in East Pakistan.
(viii) That Maj Gen M. Rahim Khan, former GOC 39 (ad-hoc) Division,
Chandpur, in East Pakistan, be
tried by court martial on five charges listed against him in this
Report for showing undue regard for his
personal safety in abandoning his Division, his Divisional troops and
area of responsibility and Vacating
his Divisional Headquarters from Chandpur on the 8th of December,
1971; for his wilful insistence on
moving by day owing to fear of Mukti Bahini and thus causing the death
of fourteen Naval ratings and
four Officers of his own HQ, besides injuries to himself and several
others, due to strafing by Indian
aircraft; for his abandoning valuable signal equipment at Chandpur;
for spreading despondency and alarm
by certain conversation on the 12th of December, 1971, at Dacca; and
for wilfully avoiding submitting a
debriefing report to GHQ on being specially evacuated to West Pakistan
in early 1971 so as to conceal the
circumstances of his desertion from him Divisional Headquarters at Chandpur.
(ix) That Brig. G.M. Baquir Siddiqui, former GOS, Eastern Command,
Dacca, be tried by court martial
on nine charges as formulated in this Report, for his wilful neglect
of duty in advising the Commander,
Eastern Command, as regards the concept and formulation of defence
plans, appreciation of the Indian
threat, execution of denial plans, abrupt changes in command,
friendliness with he Indian during captivity
and attempts to influence formation Commanders by threats and
inducements to present a co-ordinated
story before the GHQ and the Commission of Inquiry in regard to the
events leading to surrender in East
Pakistan.
(x) That Brig Mohammad Hayat, former Commander 107 Brigade, 9
Division, East Pakistan, be tried by
court martial on four charges for displaying wilful neglect in not
formulating a sound plan for the defence
of the fortress of Jesore; for failing to properly plan and command
the brigade counter-attack at
Gharibpur, for shamefully abandoning the fortress of Jessor and
delivering intact to the enemy all supplies
and ammunition dumps; and disobeying the orders of the GOC 9 Divison,
to withdraw to Magura in the
event of a forced withdrawal from Jessore;
(xi) That Brig Mohammad Aslam Niazi, former commander 53 Brigade, 39
(ad-hoc) Division, East
Pakistan, be tried by court martial on six charges for displaying
culpable lack of initiative, determination
and planning ability in that he failed to occupy and prepare defences
at Mudafarganj as ordered by his
GOC on the 4th of December, 1971; for failing to eject the enemy from
Mudafarganj as ordered on the
6th of December, 1971; for shamefully abandoning the fortress of
Laksham on or about the 9th of
December, 1971; for wilful neglect in failing to properly organise
oxfiltration of his troops from the
fortress of Laksham to Comilla on the 9th of December, 1971, thus
resulting in heavy casualties and
capture of several elements of his troops on the way; for showing
callous disregard of military ethics in
abandoning at Laksham 124 sick and wounded with two Medical Officers
without informing them about
the proposed vacation of the fortress; and for abandoning intact at
Laksham all heavy weapons, stocks of
ammunition and supplies for the use of the enemy
II. Inquiry and Trials for Alleged Atrocities
4. That as recommended in Paragraph 7 of Chapter III of Part V of the
Main Report and in Paragraph 39
of Chapter II of Part V of this Supplementary Report, a high-powered
Court or Commission of Inquiry be
set up to investigate into persistent allegations of atrocities said
to have been committed by the Pakistan
Army in East Pakistan during its operations from March to December,
1971, and to hold trials of those
who indulged in these atrocities, brought a bad name to the Pakistan
Army and alienated the sympathies
of the local population by their acts of wanton cruelty and immorality
against our own people. The
composition of the Court of Inquiry, if not its proceedings, should be
publicly announced so as to satisfy
national conscience and international opinion. The Commission feels
that sufficient evidence is now
available in Pakistan for a fruitful inquiry to be undertaken in this
regard. As the Government of
Bangladesh has since been recognised by Pakistan, it may also be
feasible to request the Dacca authorities
to forward to this Court of Inquiry whatever evidence may be available
with them.
III. Other Inquiries
5 (I) That allegations of personal immorality, drunkenness and
indulgence in corrupt practices against
General Yahya Khan, General Abdul Hamid Khan and Maj. Gen Khuda Dad
Khan be properly
investigated as there is prima facie evidence to show that their moral
degeneration resulted in indecision,
cowardice and professional incompetence. In the light of the result of
this inquiry suitable charges may be
added against these Officers, during the trials we have already
recommended earlier. The details of the
allegations and the evidence relating thereto will be found in Chapter
I of Part V of the Main Report.
(ii) That similar allegations of personal immorality, acquiring a
notorious reputation in this behalf at
Sialkot, Lahore and Dacca, and indulgence in the smuggling of Pan from
East to West Pakistan made
against Lt. Gen Niazi should also be inquired into and, if necessary,
made the subject matter of additional
charges at the trial earlier recommended in respect of the performance
of his professional duties in East
Pakistan. The details of these allegations and the evidence relating
thereto will be found in Chapter I of
Part V of the Main Report and in Chapter I of part V of this
supplementary Report.
(iii) That an inquiry is also indicated into the disposal of Rs.50,
000 said to have been distributed by Maj.
Gen. Mohammad Jamshed, former GOC 39 (ad-hoc) Division and Director
General, East Pakistan Civil
Armed Forces immediately before the surrender on the 16th of December
1971. Details of this matter
including the General's explanation would be found in Paras 21 to 23
of Chapter I of Part V of the
Supplementary Report. We have already recommended that this Officer be
tried by a court martial on
several charges including his wilful failure to disclose any facts at
all about his sum Rs.50,000. That
charge does not necessarily imply any dishonest practice on his part.
The inquiry now suggested can form
a part of the charges already recommended.
(iv) That allegations of indulging in large-scale looting of property
in East Pakistan including theft of
Rs.1, 35,00,000 from the National Bank Treasury at Siraj Ganj
persistently made against Brig. Jehanazeb
Arbab, former Commander 57 Brigade, Lt Col (now Brig) Muzaffar Ali
Zahid, former CO 31 Field
Regiment, Lt. Col Basharat Ahmad, former CO 18 Punjab, Lt. Col
Mohammad Taj, former CO 32
Punjab, Lt Col Mohammad Tufail, former CO 55 Field Regiment and Major
Madad Hussain Shah of 18
Punjab, as set out in Paras 24 and 25 of Chapter I of part V of the
Supplementary Report, should be
thoroughly inquired into and suitable action taken in the light of the
proved facts.
(v) That an inquiry be held into the allegation, noticed by us in Para
36 of Chapter 1 of Part V of the Main
Report, that while serving in the Martial Law Administration at
Multan, Maj. Gen. Jahanzeb, presumably
a Brigadier at that time, demanded a bribe of Rs. one lac from a PCS
Officer posted as Chairman of the
Municipal Committee of Multan, on pain of proceeding against him for
corruption under martial Law, as
a consequence of which demand the said PCS Officer is said to have
committed suicide leaving behind a
letter saying that although he had made only Rs.15,000 he was being
required to pay Rs. one lac to the
Martial Law officers. The allegation was made before the Commission by
Brig. Mohammad Abbas Beg
(Witness No.9)
(vi) That in inquiry is also necessary into the allegation made
against Brig. Hayatullah that he entertained
some women in his bunker in the Maqbulpur sector (West Pakistan) on
the night of the 11th or 12th of
December, 1971, when Indian shells were falling on his troops. The
allegation was contained in an
anonymous letter addressed to the Commission and supported in evidence
before us by the Brigadier
Hayatullah's brigade, Major, namely, Major Munawar Khan (Witness No.42).
(vii) That it is necessary to investigate into the allegations, as set
out in Paragraphs 9 to 14 of Chapter 1 of
Part V of the Main Report, to the effect that senior Army Commanders
grossly abused their official
position and powers under the Martial Law to acquire large allotments
of land, and obtained substantial
house buildings loans on extremely generous terms from certain banking
institutions with which they
deposited large amounts from departmental funds entrusted to their
care. Those found guilty of corrupt
practices should receive the punishment they deserve under the
military law or the ordinary criminal law
of the land as the case may be.
(viii) That a thorough investigation be conducted into the suspicion
created in the mind of the
Commission, during the recording of additional evidence of Officers
repatriated form India, that there
may be some complicity or collusion between the Commander, Easter
Command (Lt Gen A.A.K. Niazi)
and his Chief of Staff (Brig G.M. Baqir Saddiqui) on the one hand and
the Indian authorities on the other
in the matter of the failure of the Pakistan Armed Forces to carry out
execution of denial plans
immediately before the surrender inspite of instructions issued in
this behalf by GHQ on the 10th of
December, 1971. We have already included relevant charges in this
behalf against these two Officers, but
we consider that it would be in the public interest to depute a
specialized agency to probe into the matter
further. On the material available to us we cannot put the matter
higher than suspicion, but we have not
been able to find any reasonable, or even plausible explanation for
the orders issued by the Easter
Command to stop the execution of denial plans, particularly in Dacc
and Chittagong, thus ensuring the
delivery intact to the Indians of large amounts of war materials and
other equipment. Details of these
deliveries will be found in our Chapter VII of Part IV dealing with
the aftermath of surrender.
(ix) That an inquiry be held into the circumstances under which
Commander Gul Zareen of the Pakistan
Navy was carried from Khulna to Singapore on the 7th of December,
1971, by a French ship called M.V.
Fortescue, thus abandoning his duties at PNS Titumir Naval Base,
Khulna. The case of this Officer was
dealt with by us in Paras 12 and 13 of Chapter III of Part V of the Main
IV. Cases Requiring Departmental Action
6. While examining the course of events and the conduct of war in East
Pakistan, we formed a poor
opinion about the performance and capabilities of Brig. S.A.Ansari,
ex-Commander 23 Brigade, Brig.
Manzoor Ahmad, ex-Commander 57 Brigade, 9 Division, and Brig Abdul
Qadir Khan, ex-Commander 94
brigade, 36 (ad hoc) Division. We consider that their further
retention in service is not in the public
interest and they may accordingly be retired.
V. Performance and Conduct of Junior Officers
7. In the very nature of things the Commission was not in a position
to examine at any length the conduct
and performance of officers below the brigade level, although some
case necessarily came to our notice
where the performance of these Officers had a direct bearing on the
fate of important battles or where
their conduct transgressed the norms of discipline. Such cases have
been mentioned by us at their proper
place, but by and large cases of junior Officers must be dealt with by
the respective service headquarters
who have obtained detailed debriefing reports from all of them and are
also in possession of the
assessment of their performance by their immediate superiors.
VI. Measures for Moral Reform in the Armed Forces
8. While dealing at some length with the moral aspect of the 1971
debacle, in Chapter I of Part V of the
Main Report as well as in the corresponding Chapter of the present
Supplementary Report, we have
expressed the opinion that there is indeed substance in the widespread
allegation, rather belief, that due to
corruption arising out of the performance of Martial Law duties, lust
for wine and women, and greed for
lands and houses a large number of senior Army Officers, particularly
those occupying the highest
positions, had not only lost the will to fight but also the
professional competence necessary for taking the
vital and critical decisions demanded of them for the successful
prosecution of the war. Accordingly, we
recommend that: -
(i) The Government should call upon all Officers of the Armed Forces
to submit declarations of their
assets, both moveable and immovable, and those acquired in the names
of their relations and dependents
during the last ten years (they were exempted from submitting such
declarations during the last two
periods of martial Law). If on examination of such declarations any
Officer is found to have acquired
assets beyond this known means, then appropriate action should be
taken against him
(ii) The Armed Services should devise ways and means to ensure: - (a)
That moral values are not allowed
to be compromised by infamous behaviour particularly at higher levels
(b) That moral rectitude is given due weight along with professional
qualities in the matter of promotion
to higher ranks;
(c) That syllabi of academic studies at the military academics and
other Service Institutions should
include courses designed to inculcate in the young minds respect for
religious democratic and political
institutions
(d) That use of alcoholic drinks should be banned in military messes
and functions
(e) That serious notice should be taken of notorious sexual behaviour
and other corrupt practices
VII. Discipline and Terms and Conditions of Service
9. These matters were discussed by us in Chapter III of Part V of the
Main Report, and for the reasons
given therein we make the following recommendations: -
(i) An inter-services study should be undertaken of the operative
