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The Unspoken Histories series focuses on the events of the Bengali Genocide that took place in East Pakistan in 1971. The host acknowledges the lack of awareness and discussion surrounding this tragedy within the South Asian community. The social climate in East Pakistan was tense, with tensions between the Muslim majority in West Pakistan and the Bengali Muslims and Hindus in the East. The rise of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League led to conflict and eventually genocide. The host emphasizes the importance of understanding and acknowledging this history to prevent ignorance and repetition. The podcast discusses the factors leading to the conflict, such as the geographical, cultural, and religious divides, as well as the mistreatment of East Pakistan by West Pakistan. The host highlights the brutality of the genocide, with estimates ranging from 500,000 to 3 million deaths, and widespread rape. Eyewitness testimonies reveal the gruesome nature of the attacks and the psychologic ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Hello, everybody, and welcome to my new series that goes by the name of Unspoken Histories. In the following three episodes, we will be talking about the events which took place in East Pakistan in 1971. Now, as someone part of the South Asian community, I can say quite frankly shamefully that prior to this podcast, I had a huge lack of awareness on these events. For a genocide which can't even be said to be a century old, there is a huge lack of speech and comprehension around this event, especially in the South Asian community. Now, we can say it's out of embarrassment or a lack of education would even be viable, had it not been an event so recent that not only our grandparents could know about this, but also, in some cases, our parents. I hope that I can shed some light on this topic as reading some of the eyewitness testimonies and stories, I can't help but feel sorrow and sadness at the events which are hidden and the voices which are muted, both at the time and in current day where this conflict is unheard of and unspoken of. Now, with this podcast, I really hope that I can shed some light and create some understanding and sympathy for the individuals who are affected by this conflict and hopefully begin a conversation within the South Asian and the wider community on this tragedy to ensure that ignorance within our community, such as in this case, is never repeated. The social climate in East Pakistan in 1971 was full of tension. West Pakistan and its rich resorts and wealth was home to the Pakistani Muslim majority, whereas the East of Pakistan consisted of majority Bengali Muslims and Bengali Hindus. There has always been a history of tensions between the religious groups of pre-partition British India and in 1971, an individual named Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League, his respective party, had risen to popularity and won the election of that year in East Pakistan. This did not sit well with their Western counterparts and it laid the foundation for a brutal conflict and genocide which I hope to expand on within this podcast. To me, this topic is a fundamental and key part of our community's history as many of my friends and I, as part of the South Asian community, have witnessed isolation and separation between the different ethnicities and cultures around us. The Bengali genocide has clearly made an impact on the community and continues to till this day, as I and many others have witnessed families completely isolated and refusing to meddle in any culture other than their own. We have witnessed and heard individuals and elders of Bengali origin openly convey a dislike for any individual of Pakistani origin and vice versa, purely due to this experience in history. The cultural and linguistic divide already identifies the separation between the cultures. However, this genocide not only amplified this but further destroyed the connections and similarities which could have brought the cultures together. The importance of this is both ownership of our own community's history as Pakistanis and further to emphasize and ensure that Bengali voices are identified now, even if they weren't in the past. Now, we'll begin with the partition. For many of us in the South Asian community, this is not uncommon knowledge. For many of us, we have grandparents and great-grandparents who would have witnessed in some way, shape or form the effects of this event which took place in 1947. During the partition, we saw a line drawn between India and its now Muslim counterpart, Pakistan. One thing they didn't take into consideration was the Bengali population and the fact there were two chunks of land separated by more than 1,000 miles of Indian territory. While there was still a large Muslim population, there also remained a large Hindu community which was bound to cause conflict due to prior tensions and the views held by West Pakistan. In pre-partition India, there was already a large-scale conflict and tensions between Hindus, the majority, Muslims and Sikhs. Post-partition, the divide between Muslims in Pakistan and non-Muslims became even more strained. To begin with, it's important to understand the conditions which pushed this conflict to its peak. The geographical divide was not the only thing separating East and West Pakistan. There were differences in languages, cultural attire and religious and political tensions. West Pakistanis consistently looked down on East Pakistanis as their emperors, both culturally and ethnically. This, to me, makes no sense as, although there are differences in culture, it seems to me that we are almost cut from the same cloth in terms of origins. This power conflict indicates cultural superiority and an abuse of power. In the severe Bhola cyclone of 1970 which affected eastern Bangladesh, West Pakistan did little to aid those who were in need. In the words of the French journalist Paul Dreyfus, over the years, West Pakistan behaved like a poorly-raised, egotistical guest, devouring the best dishes and leaving nothing but scraps and leftovers for East Pakistan. We can understand from the severity of this statement that West Pakistan paid no heed to the needs of East Pakistan and with a natural disaster as large as this, it created even lower tensions for the later events which unfolded. In 1970, West Pakistan announced that the first election would be held. They gained independence. The President and Chief Martial Law Administrator, by the name of General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, placed limitations on the freedom of vote. Political corruption in the name of West Pakistan's integrity meant sacrificing the freedom and voting rights of those within East Pakistan. Unknown to them at the time, these restrictions and limitations did not stop Shajbir Rahman and the Awami League as they came out as victors with a majority of 162 seats to their party that year. To make matters worse for West Pakistan, the Awami League and Sheikh