terms and conditions of service and
amenities available to Officers, JCOs and other ranks of the Services
so as to remove disparities existing
in this behalf and causing discontentment among the junior officers
and other ranks of various Services
(ii) The GHQ should consider the advisability of adopting
recommendations contained in the report
submitted by the Discipline Committee headed by the late Maj Gen
Iftikhar Khan Janjua
(iii) The Navy and Air Force might also appoint their own Discipline
Committees to consider the peculiar
problems of their Services, such measure to be in addition to the
inter-services study recommended above.
VIII. Improvement and Modernizations of the Pakistan Navy
10. From the detailed discussion of the role of the Navy, as contained
in Section (D) of Chapter VIII of
Part IV of the Main Report, and supplemented by further details of its
operations in East Pakistan is set
out in this Supplementary Report, it seems to us that the following
steps are urgently called for to improve
our naval capability: -
(i) That immediate attention should be given to he basic requirements
for the modernizations of the
Pakistan Navy in order to make it capable of protecting the only sea
port of Pakistan and of keeping the
life-lines of the nation open. The Navy has been sadly neglected ever
since the first Martial Law regime,
for in the concept of Army Commander the Navy was not expected to play
much of a role. The folly of
this theory was fully demonstrated during this war. The Pakistan Navy,
we strongly recommend, should
have its own air arm of suitable aircraft for the purpose of
reconnaissance and for defence against missile
boats. This is the only way in which the threat posed by the growing
Indian Navy and her missible boats
can be countered.
(ii) There is urgent need for developing a separate harbour for the
Navy away from Karachi, from where
the Navy can protect the approaches to Karachi more effectively
(iii) In view of the serious handicaps which were posed by the late
conveyance of the D-day and the Hhour
to the Pakistan Navy and its total exclusion from he planning for war,
the need for making the Navy
a fully operative member in he joint Chiefs of Staff Organization is imperative.
IX. Improvement in the Role of P.A.F.
11. In Section (C) of Chapter VIII of Part IV of the Main Report as
well as in a separate Chapter of the
present supplement (viz Chapter X of Part III), we have discussed at
length the role and performance of
the P.A.F. in the 1971 war. In the light of that discussion, we
recommend as follows: -
(i) We are not convinced that a more forward-looking posture cannot be
adopted by eh Air Force having
regard to the peculiar needs of the country. We recommend, therefore,
that Pakistan should have more
forward air fields located at such places from where it might be in a
position to give more protection to
our vital line of communication as well as to major centres of
industry. The adoption of such a forward
strategy would also increase the striking capabilities of our fighters.
(ii) There is need also to improve the working of our early warning
system. The time lag between the
observation of an enemy aircraft by the first line of Mobile Observer
Units and the final collation of that
information in the Air Operation Centre takes unduly long because of
the draftory system of reporting
adopted. Training exercises to coordinate the working of the various
agencies employed for the operation
of the early warning system should be held periodically to keep them
at a high pitch of efficiency.
(iii) The Karachi Port should also be provided as soon as possible,
with a low level seaward-looking radar
which it seriously lacks and due to the want of which it suffered many
handicaps during the last war.
(iv) That with the increased Indian capability of blockading Karachi
with missile boats the air defence of
Karachi should be attached greater importance. Leaving the defence of
Karachi to be tackled only by one
squadron of fighters and a half squadron of bombers was extremely unwise.
X. Re-organization of Air Defence of Pakistan
12. The subject of air defence has been discussed by us at some length
in section (13) of Chapter VIII of
Part IV of the Main Report. In the light of that discussion, we make
the following recommendations: -
(a) Since it will not be possible for us to enlarge our Air Force to
any appreciable extent in the near future,
we strongly recommend that we should strengthen our air defence
programmes by at least doubling our
holdings of anti-craft guns by the end of 1972 and ultimately raising
it under a phased programme to 342
Batteries as suggested by the Air Force.
(b) Efforts should also be made to procure ground to air missiles for
a more effective air defence of the
country.
(c) If ground-to-air missiles are not available, then efforts should
also be made to get radar controlled
medium HAA guns from China.
XI. Recommendations with Regard to Civil Defence Measures
13. This subject has also examined by us in Chapter VIII of Part IV of
the Main Report, and we consider
that the following measures are called for to improve the civil
defence aspects in Pakistan: -
(a) The civil defence arrangements should be placed under the Ministry
of Defence, and not be made the
responsibility of the Ministry of Interior or other individual
departments. The Central Government should
accept the responsibility for the overall control and organization of
the civil defence of the country, as
Provincial Governments have not been able to shoulder this
responsibility effectively in the past.
(b) Steps should be taken to improve the fire-fighting facilities in
the country, particularly in ports and
industrial areas.
(c) Industrialists keeping inflammable materials near lines of
communications and other vulnerable points
should be induce, or in fact obliged under the law, to accept
responsibility for the protection of their
materials, and make effective arrangements for fire-fighting in their
establishments.
(d) Provision should be made for storing large quantitative of petrol
and other fuels underground.
XII. Higher Direction of War
14. The deficiencies in the organization for the higher direction of
war were examined by us in Chapter
XI of Part IV of the Main Report, and in the light of that discussion,
we proposed the following measures:
-
(a) The three Service Headquarters should be located at one place
along with the Ministry of Defence.
(b) The posts of Commander-in-Chiefs should be replaced by Chiefs of
Staff of the respective services
(This, we understand, has already been done by the Government)
(c) The Defence Committee of the Cabinet should be re-activated and it
should be ensured that its
meetings are held regularly. A positive direction should be added in
its Charter to give the Cabinet
Division the right to initiate proceedings for the convening of its
meetings should be held even in the
absence of the President or the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship
of the senior most minister
present.
(d) There should also be a Defence Ministers Committee and the
Ministry of Defence should assume its
rightful position as a policy-making body and incorporating policy,
decisions into defence programmes
after consultations with the three services. This should ensure the
preparations of realistic plans for the
national defence with in the agreed framework of (illegible)
allocations. It should meet under the
chairmanship of the Defence Minister and comprise the Defence
Secretary, the three service chiefs, the
financial adviser for defence, the Director General of Civil Defence,
the Director General of munitions
production, the Director General of Defence Procurement, the Director
General of inter-services
Intelligence Directorate, the Defence Scientific Adviser and any other
Central Secretary or Service officer
who may be required for a particular item on agenda. If the defence
portfolio is held by the President or
the Prime Minister then its meeting may be presided over by a Deputy
Minister for or by the Minister in
charge of Defence Production (illegible) Minister is available, the
Defence Secretary should preside,
irrespective of any considerations of protocol or (illegible)
(e) The Secretaries Coordination Committee as at present constituted,
should continue
(f) (illegible) The three services should share (illegible) joint
responsibility for national defence and that
all plans and programmes for the development of the (illegible) forces
should be based on joint (illegible)
objectives, it is necessary. Therefore, that the three services Chief
should (illegible) As Joint Chiefs of
Staff and not merely as individual Heads of their respective Services.
This Joint Chiefs or Staff should
constitute a corporate body with collective responsibility having its
own (illegible) staff for evolving joint
plans and its own Headquarters located on one place. The (illegible)
of chairman of this Joint Chiefs of
Staff must be held by rotation, irrespective of the personal ranks
enjoyed by the three service chiefs. The
duration of the tenure should be one year at a time and the
chairmanship should commence with the
(illegible) Service, mainly, the Army. A detailed Chapter of duties
for this Joint Chiefs of Staff has been
suggested in Annexure 'I' of Chapter XI of Part IV of the Main report.
(g) Under the Joint Chiefs of Staff Organisation there will not only
by a Secretariat but also a joint
planning staff drawn from all the three Services. It might be designed
as the Joint Secretariat and Planning
Staff. It will be responsible not only for providing the necessary
secretarial assistance (illegible) Also for
evolving the joint defence plans and (illegible) studies of processing
of all matters of inter-(illegible) The
Joint Chief of Staff may also have other Joint Common to assist them
on such matters, as it may consider
necessary.
(h) The weakness, in the (illegible) of the armed forces, which have
been brought by light, (illegible) feel
that there is need for an institution like the America" (illegible)
General' which should be a body changed
was the duty of carrying out surprise inspection and calling area the
formations and (illegible) concerned
to demonstrate that the (illegible) (this para not readable)
(i) We have also felt the (illegible) for in Institute of Strategic
Studies, preferably as a part of a University
Programme. The need for such an (illegible) has been highlighted by
the weakness in our joint strategic
panning by the three Services. We are of the opinion that such an
Institute will go a long way in
producing studies of value for examination by the other defence organizations.
XIII National Security Council
15. Having examined the working of the National Security Council in
Chapter XI of Part IV of the Main
Report we are of the opinion that there is no need for
super-(illegible) such an organization on the
Directorate of Intelligence Bureau and the Directorate of
Inter-services Intelligence. The Security Council
should therefore be abolished. XIV. The Farman Ali incident 16. In
view of the fresh evidence examined
by us regarding the role of Maj Gen Farman Ali, which we have
discussed in the concluding portion of
Chapter III of Part V of the Supplementary Report, recommendation No.
7 made in the Main Report has
now become (illegible); as we have found that in delivering a message
to Mr. Paul Mare Henry, Assistant
Secretary General of the United Nations. Maj Gen Farman Ali, acted
under the instructions of the
Governor of East Pakistan, who in turn had been authorised by the then
President of Pakistan to make
certain proposals for settlement in East Pakistan at the critical juncture.
THE SEQUENCE OF THE SIGNALS
We now propose to examine how the situation developed from the
beginning of the war, i.e. the 21st
November, 1971 till the surrender and it will be necessary for this
purpose to quote extensively from the
signals exchanged during the period between the relevant authorities
for only then will it be possible to
paint the full picture.
2. The first relevant signal is dated 21st November, 1971 numbered
G-1104 from the Commander to the
Chief of General Staff.
"from COMD for CGS (?) one ( .) as you must have noticed from strips,
INDIANS have aggressed and
started attacking in strength along with rebels (.) fighting taken
place in areas JESSORE,
BHURANGAMARI, SYLHET, CHITTAGONG AND DACCA suburbs (.) JESSORE
airfield shelled by
INDIAN med guns (.) in view this pressure own razakars stated blowing
up bridges and laying ambushes
against own troops (.) two (.) highly grateful for having allotted
additional infantry battalions (.) three (.)
move programme for all elements very slow (.) time against us 9.)
Therefore request move all battalions
on emergency basis as done during war (.) new raising likely to take
time therefore despatch battalions
already raised (.) also since full DIV NOT being provided, provisions
of two more infantry battalions
raising total to ten battalions, squadron tanks, one BDE HQ extremely
essential which be considered and
despatched immediately (.) request confirm."
3. It will be seen that, right from the commencement, the note struck
by the Commander is far from a
happy one, although not quite as dismal as the later signals were. The
picture given is of fighting having
started in various areas and a demand is made for two more battalions,
i.e. in addition to the 8 already
promised him.
4. From the record of the signals we do not find any answer to this
request; the next signal, that is on
record is dated 22nd November and numbered G-1086 from the Chief of
Staff to the Commander warning
him that the enemy is aiming at capture of CHITTAGONG from land and
sea and requiring him,
therefore, "to reinforce defences CHITTAGONG area by pulling out
troops from less important sectors as
necessary."
5. One the 28th November, 1971 the Commander sent a signal in the
following terms: -
"G-0866 (.) CONFD (.) for COMMANDER IN CHIEF from COMD (.) G-022, of
27 Oct. (.) most
gratefully acknowledge your kind consideration in conveying highly
inspiring appreciation at
performance of our basic duty EASTERN COMMAND and myself (.) indeed
indebted fro great
confidence that is reposed in us (.) nevertheless reassure you that
all ranks by grace of ALL are in high
morale and fine shape and imbued with true spirit of extreme sacrifice
to zealously of defend the priceless
honour, integrity and solidarity of our beloved PAKISTAN (.)
rededicating at this critical juncture of our
history I pledge on behalf of all ranks that we are at the highest
STATE of readiness to teach a lasting
lesson to HINDUSTAN should they dare cast an evil eye on our sacred
soil in any manner, may be
through open aggression or otherwise (.) trusting in GOD and your kind
guidance, the impact and glorious
history of our forefathers would INSHALLAH be fully revived.
maintaining highest traditions of our
army in case such a GRAND Opportunity afforded."
It will be noticed that at this stage the Commander not only expresses
his determination to fight but even
boasts of hoping to teach a lasting lesson to Hindustan and looks upon
the coming events as a "grand
opportunity afforded".
6. As we have noticed elsewhere the Indian intention to attack openly
and ..Quote(illegible) Out in all out
war was not merely a possibility but a distinct anticipation of which
the Commander had been forewarned
much earlier, nevertheless, on the 5th December, 1971 by message
numbered G-0338 the Chief of Staff
stated this clearly in the following terms:
"exclusive for COMMANDER from CHIEF OF STAFF (.) It is now evident
from all sources including
intelligence channels that INDIANS will shortly launch a full scale
offensive against EAST PAKISTAN
(.) mean total war (.) the time has therefore come when keeping in
mind current situation you redeploy
your forces in accordance with your operational task (.) such
positioning would of course take into
consideration areas of tactical, political and strategic importance we
are all proud of our EASTERN
COMMAND (.) well done."
A clear command was thus given to the Commander to redeploy his forces
in accordance with his
operational tasks. The fact the message also talks of taking into
consideration areas of tactical, political
and strategic importance implies, we think, liberty to give up other
territory if necessary. However, that
has been made clearer later.
7. On the 5th December, 1971 again by message numbered G-0235 the
Chief of Staff informed the
Commander as follows:
"personal for COMMANDER from CHIEF OF STAFF (.) The enemy has stepped
up pressure against
you and is likely to increase it to maximum extent (.) he will attempt
to capture EAST PAKISTAN as
swiftly as possible and then shift maximum forces to face WEST
PAKISTAN (.) this must NOT be
allowed to happen (.) losing of some territory is insignificant but
you must continue to concentrate on
operational deployments in vital areas aiming at keeping the maximum
enemy force involved in EAST
PAKSITAN (.) every hope of CHINESE activities very soon (.) good luck
and keep up your magnificent
work against such heavy odds (.) may Allah bless you".
It will be noticed that now, at any rate, if not earlier, the question
of territory had become of minor
importance; far more material was now the defence of East Pakistan in
the sense of continuing to occupy
the bulk of it or, in the last resort, a vital part of it so as not to
allow the occupation of East Pakistan by
Indian forces to become a reality. It is characteristic of the methods
of G.H.Q. at this juncture, however,
that most unrealistically and even without any foundation, the hope of
Chinese activities starting very
soon is being held out. We cannot help observing that not only at this
stage but elsewhere the GHQ held
out vague or even fraudulent promises of foreign help. We are not
detracting from General Niazi's share
of responsibility when we say that GHQ on its own part also led him up
to entertain expectations which
could not possibly be fulfilled.
8. In answer the Commander on the 6th December, 1971 by a signal
numbered G-1233 said:
"for MO DTE (.) special sitrep 4 (.) general comments (.) one (.)
since 3 dec on start all out hostilities,
intensity and weight enemy offensive in all fronts this theatre highly
increased (.) enemy strength
comprising eight divisions supported by four tank regiments, full
compliment of support service elements
in addition to 39 battalions BORDER SECURITY FORCE and 60 - 70
thousand trained rebels now fully
committed (.) besides all enemy offensive supported by air (.) INDIAN
AIR FORCE causing maximum
damage 9.) Have started using rockets and napalm against own defensive
positions (.) internally rebels
highly active, emboldened and causing maximum damage in all possible
ways including cutting off lines
means of communication (.) this including destruction of
roads/bridges/rail ferries/boats etc. 9.) Local
populations also against us (.) lack of communications making it
difficult to reinforce or replenish or
readjust positions (.) CHITTAGONG likely to be cut off and thus
depriving that line of communication
also (.) additional INDIAN NAVY now seriously threatening this sea
port with effective blockade of all
river approaches (.) DINAJPUR, RANGPUR, SYLHET, MAULVI BAZAR, BRAHMANBARIA,
LAKSHAM, CHANDPUR and JSSORE under heavy pressure (.) situation likely
becoming critical (.)
two (.) own troops already involved in active operations since last
nine months and now committed to
very intense battle (.) obviously they had NO rest or relief (.) due
pitched battles fought since last 17 days
own casualties rate both in men and material fairly increased 9.)
Absence of own tank, artillery and air
support has further aggravated situation (.) defection of
razakars/mujahids with arms also increased (.)
none the less, in process defensive battle, own troops inflicted heavy
casualties on enemy and caused
maximum possible attrition on them(.) enemy thus paid heavy cost for
each success in terms of ground (.)
three (.) based on foregoing and current operations situation of
formations this command now reaching
pre-planned line of defensives (.) resorting to fortress/strong point
basis (.) enemy will be involved
through all methods including unorthodox action will fight it out last
man last round (.) four (.) request
expedite actions vide your G-0235 of 5 Dec 71".
9. This is a fairly detailed statement of the situation and clearly
now depicts a more pessimistic picture.
There are passages, however, in this, which we find it difficult to
regard as being accurate. The statement,
for example, that there had been pitched battles for the last 17 days
with increased casualty rates is not
really supported by the evidence which does not justify the statement
either that heavy casualties had been
inflicted on the enemy and maximum attrition caused to them. The last
words in the message are
significant but, of course, entirely natural since they asked for
expedition of the action promised, namely
that of Chinese activity.
10. On the same day desperately by message numbered G-1234 the
Commander signalled to the Chief of
Staff to inquire when the likely help was to come.
11. The next signal is from the Governor of East Pakistan to the
President and before we quote the same it
is necessary to state the circumstances we have now learnt from the
evidence and which led to the
message. A meeting had apparently taken place and a quotation from the
statement of Major General Rao
Farman Ali is worth reproduction:
"On the evening of 6 December, Governor Malik asked me about the
situation as he was receiving
disturbing reports from all over the province. I suggested that he
should visit the Corps HQ and get a
direct briefing from Gen Niazi. Gen. Niazi briefed him. I did not
accompany the Governor. On 7
December, after I returned from the Corps HQ morning briefing the
Governor asked me to arrange for
transportation for the ministers to go to their districts to mobilize
public opinion. He said that Gen. Niazi
had told him that the situation was under control and that the Corps
could provide Helicopters to the
ministers. (There were only four/five helicopters). I told him that
situation had perhaps changed a bit
since yesterday and suggested if he could have another meeting with
Gen. Niazi. Gen. Niazi came. He
was in a terrible shape, haggard, obviously had no sleep. The chief
Secretary Mr. Muzaffar Hussain was
also present. The Governor had hardly said a few words when Gen. Niazi
started crying loudly. I had to
send the bearer out. The Governor got up from his chair, patted him
and said a few consoling words. I
also added a few words saying, "Your resources were limited. It is not
your fault etc." We discussed the
situation after he regained his poise. The governor suggested that an
effort was required to be made to
bring about a peaceful solution to the problem. After the conference I
went out to see Gen. Niazi off. He
said, in Urdu that the message may be sent for the Governor's House.
"I agreed as I thought it was
important for the morale of the troops to keep up the image of the Commander."
12. The account of the meeting is substantially corroborated by Mr.
Muzaffar Hussain, the Chief
secretary.
13. The message that the Governor then sent on the 7th December, 1971
numbered A-6905 is as follows:
"for PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN (.) It is imperative that correct situation
in EAST PAKISTAN is
brought to your notice (.) I discussed with GEN. NIAZI who tells me
that troops are fighting heroically
but against heavy odds without adequate artillery and air support (.)
rebels continue cutting their rear and
losses in equipment and men very heavy and cannot be replaced (.) the
front in EASTERN and
WESTERN SECTOR has collapsed (.) loss of whole corridor EAST OF MEGHNA
RIVER cannot be
avoided (.) JESSORE has already fallen which will be a terrible blow
to the morale of PRO-PAKISTAN
elements (.) civil administration ineffective as they cannot do much
without communication (.) food and
other supplies running short as nothing can move from CHITTAGONG or
within the province (.) even
DACCA city will be without food after 7 days (.) without fuel and oil
there will be complete paralysis of
life (.) law and order situation in areas vacated by army pathetic as
thousands of PRO-PAKISTAN
elements being butchered by rebels (.) millions of non-BENGALIS and
loyal elements are awaiting death
(.) No amount of lip sympathy or even material help from world powers
except direct physical
intervention will help (.) If any of our friends is expected to help
that should have an impact within the
next 48 rptd 48 hours (.) If no help is expected I beseech you to
negotiate so that a civilised and peaceful
transfer takes place and millions of lives are saved and untold misery
avoided (.) Is it worth sacrificing so
much when the end seems inevitable (.) if help is coming we will fight
on whatever consequences there
may be (.) request be kept informed".
It must be conceded that this is a message which depicts a very grim
picture indeed but we are unable to
say that it was inaccurate. The statement that Dacca city itself would
be without food after 7 days is not
irreconcilable with what has been said by General Niazi that he had
stocks to last much longer: General
Niazi was thinking of perhaps, provision for troops while the Governor
was thinking of the over-all
position of Dacca. It is true also that there is an appeal in this
message which questions whether it is
worth sacrificing so much when the end appears inevitable, but the
appeal is not for permission to
surrender but for permission to negotiate a political settlement, of
course, involving a civilised and
peaceful transfer. General Niazi claims that this message issued
without his concurrence, but we are
entirely unable to agree that this was so. The evidence is that the
message itself was shown to him and in
any case, we are wholly unable to believe that Dr. Malik would have
stated in this message that General
Niazi said that he was fighting against heavy odds without adequate
artillery and air support and, so far as
the message talks of the military situation, he is expressly saying
that he is depending on what General
Niazi told him.
14. On the same day the Chief of Staff by his message numbered G-0908
informed the Commander that
his message G-1234 quoted above in regard to the Chinese help was
under consideration.
15. Also on the same day the Chief of General Staff sent a message
numbered G-0907 which reads thus:
"for COMMANDER from CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF (.) Your G-1233 of 6
December refers (.)
position as explained fully appreciated and the outstanding combat
performance of all ranks is a matter of
great pride (.) your tactical concept approved (.) hold positions
tactically in strength without any territorial
considerations including CHITTAGONG with a view to maintaining the
entity of your force intact and
inflicting maximum possible attrition in men and material on the enemy".
It is upon the words "your tactical concept approved" that General
Niazi bases his claim of the approval
of his tactical concept. This reference, however, is really to the
Commander's signal already quoted of the
6th December, 1971 and numbered G-1233 in which he speaks of "reaching
pre-planned lines of
defence." It is not, therefore, a new approval that has been given,
but implies an acceptance of the timing
of withdrawing to these pre-planned lines
16. The President also on that day sent a message to the Governor
numbered A-4555 which is in response
to the Governor's own message which we quoted above (No. A-6905) and read thus:
"from PRESIDENT for GOVERNOR (.) Your flash signal number A-6905 dated
7 December refers (.)
all possible steps are in hand (.) full scale and bitter war is going
on in the WEST WING (.) world powers
are very seriously attempting to bring about a cease-fire (.) the
subject is being referred to the general
assembly after persistent vetoes in the security council by the
RUSSIANS (.) a very high powered
delegation is being rushed to NEW YORK (.) Please rest assured that I
am fully alive to the terrible
situation that you are facing (.) CHIEF OF STAFF is being directed by
me to instruct GENERAL NIAZI
regarding the military strategy to be adopted (.) you on your part and
your government should adopt
strongest measures in the field of food rationing and curtailing
supply of all essential items as on war
footing to be able to last for maximum period of time and preventing a
collapse 9.) GOD be with you (.)
we are all praying".
This is characteristic of the kind of messages which the President has
sent giving full but vague
assurances. He talks of all possible steps being in hand and of world
powers seriously attempting to bring
about a cease-fire. He mentions efforts going on in the United Nations
and gives advice as to food
rationing.
17. On the 8th December, 1971 there are two messages from the Chief of
Staff to the Commander
numbered G-0910 and G-0912 which it is unnecessary to quote, but in
regard to which it suffices to say
that once again General Naizi was being told that actual territory was
becoming of less and less
importance.
18. The 9th December, 1971 was an important date by reason of exchange
of several critical signals also.
The first of these is No. G-1255 from the Commander to the Chief of
Staff and reads thus:
"for CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF from COMMANDER (.) one (.) regrouping
readjustment is
NOT possible due to enemy mastery of skies (.) population getting
extremely hostile and providing all out
help to enemy (.) NO move possible during night due intensive rebel
ambushes (.) rebels guiding enemy
through gaps and to rear (.) airfields damaged extensively, NO mission
last three days and not possible in
future (.) all jetties, ferries and river craft destroyed due enemy
air action (.) bridges demolished by rebels
even extrication most difficult (.) two (.) extensive damage to heavy
weapons and equipment due enemy
air action (.) troops fighting extremely well but stress and strain
now telling hard (.) NOT slept for last 20
days (.) are under constant fire, air, artillery and tanks (.) three
(.) situation extremely critical. We will go
on fighting and do our best (.) four (.) request following (.)
immediate strike all enemy air bases this
theatre 9.) If possible reinforce airborne troops for protection DACCA".
We consider that no more hopeless a description could have been given
from a Commander in an
independent theatre to his distant Supreme Commander than this message
was. Every possible element
which would total up to a situation of utter helplessness is present
in the message. Despite the fact that the
Commander does say "we will go on fighting and do our best" we cannot
but feel that these were empty
words and the impression conveyed and intended to be conveyed was of
an army on the verge of
capitulation. The request for re-enforcement by airborne troops for
the protection of Dacca was unreal for
the Commander knew very well that even if troops were available the
physical means of sending them to
Dacca were not existent. The Dacca airfield was no longer useable and
the Commander himself refers to
enemy air action. In these circumstances we cannot believe that the
Commander meant the request to be
seriously taken. We are of the view that the request was deliberately
put in for the purpose of providing an
excuse for himself.
19. On the same day some nine hours later, clearly after having
consulted General Niazi the Governor
sent signal No. A-1660 to the President which reads thus:
"A-4660 of 091800 (.) for the PRESIDENT (.) military situation
desperate (.) enemy is approaching
FARIDPUR in the WEST and has closed up to the river MEGHNA in the EAST
by-passing our troops in
COMILLA and LAKSHAM (.) CHANDPUR has fallen to the enemy thereby
closing all river routes (.)
enemy likely to be at the outskirts of DACCA any day if no outside
help forthcoming (.) SECRETARY
GENERAL UN'S representative in DACCA has proposed that DACCA CITY may
be declared as an
open city to save lives of civilians specially NON-BENGALIS (.) am
favourably inclined to accept the
offer (.) strongly recommend this be approved (.) GEN. NIAZI does not
agree as he considers that his
orders are to fight to the last and it would amount to giving up DACCA
(.) this action may result in
massacre of the whole army, WP police and all non-locals and loyal
locals (.) there are no regular troops
in reserve and once the enemy has crossed the GANGES or MEGHNA further
resistance will be futile
unless CHINA or USA intervenes today with a massive air and ground
support (.) Once again urge you to
consider immediate cease-fire and political settlement otherwise once
INDIAN TROOPS are free from
EAST WING in a few days even WEST WING will be in jeopardy (.)
understand local population has
welcomed INDIAN ARMY in captured areas and are providing maximum help
to them (.) our troops are
finding it impossible to withdraw and manoeuvre due to rebel activity
(.) with this clear alignment
sacrifice of WEST PAKISTAN is meaningless".
20. The President answered back immediately by his signal No. G-0001
which read thus:
"from PRESIDENT to GOVERNOR Repeated to COMMANDER EASTERN COMMAND (.) Your
flash message A-4660 of 9 Dec received and thoroughly understood (.)
you have my permission to take
decisions on your proposals to me (.) I have and am continuing to take
all measures internationally but in
view of our complete isolation from each other decision about EAST
PAKISTAN I leave entirely to your
good sense and judgement (.) I will approve of any decision you take
and I am instructing GEN NIAZI
simultaneously to accept your decision and arrange things accordingly
(.) whatever efforts you make in
your decision to save senseless destruction of the kind of civilians
you have mentioned in particular the
safety of our armed forces, you may go ahead and ensure safety of
armed forces by all political means
that you will adopt with our opponent".
In view of what followed this is a very interesting response. In clear
words General Mahya says "you
have my permission to take decisions on your proposals to me".
Although he says that he is continuing to
take all measures internationally he leaves the decision about East
Pakistan entirely to the Governor's
good sense and judgement and undertakes in advance to approve of any
such decision and also to instruct
General Niazi to accept his decision. We cannot see how any
interpretation can be placed on this message
other than one of leaving the Governor entirely free to reach a
political settlement.
21. Accordingly on the 10th December 1971 by message No. A-7107 the
Governor informed the
president what he had done. (By some clerical mistake two messages
bear the same number A-7107 as is
the case in respect of two other messages both of which bear the number G-0002):
"for PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN (.) your G-0001 of 092300 DEC (>) as the
responsibility of taking the
final and fatal decision has been given to me I am handing over the
following note to ASSISTANT
SECRETARY GENERAL MR. PAUL MARK HENRY after your approval (.) note
begins (.) it was
never the intention of the armed forces of PAKISTAN to involve
themselves in an all out war on the soil
of EAST PAKISTAN (.) however a situation, arose which compelled the
armed forces to take defensive
action (.) the intention of the GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN was always to
decide the issue in EAST
PAKISTAN by means of a political solution for which negotiations were
afoot (.) the armed force, have
fought heroically against heavy odds and can still continue to do so
but in order to avoid further
bloodshed and less of innocent lives I am making the following
proposals (.) as the conflict arose as a
result of political causes, it must end with a political solution (.)
I therefore having been authorised by the
PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN do hereby call upon the elected representatives
of EAST PAKISTAN to
arrange for the peaceful formation of the government in DACCA (.) in
making this offer I feel duty bound
to say the will of the people of EAST PAKISTAN would demand the
immediate vacation of their land by
the Indian forces as well (.) I therefore call upon the UNITED NATIONS
to arrange for a peaceful
transfer of power and request (.) one (.) an immediate cease-fire (.)
two (.) repatriation with honour of the
armed forces of PAKISTAN TO WEST PAKISTAN (.) three (.) repatriation
of all WEST PAKISTAN
personnel desirous of returning to WEST PAKISTAN (.) four (.) the
safety of all persons settled in EAST
PAKISTAN since 1947 (.) five (.) guarantee of no reprisals against any
person in EAST PAKISTAN (.)
in making this offer, I want to make it clear that this is a definite
proposal for peaceful transfer of power
(.) the question of surrender of the armed forces would not be
considered and does not arise and if this
proposal is not accepted the armed forces will continue to fight to
the last man (.) note ends (.) GEN.
NIAZI has been consulted and submits himself to your command."
22. We then come to the 9th December, 1971 on which date the well
known message, which General Rao
Farman Ali is alleged to have issued, was delivered to the Assistant
Secretary of the United nations Mr.
Paul Mark Henry. There is no denying that this message had a
disastrous effect upon our stand in the
United Nations; at that time it was thought, and it certainly was our
impression also when we wrote the
Main Report, that General Rao Farman Ali apparently issued this on his
own. We are now convinced that
this is not in fact so. He acted on the direction of the Governor and
with the concurrence of General Niazi.
His own version of it, which in the light of all other evidence now
available to us, we see no reason to
doubt, is as follows:
"On 9 Dec. Asstt Secretary UN Mr Paul mark Henry saw the Governor. I
was not present during their
meeting. After the meeting and after he discussed it with Gen Niazi on
telephone he initiated the signal A-
1660 of 091800 hrs. a copy is attached at Anx 'C'. Main recommendation
was: "Once again urge you to
consider immediate cease-fire and political settlement". (The
president's reply (below Anx 'C') was
received at night. The Governor and the Chief Secretary discussed it.
I was not present. They concluded
that the responsibility to take the historic-decision was being placed
on the shoulders of the Governor. I
may add here that before the war a High Powered Committee had been
established which could take
decision acting as the Central Government under a situation where
communication broke down between
the Centre and Dacca. The Committee consisted of the Governor,
Minister of Finance, Gen. Niazi, Chief
Secretary and I was to be its member Secretary. The Chief Secretary
drafted a signal (Anx'D') to the
President with a copy to UN Secretary General. (The draft clearly
shows that it is a civilian type
message). I was asked by the Governor to take it to Gen. Niazi and get
his approval for the step proposed.
I along with the Chief Secretary went to Gen. Niazi. Present were Gen.
Jamshed and Admiral Sharif.
"After I had read out the proposals to UN. Gen Jamshed was the first
one to speak with a enthusiastic
response of: " That's it. This is the only course open now." Or words
to that effect. Admiral Sharif
Approved in Gen. Niazi asked in what capacity was the required to
approve the proposed move. The chief
Secretary said. "In your capacity as member of the High powered
Committee." He gave his approval, I
returned to the Governor House where I found the Governor and Mr. Paul
Mark Henry in my office (In
my earlier report I had said that the Chief Secretary was also
present. It was, perhaps, a case of
misrecollection. The chief Secretary tells me now that though he had
arranged for Mr. Paul Mark Henry
to be at the Governor House he himself was not there). The Governor
asked me to hand over a copy of the
signal to Mr. Henry which I did. "The signal bore my signatures as it
was to be transmitted though Army
channels. Mr. Henry said that it will be discussed between Mr. Agha
Shahi and the Secretary General and
if M. Agha Shahi approved it will be taken up."
It is true that this statement was counter-minded by the President but
the damage that it could cause was
done. With that aspect of the matter, however, we have already dealt
in the Main Report.
23: Although this message is of the 10th and uses the words "I am
handing over the note to Assistant
Secretary General Mr. PAUL MARK HENRY after your approval" the note
had been handed over on the
9th Clearly the Governor gave directions to General Farman Ali and, at
the same time, dictated the
message.
24. This completes the story of the note which was handed over to Mr.
Paul Mark Henry and now it is
clear not only that Major General Rao Farman Ali handed over his note
with the Governor's approval but
that the Governor himself acted under the belief that he was
authorising it in turn with the President's
approval. We consider it in the circumstances a wise settlement and
indeed the only settlement which by
this time was possibility of the proposal being treated a surrender
for the expressly says that no such
question will even be considered and that if his proposal is not
accepted the armed forces will continue to
fight to the last man.
25. We are, therefore, astonished to read the President's re-action to
this message which he conveyed by
his message of the same date No.G-0002 which reads thus:
"from PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN (.) your flash message A-7/07 of 10 Dec(.)
the proposed draft of
your message his gene much beyond what you had suggested and I had
approved(.) it gives the
impression that you are talking on behalf of PAKISTAN when you have
mentioned the subject of transfer
of power, political solution and repatriation of troops from EAST TO
WEST PAKISTAN(.) this virtually
means the acceptance of an independent EAST PAKISTAN(.) the existing
situation in your areas requires
a limited action by you to end hostilities in EAST PAKISTAN (.)
therefore suggest a draft which you are
authorized to issue (.) quote(.) in view of complete sea and air
blockade of EAST PAKISTAN by
overwhelming INDIAN armed forces and the resultant senseless and
indiscriminate bloodshed of civil
population have introduced new dimensions to be situation in EAST
PAKISTAN(.) the PRESENT OF
PAKISTAN has authorised me to take whatever measures I may decide (.)
I have therefore decided that
although PAKISTAN armed forces have fought heroically against heavy
odds and can still-continue to do
so yet, in order to avoid further bloodshed and loss of innocent lives
I am making the following proposals
() one(.) an immediate cease-fire in EAST PAKISTAN to end hostility(.)
two(.) guarantee of the safety of
personnel settled in EAST PAKISTAN since 1947(.) three(.) guarantee o
reprisals against any person on
EAST PAKISTAN(.) four(.)I want to make it clear that this is definite
proposal of ending all hostilities
and the question of surrender of armed forces would not be considered
and does not arise).) unquote(.)
within this framework you may make addition or
...........................(blurred print)........
26. That the President, in fact earlier, really authorised the
Governor fully is indicated by the message of
the Chief of Staff to the Commander of the 10th December, 1971
numbered (1-10237, the time of which
is precisely the same as the President's own message. i.e. 7.10 P.M.
and reads thus:
"for COMD from COS ARMY (.) PRESIDENTS signal message to GOVERNOR copy
to you refers(.)
PRESIDENT has left the decision to the GOVERNOR in close consultation
with you (.) as no signal can
correctly covey the degree of seriousness of the situation I can only
leave it to you to take the correct
decision on the spot (.) it is however, apparent that it is no only a
question of time before the enemy with
its great superiority in numbers and material and the active
cooperation of rebels with dominate EAST
PAKISTAN completely (.) meanwhile a lot of damage is being done to the
civil population and the army
is suffering heavy causalities(.() you will have to assess the value
of fighting on if you can and weigh it
against the heavy looses likely to be suffered both civil and
military(.) based on this you should give your
frank advice to the GOVERNOR who will give his final decision as
delegated to him by the
PRESIDENT(.) whenever you feel it is necessary to do so you should
attempt to ...by maximum military
equipment so hat it does not fall into enemy hands (.) keep me
informed (.) ALLAH bless you."
It will be seen that the Chief of Staff re-affirms that the Governor
will take the final decision. As the
power to do so had been delegated to him by the President. We confess
to a sense of bewilderment: so
express is these messages from the President and his Chief of Staff
that the President's repudiation of the
Governor's decision is unexplainable.
27. On the 10th December also the Commander signalled to the Chief of
Staff s follows:
"from COMMANDER for CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF (.) operational
situation (.) one(.) all
formations this command in every sector this under extreme pressure(.)
brave(.) formations troops mostly
isolated in fortresses which initially invested by enemy now under
heavy attacks and may be liquidated
due overcoming strength of enemy(.) Charlie(.) enemy possesses mastery
of air and freedom to destroy all
vehicles at will and with full concentration of effort (.) delta(.)
local population and rebels not only hostile
but all out to destroy own troops in entire area(.) echo(.) all
communication road river cut(.) two(.) orders
to own troops issued to hold on last man last round which may NOT be
too long due very prolonged
operations and fighting troops totally tired(.) any way will be
difficult to hold on when weapons
ammunition also continue to be destroyed by the enemy rebels actions
besides intense rate battle
expenditure(.) three(.) submitted for information and advice."
This again is consistent with the situation so far reported. Indeed,
now Commander admits that the orders
that he had issued to his own troops to hold out to the last man and
the last round may not be for too long
and he asked for information and advice."
28. On the 11th December, 1971 the President sent another message to
the Governor which is numbered
G-0002 and reads thus:
"for GOVERNOR from PRESIDENT(.) do NOT repeat NOT take any action on
my last message to
you(.) very important diplomatic and military moves are taking place
by our friends(.) is essential that we
hold on for another thirty six hours at all costs(.0 please also pass
this message to GEN. NIAZI and GEN.
FARMAN."
29. Presumably the order not to take any action on the last message
refers to his message in which he
gives directions for further proposals. It cannot be merely a
repudiation of his earlier authorisation of the
Governor for that had been already counter-manded. It would seem by
reason of the reference to General
Rao Farman Ali that it had come to the notice of the President that it
was General Rao Farman Ali who
had handed over the note to the representative of the United Nations
Secretary General. Plainly General
Yahya Khan was hoping to retrieve he situation in the United Nations.
It is to be remembered that Mr.
Z.A. Bhutto then deputy Prime Minister designate, had already reached
the United Nations and found his
hands tied. We do not enter into detailed discussions of this aspect
of the matter now s it has been
adequately dealt with in the main Report.
30. Having been advised and even ordered to hold on for 36 hours at
lest and also having been assured of
intervention by friends on the 11th December the Commander sent signal
No.G-127 to the Chief of staff
in these terms:
"from COMMANDER FOR CHIEF OF STAFF(.) enemy has helidropped
approximately one brigade
SOUTH OF NARSINDI and at 1630 hours dropped one PARA brigade in
TANGAIL area(.) request
friends arrive DACA by air first light 12 Dec."
31. The Chief of Staff, no in answer to this message, but in response
to earlier messages sent signal
No.G0011 on the 11th December, 1971 to the Commander as follows:
"for COMMANDER FROM chief of staff(.) your no.G-1275 Dec and
PRESIDENTS message to
GOVERNOR with a copy to you vide signal no. G-0002 of 110-130 December
refer(.) one(.) for your
personal information UNTTED STATES SEVENTH FLEET will be very soon in
position () also NEFA
front has been activated by CHINESE although the INDIANS for obvious
reasons have not announced
it(.) two(.) very strong pressure internationally has been brought
upon RUSSIA and INDIA by UNITED
STATES(.) INDIA is therefore desperately in a hurry to take maximum
possible action against you in
EAST PASKISTAN to achieve a fait accompli before vents both political
and military are against them (.)
three(.) it is therefore all the more vital for you to hold out as the
PRESIDENT had desired in his signal
no.G-0002 o 10430 DEC (.) four(.) good luck to you."
On what basis the Chief of Staff was stating that the Unites State's
Seventh Fleet would soon be in
position and also that the NEFA front had been activated by Chinese we
can not even conjecture.
32. The Commander's next message dated the 12th December, 1971 and
numbered G-127 makes
interesting reading:
"from COMD for COS(.) your G-0011 of 110245 Dec(.) one(.) thanks for
info and good wishes(.) two(.)
vide my previous sig Comm 1 had issued orders to troops to fight out
last man last round in their
respective areas by estb fortresses(.) three(.) situation own
doubtlessly extremely critical but will turn
DACCA into fortress and tight it out till end."
As to fighting to the last man last round we have already seen his
earlier signal but it is to be stressed that
he now talks of turning Dacca into a fortress and fighting it out ill
the end. Presumably in Dacca. The
sudden change in the tone of the signal of 12th December and
afterwards, appears to be the result of the
COS signal G-0011 of 11th December informing "also NEFA front has been
activated by Chinese etc."
33. The next signal is by the Commander on the 12th December, 1971
numbered G-1279:
"from COMD for COS(.) one(.) of our officer taken PW sent to COMILA
FORTRES by enemy with
following messages(.) quote(.) if your all do not surrender we will
HAND over all your prisoners to
MUKTI-FAUJ for butchery(.) unquote(.) two(.) request immediately take
up with world red cross
authorities and C in C INDIA (.) matter serious."
It is interesting in the first place to notice that this was an
unclassified .. and secondly to note that the only
purpose of this signal was to complain of a threat that unless the
Pakistan army surrendered prisoners
would be handed over to the Mukti Fauj for butchering. As we think
that this threat might have played
some part in the final decision to surrender we merely take not of
this for the present and will comment
upon it later.
34. On the 13th December, 1971 the Commander sent message No.G-1282
which read thus:
"For MO DTE(.) special situation report number 4(.) One(.)g enemy(.)
Alfa(.) build up at MATTARL SO
7344 by heliborne troops cont (.) enemy at MATTARL 7344 now advancing
along road MATTAR-DMR
RL 5624(.) bravo(.0 details contact by para troop awaited (.)
charlie(.) enemy cone also reported at
DAUDKANDI RL 7903 and two helicopters landed SOUTH OF NARAYANGAJ RL
5713(.) details
awaited(.) delta(.0 enemy making all out efforts to capture DACCA
ASP(.) two(.) DACCA fortress
defences well organised and determined to fight it out."
Of immediate interest to us is only the part which states that Dacca
fortress defences are well organised
and that the Commander is determined to fight it out. It may also be
pointed out that the information of
helicopters landing was incorrect
35. On the same date he sent another message numbered G-1286 which reads thus:
"from COMD for COS(.) one(.) alfa(.) fortresses in all sectors under
heavy pressure(.) I am though with
formations only n wireless(.) NO replenishment of even ammunition (.)
bravo(.) DACCA under heavy
pressure rebels have already surrounded by city and firing with RRS
and mortars supported by IAF armed
hels (.) INDIANS also advancing(.) situation serious(.) fortress
defence organised and will fight it out(.)
two(.) alfa(.) Promised assistance must take practical shape by 14
Dec.(.) brvo(.)CHINESE fighting in
NEFA will have NO effect(.) is effect can only be felt in SILLIGUR and
by engaging enemy air bases
around us."
Obviously an even more grim situation is now reported and even Chinese
fighting, the Commander
asserts, will have no effect. Nevertheless, he re-affirming that the
fortress defence is organised and that he
will fight it out.
36. The need, however, for holding on for some time is stressed again
by the Chief of Staff on the 14h
December, 1971 by message numbered G-012 which reads:
"for COMMANDER from CHIEF OF STAFF(.) your G-1286 of 3 Dec.(.) the UNITED NATION
SECRURITY COUNCIL. is in session and is most likely to order a
cease-fire(.) knowing his the
INDIANS ARE DOING all they can to capture DACCA and form a BANGLA DESH
GOVERNMENT
before the cease-fire resolution is passed (.) as far as we can
anticipate it is only a matter of hours(.) I need
not therefore urge you to hold out till the United Nation Resolution
is passed(.) I am saying this with full
realization of the most critical situation that you and your command
are facing so valiantly(.) ALLAH is
with you."
The emphasis is on holding out until the United Nations Resolution is
passed which, it is anticipated, will
being only a matter of hours.
37. Apparently this message was not clear to the Commander who by
message No.G-1288 asked for clear
instructions and upon this message there is an endorsement of the
Private Secretary to the Chief of Staff
as follows:
"Have spoken to commander Eastern Command at 0825 hours. He is now
quite clear on the action to be
taken. Have told him that Security Council is in session inspite of
Russian veto. It is imperative that
Dacca is held on at least till the decision is taken by the Security Council."
38. On the 14th December 1971 the President sent Signal No. G-0013 to
the Governor and General Niazi
as follows:
"for GOVERNOR and GENERAL NIAZI from PRESIDENT(.) GOVERNOR'S flash message to me
refers (.) you have fought a heroic battles against overwhelming
odd(.) the nation is proud of you and the
world full of admiration(.) I have done all that is humanly possible
to find an acceptable solution to the
problem(.) you have now reached a stage where further resistance is no
longer HUMANLY possible nor
will it serve any useful purpose(.) you should now take all necessary
MEASURES TO STOP THE
FIGHTING AND PRESERVE the lives of all armed forces personnel all
those from WEST PAKISTAN
and all loyal elements(.) meanwhile I have moved UN to urge INDIA to
stop hostilities in EAST
PAKISTAN forthwith and guarantee the safety of the armed forces and
all other people who may be the
likely target of miscreants."
The time given on the signal is 1332, i.e. 1.32 P.M. West Pakistan
time. On the other hand the witnesses
who were then in Dacca are unanimous that the message came at night.
We have made all efforts to verify
from the original and it is clear that the original does bear this
time. Two circumstances moreover confirm
that the time is correctly stated in the message. Signal No. G-0012,
which we have quoted and which
advises the Commander that the United Nations Security Council is in
session, and, therefore, urges him
to hold on was sent at 1235 A.M., i.e. West Pakistan time. Signal No.
G-1288 from the Commander
which asks that this signal be clarified is timed 8.45 A.M. (East
Pakistan time) corresponding to 7.45
A.M. (West Pakistan time). On this last there in the endorsement which
we have quoted and which speaks
of the PS(C) to the Chief of Staff having spoken to the Commander at
8.25 A.M. West Pakistan time.
Clearly these signals could not have been exchanged nor the
conversation held to which this endorsement
refers if the disputed time is 1.32 A.M. for obviously the commander
would then say that neither the
message nor the telephone conversations make any sense after the
signal. We think, therefore, that the
time is correctly mentioned on the message (signal G-0013) as 1.32 but
are unable to explain the
contradiction in the oral evidence.
39. We consider this is the most significant message of all the
various messages that we have referred to
and think it necessary to make some analysis of it. In the first place
it might be noticed that it is an
unclassified message. i.e. it was sent in clear and was, therefore,
capable of being listened to and,
probably was listened to by India, as indeed by any other country. N
itself and without reference to any
other factor this alone must have had disastrous effect. The United
Nations Security Council was in
session, but it is difficult to see how we could with any confidence
expect to secure any success there with
this open confession of our weakness and clear willingness to accept
any terms. Even those nations upon
whose help we could have in some degree relied were hardly able to
help after this.
40. Besides this important effect on Pakistan's case in the United
Nation we think that it might we have
prompted General Manekshaw to insist upon a surrender even though
General Niazi was only proposing a
cease-fire.
41. We have not been able to understand how such an important message
came to be unclassified. Some
mistake has occurred for it is both the duty of the Staff Officers ad
that of the signal centre to ensure that
some classification is given. The world "clear" although we have used
it is not a classification used and
when we have used it we mean only that bearing no classification it is
, as we would put it in nontechnical
language, is clear.
42. The fact that it was unclassified also led to the feeling in the
mind of those in Dacca that it might not
be an authentic message but a hoax. Quite naturally, therefore, the
Commander wanted to verify this and
also to be sure whether this was meant to be surrender. It would be
profitable to reproduced the following
passage from General Niazi's written statement to us:
"This signal being unclassified was probably intercepted by the
Indians in clear. As a first reaction we
thought that it might be an Indian plant. However, I wanted to confirm
its authenticity and also its
implications:-
a. I was not fighting an independent war as commander of an
independent army of a different country. I
wanted to check about the overall GHO plan or cease-fire with India
and is terms etc.
B. If I was to negotiate my independent ceasefire, I would not be from
a position of strength. It would
tantamount to surrender.
Brigadier Janjua on request from my COS confirmed that this signal was
meant to be UNCLAS on
telephone. By about noon 14 December i.e. 9 hours after the receipt of
the President's signal, I could get
through to the CGS, Lt. Gen Gul Hassan Khan, and told him about the
order of the President. He asked
me as to what signal and what cease-fire or surrender I was talking
about. When I explained to him he
replied that he did not know about this order and since the President
had issued these orders, I should talk
to him and he then banged the telephone.
Earlier in the day, 14th December 1971, Governor A M Malik talked to
me on telephone about the
President's order. I told him that I had asked for clarification of
the signal from the GHQ. He asked me
whether I am going to agree to stopping the war or not. I replied him
that I still had every intention to
continue fighting. I heard about Governor's resignation in the
afternoon and after strafing of the
Government House same day he moved to Hotel Intercontinental. With him
moved him ministers and all
civil and police officers. He wrote me a letter on the subject on 15th
December as under:-
"My dear Niazi,
May I know if any action has been taken, from your side, on PAK ARMY
Signal No.G-0013 dated 14-12-
71 from the President to you and to me as the Governor. This message
clearly said " you should take all
necessary measures to stop the fighting and preserve the lives of all
armed forces personnel, all those
from West Pakistan and all loyal element." The signal also says "you
have now reached a stage where
further resistance is no longer humanly possible nor will it serve any
useful purpose." Hostility is still
continuing and loss of life and disaster continue. I request you to do
he needful.
With regards.
Yours Sincerely,
A.M. Malice
Phone 25291-12"
43. It is a sad reflection on the state of affairs then prevailing at
Rawalpindi, though in view of what we
have said in the Main Report his can only be now a side light --, that
at this critical juncture the
Commander could not immediately get through on the telephone to the
Chief of Staff, much less the
President. The only person to whom he could speak immediately was
Brigadier Janjua who, however,
confirmed that the signal was meant to be unclassified. Not until
about noon could the Commander speak
even to the Chief of the General Staff who apparently did not even
know what orders were being talked
about. It does not seem that at any time the Commander could speak to
the President himself and the
highest hat he could reach was only the Chief of Staff and that not
until the evening of the 14th and the
Chief of Staff, according to General Niazi, merely sad "act
accordingly" and the Air Commander-in-
Chief, Ali Marshall M. Rahim Khan also insisted that the President's
order be obeyed.
44. General Niazi has claimed both in view of the language of the
message itself and of his subsequent
conversations with officers at Rawalpindi that it amounted to an order
to surrender. For reasons which we
shall elaborate a little later we are unable so to read it, but only
as a permission to surrender. On the other
hand, however, we are not impressed by the contrary argument that it
did not refer to a surrender at all, for
this, we think, amounts to mere quibble on words. It is true that the
actual world "surrender" has not been
used, but it is expressly stated that further resistance is no longer
humanly possible. This surely means
surrender; at the most is might be interpreted to mean surrender on
the best terms hat could be obtained,
but, if necessary, unconditionally.
45. There follow some signals in regard to destruction of war material
which it is not necessary for our
present purposes to quote.
46. Where or not General Niazi understood this message as an order or
permission to surrender he did
convey through the American Counsel General o the Indians his request
for cease-fire under the following
conditions:
"a. Regrouping of Pakistan Armed Forces in designated areas to be
mutually agreed upon between the
commanders of the opposing forces.
b. To guarantee the safety of all military and para-military forces.
c. Safety o all those who settled in East Pakistan since 1947.
d. Not reprisals against those who helped the administrations since March, 1971.
47. In the meantime the Indians dropped by leaflets a message from
General Manekshaw to General Rao
Farman Ali Khan which reads thus:
"I have sent out two messages already but there has been no response
from you so far. I was to repeat that
further resistance is senseless and will mean deaths of many poor
soldiers under your command quite
unnecessarily. I reiterate my guarantee of complete protection and
just treatment under the Geneva
Convention to all Military and Quasi-military personnel who surrender
to my forces. Neither need you
have any apprehension with regard to the forces of the Bangladesh as
these are all under my command
and the government of Bangladesh has issued instructions for the
compliance with the provisions of the
Geneva Convention. My forces are now closing in and around DACCA and
you ... prisons there are
within the range of my Artillery, I have issued instructions to all my
troops to afford complete protection
to foreign nationals and all ethnic-minorities. If should be the duty
of all Commanders, to prevent the
useless shedding of innocent blood, and I am therefore appealing to
you once again to cooperate with me
in ensuring that this human responsibility is fully discharged by all
concerned. Should you however,
decide to continue to offer resistance may I strongly urge that you
ensure that all civilians and foreign
nationals are remove to a safe distance from the area of conflict. For
the sake of your own men I hope you
will not compel me to reduce your garrison with the use of force."
48. In response to General Niazi's proposal General Manekshaw sent a
radio broadcast message to
General Niazi, the gist of which was the he expected General Niazi to
issue orders to cease-fire
immediately and to surrender. In return he promised that they would be
treated with dignity and
consistently with the Geneva conventions and that he wounded would be
looked after as the dead would
be given proper burial. He also arranged for radio links between
Calcutta and Dacca.
49. In response specifically to General Niazi's message General
Manekshaw replied on the 15th
December, 1971 as follows:
"Firstly, I have received you communications of cease-fire in Bangla
Desh at 1430 hours today through
the American Embassy at New Delhi.
Secondly, I had previously informed General Farman Ali in two messages
that I would guarantee
(A) he safety of all your military and para-military forces who
surrender to me in Bangla Desh
(B) complete protection to Foreign Nationals. Ethnic minorities and
personnel of West Pakistan origin no
matter who they may be. Since you have indicated your desire to stop
tightening I expect you to issue
orders to all forces under your command in Bangla Desh to cease-fire
immediately and surrender to my
advancing forces wherever they are located.
Thirdly, I give you my solemn assurance that personnel who surrender
shall be treated with the dignity
and respect that soldiers are entitled to and shall abide by the
provisions, of the Geneva Conventions.
Further as you have many wounded I shall ensure that they are well
cared for and your dead given proper
burial. No one need have any fear for their safety, no matter where
they come from. Nor shall there be any
reprisals by forces operating under my command.
Fourthly, Immediately I receive a positive response from you I shall
direct General Auroa the
Commander of Indian and Bangla Desh Forces in the Eastern Theatre to
refrain from all air and ground
actions against your forces. As a token of my good faith I have
ordered that no air action shall take place
over Dacca from 1700 hours today.
Fifthly, Assure you I have no desire to inflict unnecessary casualties
on your troops as I abhor loss of
human lives. Should however you do not comply with what I have stated
you will leave me with no other
alternative but to resume my offensive with the utmost vigour at 0900
hours Indian standard time on 16th
December.
Sixthly, In order to be able to discuss and finalise all matters
quickly I have arranged for a Radio link on
listening from 1700 hours Indian standard time today 15th December,
The frequency will be 6605 (6605)
KHZ by day and 3216(3216) KHZ by night. Call signs will be
Cal(Calcutta) and DAC(Dacca). I would
suggest you instruct your signallers to restore micro wave
communications immediately().)"
50. It is to be noticed that the world "surrender" is for the first
time used in these messages from India.
51.It here then follows a signal on the 15th December, 1971 numbered
G-0015 from Chief of Staff to
General Niazi as follows:
"for COMMANDER for CHIEF OF STAFF ARMY(.) your G-1310 of 15230 Dec
refers(.) I have seen
your reply to the PRESIDENT and I have also heard over all INDIA RADIO GENERAL
MANEKSHAW's reply to your message to him through UNITED STATES
DIPLOMATIC channels(.)
while I leave to you the decision I suggest that you accept the terms
laid down by Chief of Staff INDIA as
they appear to met your requirements (.) this is a purely local
military decision and has NO repeat NO
bearing on the political outcome which has to be decided separately(.)
mutual decisions now arrived at by
you will not be acceptable if repugnant to any UNITED NATIONS DECISION."
General Niazi asserts that although the Chief of Staff used the word
"suggest" this amounted to an order.
This might be true in general but in the peculiar context with which
we are dealing we are not impressed
by General Niazi's claim, for as we have said, he had been authorised
and not ordered to surrender.
52. The reply of the Commander to the President to which reference is
made in this signal is one dated
15th December and is as follows:
"G-1305(.) SECRET(.) from Command for PRESIDENT(.) your signal G-0013
14 December(.) I met
AMERICAN Council General and gave him following in writing(.) quote(.)
One(.) in order to save
further hostilities in the major cities like DACA I request you to
arrange for an immediate cease-fire
under the following conditions(.) ALFA).) regrouping of PAKISTAN armed
forces in designated areas to
be mutually agreed upon between the commanders of the opposing
forces(.) BRAVO(.) to guarantee the
safety of all military and para military forces(.) Charlie(.) safety
of all those who had settled in EAST
PAKISTAN since 1947(.) TWO(.) on these conditions, the PAKISTAN armed
forces and para military
forces would immediately cease all military operations (.0 THREE(.) I
would further abide by any
resolutions which the security council of the UNITED NATIONS may pass
for the permanent settlement
of the present dispute(.)FOUR(.) make this proposal with full
authority vested in me by virtue o my
position as martial law administrator of ZONE B (EAST PAKISTAN) and
commander EASTERN
COMMAND exercising final authority overall PAKISTAN military and
paramilitary forces in this area(.)
unquote(.)reply still awaited.
53. This completes the sequence of the message exchanged during the
period immediately before the
surrender.

…………………………………………………………………………………

In December 1971, within a week of replacing General Yahya as the
President, Bhutto formed a commission headed by the Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court, Justice Hamood-ur-Rahman. The Commission's
responsibility was to ascertain the facts of the 1971 debacle. The
commission interviewed 213 persons including General Yahya, Z. A.
Bhutto, Chief of Air Force, Chief of Navy, senior commanders, and
various political leaders. It submitted its first report in July 1972.
Originally there were 12 copies of the Report. These were all
destroyed; expect the one that was handed over to Z. A. Bhutto.
Neither Bhutto, nor the Army which took over in 1977, made the Report
public. Though the Report remained classified, its contents were
presumably learned from various writings and memoirs of the military
officers narrating their side of the story of what the
Hamood-ur-Rahman Inquiry Commission had to say. The report recommended
public trials of the concerned officers responsible for the 1971
debacle.
The inquiry was reopened in 1974. The Commission again interviewed 73
bureaucrats and top military officers and submitted its supplementary
report in November 1974. It was this supplementary report that was
presumably published by an Indian magazine in August 2000, and
afterwards allowed to be published in the Pakistani press. Publicizing
of the Report by the Indian media was not a surprise since it had come
out at a time when there was international pressure mounting on India
to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Immense human rights violations were
being reported by international organizations such as Amnesty
International and Asia Watch with reference to the role of Indian
Security Forces in the Indian-held Kashmir. The publication of the
Report was seen in Pakistan as an attempt by India to divert the world
attention from its inhumane and unjustified actions in Kashmir.
Volume I of the main report dealt with political background,
international relations, and military aspects of the events of 1971.
Volume I of the supplementary report discussed political events of
1971, military aspect, surrender in East Pakistan and the moral
aspect.
A large number of West Pakistanis and Biharis who were able to escape
from East Pakistan told the Commission awful tales of the atrocities
at the hands of the Awami League militants. It was revealed that many
families of West Pakistani Officers and other ranks serving with East
Bengal Units were subjected to inhuman treatment. Their erstwhile
Bengali colleagues had butchered a large number of West Pakistani
Officers.
As the tales of slaughter reached West Pakistani soldiers of other
Units, they reacted violently, and in the process of restoring the
authority of the Central Government, committed severe excesses on the
local Bengali population. The Report's findings accuse the Army of
carrying out senseless and wanton arson, killings in the countryside,
killing of intellectuals and professionals and burying them in mass
graves, killing of Bengali Officers and soldiers on the pretence of
quelling their rebellion, killing East Pakistani civilian officers,
businessmen and industrialists, raping a large number of East
Pakistani women as a deliberate act of revenge, retaliation and
torture, and deliberate killing of members of the Hindu minority.
Having dealt with the claim of General Niazi that he had no legal
option but to surrender, the Commission proceeded to consider whether
it was necessary for General Niazi to surrender, and whether he was
justified in surrendering at that particular juncture, for most of the
messages that emanated from the General Head Quarters were studiously
ambiguous and designed. Secondly, General Farman Ali had suggested to
him that instead of ordering surrender en masse, he should leave it to
each Divisional Commander to surrender or not, according to his own
circumstances. It was pointed out in the Report, that despite the
assurances given by the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army and the
terms of surrender, the killing of loyal East Pakistani population,
West Pakistani civilians, and civil armed forces by the Mukti Bahini
started in full swing soon after Army's surrender.
It was maintained in the Report that the defeat suffered by the armed
forces was not a result of military factors alone, but had been
brought about as the cumulative result of political, international,
moral and military factors. The political developments that took place
between 1947 and 1971, including the effects of the two Martial Law
periods, hastened the process of political and emotional isolation of
East Pakistan from West Pakistan.
The dismemberment of Pakistan was also accelerated by the role played
by the two major political parties, Awami League and the Pakistan
Peoples Party, in bringing about a situation that resulted in
postponement of the National Assembly session, scheduled to be held at
Dhaka on the March 3, 1971. The events occurring between March 1 and
25, 1971, when the Awami League had seized power from the Government,
resulting in the military action of March 25, 1971, were deplorable.
The Commission also touched upon the negotiations, which General Yahya
Khan was pretending to hold during this period with Sheikh
Mujib-ur-Rahman on the one hand, and political leaders from West
Pakistan on the other. Although he never formally declared these
negotiations to have failed, yet he secretly left Dhaka on the evening
of March 25, 1971, leaving instructions behind for military action to
be initiated as soon his plane landed at Karachi.
The Commission declared that military action could not have been
substitute for a political settlement, which was feasible once law and
order had been restored within a matter of few weeks after the
military action. No serious effort was made to start a political
dialogue with the elected representatives of the people of East
Pakistan. Instead fraudulent and useless measures were adopted. The
use of excessive force during the military action had only served to
alienate the sympathies of the people of East Pakistan. The arbitrary
methods adopted by the Martial Law Administration in dealing with
respectable citizens of East Pakistan and their sudden disappearances
made the situation worse. The attitude of the Army authorities towards
the Hindu minority also resulted in a large-scale exodus to India.
Although General Yahya Khan was not totally unaware of the avowed
intention of India to dismember Pakistan, he didn't realize the need
for early political settlement with the political leaders of East
Pakistan. There was wastage of considerable time during which the
Indians mounted their training program for the Mukti Bahini and freely
started guerillas raids into the Pakistan territory. Pakistan Army was
almost unable to prevent infiltration of Mukti Bahini and Indian
agents all along the borders of East Pakistan. In the presence of
these two factors, the Pakistan Army was obviously fighting a losing
battle from the very start.
There had been a large exodus of people from East Pakistan to India,
as a result of the military action. The results of Indian efforts to
propagate this refugee problem on an international level cannot be
undermined. The Indian propaganda was so forceful that all endeavors
made by the military regime in Pakistan to defuse the situation proved
to be futile and left the world unimpressed. The mutual assistance
treaty signed between India and the U. S. S. R. in August 1971 further
aggravated the situation.
No rational explanation was available as to why General Yahya did not
take the dispute to the Security Council immediately after the Indian
invasion of East Pakistan on November 21, 1971. Nor was it possible to
explain his refusal to accept the first Russian resolution, if indeed
the situation in East Pakistan had become so critical that surrender
was inevitable. The Army High Command did not carry out any in-depth
study of the effect of these new factors, nor did it pay any attention
to the growing disparity in war preparedness and capability between
the armed forces of Pakistan and India as a result of the Indo-Soviet
Treaty of August 1971.
The traditional concept of defense adopted by the Pakistan Army that
the defense of East Pakistan lays in West Pakistan was never
implemented in a determined and effective manner. The concept remained
valid, and if ever there was need to invoke this concept, it was on
November 21, 1971, when Indian troops crossed the East Pakistan
borders in naked aggression. Unfortunately, the delay in opening the
Western front and the half-hearted and hesitant manner in which it was
ultimately opened only helped in precipitating the catastrophe in East
Pakistan. Besides, the detailed narrative of events, as given in the
supplementary report, clearly shows that the planning was hopelessly
defective. There was neither any plan at all for the defense of Dhaka,
nor any concerted effort to stem the enemy onslaught with a Division
or a Brigade battle at any stage. It was only when the General found
himself gradually being surrounded by the enemy which had successfully
reached Faridpur, Khulna, Daudkandi and Chandpur (the shortest route
to Dhaka), that he began to make frantic efforts to get the troops
back for the defense of Dhaka.
The Report maintained that there was no actual order to surrender. In
view of the desperate picture painted by the Commander Eastern
Command, higher authorities gave him permission to surrender if he, in
his judgment, thought it necessary. General Niazi could have opted not
to surrender if he thought that he had the capability of defending
Dhaka. On his own estimate, he had 26,400 men to hold out for another
two weeks. The enemy would have taken a week to build up its forces
and another week to reduce the fortress of Dhaka. But evidence showed
that he had already lost the will to fight after December 7, 1971,
when his major fortresses at Jessore and Brahmanbari had fallen.
Detailed accounts of witnesses given to the Commission indicate that
Lt-General Niazi had suffered a complete moral collapse during the
closing phases of the war.
It had been concluded that apart from the political, international and
military factors, an important cause for defeat of the Pakistan Army
was the lack of moral character and courage in the senior Army
Commanders. The process of moral degeneration among the senior ranks
of the armed forces was set in motion by their involvement in Martial
Law duties in 1958. These tendencies were intensified when General
Yahya Khan imposed Martial Law in the country once again in March
1969. A large number of senior army officers had not only indulged in
large-scale acquisition of lands and houses and other commercial
activities, but had also adopted highly immoral and lewd ways of life,
which seriously affected their professional capabilities and their
qualities of leadership. It appears that they had lost the will to
fight and the ability to take vital and critical decisions required
for the successful prosecution of the war. These remarks particularly
applied to General Yahya Khan, his close associates, General Abdul
Hamid Khan, Major General Khuda Dad Khan and Lt-General A. A. K.
Niazi, apart from certain other officers. The Commission recommended
that these grave allegations be dealt with seriously.
The surrender in East Pakistan had been a tragic blow to the nation
and had caused, not only dismemberment of Pakistan, but also shattered
the image of Pakistan Army as an efficient and excellent fighting
force. In the end it was hoped in the Report that the Nation would
learn the necessary lessons from these tragic events, and that
effective and early action will be taken in the light of the
conclusions reached.
The Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission Report is a valuable document. It was
prepared with the explicit purpose of not repeating the various
mistakes committed by the Army, General Yahya Khan and Z. A. Bhutto,
which resulted in the separation of East Pakistan. Writings and
memoirs disclose that apart from its inquiry into the 1971 crisis, it
also makes thoughtful recommendations about the defense of the country
as a whole.

Javed Kaleem (Equality Applicant )

(Analyst, Computer Composer, Designer, Photographer, video editor,
Tourist, Self Defense Artists)
Postal Address: Shop#6, Bismillah Market Alptageen Road Pakistani
Chowk Ichhra Lahore Pakistan.
E-mail:

javed.k...@gmail.com,

Javedka...@yahoo.com

For more information

ہر قسم کی بویسیا ستدان کی غیر مُساوات جمُلا مزمن بویسیا بیماریوں اور
شیطان بار کونسل پر مبنی کئی دہائیوں پر محیط رشوت خور غیر قانونی
بھتاخوری پر مبنی تجارتی عدلیہ اور سرکاری دفاتر کی غیر قانونی بھتا خوری
رشوت خور اور غیر مُساوات جاگیر داروں مفاد پرست سرمایہ داروں کی مصنوعی
مہنگائی کا مکمل علاج مندرجہ ذیل لنک میں دستیاب ہے

http://links4equality4antibribery.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/javedkaleem

Treatment of every kind chronic disease of inequality Gayest
Politicians and industrious Judiciary base on decade long devil bar
council illegal ransom minting bribe judiciary and every kind of
official ransom minting bribery and artificial price hiking by feudal
and selfish capitalist inequality treatment is available in link below

http://links4equality4antibribery.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/javedkaleem

Social equality and free of price gratis Justice within few days.
Pakistan army friend of bribery inequality and enemy of Muhammad Ali
Jinnah Founder of Islamic equality Pakistan

چائنہ میں سرکاری دفاتر و عدلیہ میں رشوت لینے والے کی سزا موت دی جاتی ہے۔
اور پاکستان کی امریکی اغلام غیر مُساوات بویسیاستدان چوتیا شہید ایوان
قانون سازی راشی نیوز میڈیا مالکان اور اسّی فیصد عوامی بجٹ بمعہ آئی ایم
ایف کا اربوں ڈالر قرضہ کھانے والی پاکستانی فوج سرکاری دفاتر و کئی
دہائیوں پر محیط غیر قانونی بھتاخور رشوت عدلیہ اور مصنوعی مہنگائی رشوت
خور ٹریڈ یونین کی ناجائز تجاوزات کی آکاس بیل (پیلی بوُٹی) ہے۔ اور
پاکستانی غریب عوام کے لئے پاکستان غیر مُساوات کی جیل ہے۔ اور پاکستانی
فٹ پاتھ ناجائز تجاوزات کرائے پر سرعام دستیاب ہیں۔

China awards death gift for bribed Judicial and official but Pakistani
Clitoris martyred house inequality gayest legislators bribe news media
owners and 80 % Pakistani budget +IMF Loan + American inequality
program aid eater American gayest Pakistani army are developer of
artificial price hiking official judicial illegal ransom minting
bribery decade long devil bar council Judiciary inequality bribe trade
unions illegal encroachments gayest dodder. Pakistan is Hell of
inequality for the poor of Pakistan and Pakistani Foot path are
reserved for sale and rent for illegal encroachments.
معاشی مُساوات
ہر شخص بغیر ملازم رکھے اپنی ضرورت کے
مطابق بنیادی حق لے گا ۔ ہر کوئی برابر ہے
رشوت لینے والوں کو مفت انصاف سے چین
میں رشوت لینے والوں کو دی جانے والی سزا
موت دی جائے۔
Social Equality
From each according to his abilities needs
(without having any servants). Each and
everyone is equal. Punishment for bribe
taker award with death under china
anti-bribery Law with gratis Justice.

معاشی مُساوات و چند یوم میں مُفت سماجھی انصاف
ہر شخص اپنی قابلیت کی بنیاد پر بغیر اپنے پاس ملازم رکھے پر شخص اپنی
ضرورت کے مطابق اپنا بنیادی حق بغیر ذاتی ملازم رکھے لے گا۔ زرعی اور
رہائشی زمین ہر شخص کو اتنی دی ملے جتنی وہ بغیر ملازم رکھے خود کام میں
لے آسکے۔ ایک شخص دوسرے شخص سے وقار حیثیت میں برابر ہے۔ چونکہ ریاست کی
ذمہ داری ملک کے شہریوں کی جان و مال کی حفاظت کرنا ہے لہذا ہر شخص کو
چند یوم میں مفت سماجھی انصاف دیا جانا چاہیے۔ سرکاری دفاتر و عدلیہ کی
غیر قانونی بھتاخوری کرنے والوں کو تبادلوں کی ٹھنڈی میٹھی سزا کی بجائے
سزائے موت دی جانی چاہیے
جیسا کہ چین میں رشوت لینے والوں کی سزائے موت دی جاتی ہے

Social Equality
From each according to his abilities needs (without having any
servants). Each and every one is equal. Punishment for bribe taker
should be award with death sentences under china anti-bribery Law with
gratis Justice.

Social Equality
From each according to his abilities (without having any servants), to
each according to his needs without having any servants. Agricultural
or residential land should be allotted to the extent, which a person
can manage, by himself without having any servants. Each and every one
is equal. Then now be happy in Social equality and eradication of
official ransom minter and bribe taker and artificial price hiking
with free of price social judiciary system which gives Justice within
a few days. Punishment for official ransom minter and bribe taker and
artificial price hiking (white collar crime) should be award with
death sentences under china anti-bribery Law.
social equality and free of price gratis Justice within few days
instead of giving artificial price hiking by selfish fudal capitalist
decade long justice by devil bar council with illegal ransom minting
bribe taking of court and offices of Pakistan.
It is very sad affair of state bank of Pakistan and pain full for me
that 100 percent of Pakistani print media and electronic media
administrators are true enemy of ideology of Pakistan based on as
stated In the inauguration of the state Bank on 1st July, 1948 the
Founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam said:
"The economic system of West was creating unsolvable problems and had
failed to do justice with the people. We have to present an economic
system which should be based on the equality as enunciated by Islam
and social justice".
100 percent of Pakistani print media and electronic media
administrators are hard bribed by feudalism and capitalism responsible
for artificial price hiking and they are hard enemy of free of price
Justice within few days so their wishes are instead of giving free and
speedy justice system in a few days like of Saudi Arabia and actually
impose (I.M.F) and industrious judiciary type of illegal ransom
minting deliberately in Pakistan and fruit full word equality they
cant write or recite the word equality during their job so they are
hard silent over illegal ransom minting of courts offices since
Pakistan came in to being, so it is requested to foreign respected
Journalists if possible they will become the real voice of Humanity
and deliver the Sad Story of Poor downtrodden Patriotic People of the
world to the Corridors of Power of the World.

ترک شراب کروں گا تو زاہد توڑوں گا تیرے سر پر پیالہ شراب کا
تیری غیر مُساوات کی آنکھ میں ڈال دوں گا سرمہ مُساوات کا

It is a sad state of affair that some Islamic inequality Scholars say
that a person is entitled to own as much land as he can manage full
stop and they somehow forget to mention that as much land as he can
manage by himself without having any servants. It is strange that by
what intention they do not mention the underline words, which is a
clear antithesis to Islamic concept of social equality.

Punishment for bribe (white collar crime) should be equal to
Punishment of kidnapping for ransom.

Each time when I mail my work it is final from my side, but in the
mean while some thing important sprung up and I have to rethink, and
rewrite with the hope that we may come up with some solution and that
my country would prosper by leaps and bounds. And in this regard I
apologize if I mail you my work frequently.

Then now be happy in Social Equality and eradication of illegal ransom
minting and bribe taking in government offices and courts and
artificial price hiking by feudalism and capitalists by IMF is
remove with free of price social judiciary system in Pakistan which
gives Justice within a few days is the key to Peace and harmony among
human beings.
Societies who believe and act upon the Principle of Social Equality
and eradication of official illegal ransom minter and bribe taker and
artificial price hiking minting with free of price social judiciary
system which gives Justice within a few days reap the true fruits of
peace and harmony. The Fruit of Social Equality and eradication of
official illegal ransom minter and bribe taker and artificial price
hiking minting with free of price social judiciary system which gives
Justice within a few days includes the eradication of official
illegal ransom minter and bribe taker and artificial price hiking and
many other social evils.

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یکم جولائی 1948ءکو قائد اعظم بانی پاکستان نے سٹیٹ بینک کا افتتاح کرتے
ہوئے فرمایامغرب کا معاشی نظام انسانیت کے لئے ناقابل حل مسائل پیدا
کررہا ہے اور یہ لوگوں کے درمیان مفت انصاف کرنے میں ناکام رہاہے۔ہمیں
دنیا کے سامنے ایک ایسا معاشی نظام پیش کرنا چاہیے جو اسلام کے صحیح تصور
مساوات اور مفت سماجھی انصاف کے اصولوں پر مبنی ہو)۔
In the inauguration of the state Bank on 1st July, 1948 the Founder of
Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam said:
"The economic system of West was creating unsolvable problems and had
failed to do justice with the people. We have to present an economic
system which should be based on the equality as enunciated by Islam
and social justice".
مذکورہ تقریر کے بعد بانی پاکستان قائد اعظم کی صحت غیر متوقع تیزی سے
گرنا شروع ہوگئی ،مذکور تقریر کے ستر دنوں بعد 11 ستمبر 1948ءکو جہان
فانی سے کوچ فرما گئے۔
After the delivery of above mentioned speech the health of
Quaid-e-Azam started to deteriorate very fast unexpectedly and after
70 days of above mentioned speech on 11 September 1948 the Quaid
departed from this world.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah speech 1948 inauguration of State Bank Pakistan
voice of Islamic social equality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03Bo9JyUVyo
Very Happy news for Pakistani Poors that 1948 Real voice of Islamic
social equality Jinnah Founder Inauguration of State Bank of Pakistan
video file is now available

بہت پاکستانی Poors کے لئے مبارک ہو خبر ہے کہ 1948 ء میں اسلامی ریاست
پاکستان ویڈیو فائل کی بینک کی سماجی مساوات جناح بانی کا افتتاح کی اصلی
آواز اب بھی دستیاب ہے
1948 محمد علی جناح بانی ریاست پاکستان اصلی بینک کا افتتاح اسلامی سماجی
برابری کی آواز

Mohammad Ali Jinnah speech Chittagong March 1948 real voice of Islamic
social equality of Pakistan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NImNo91dfs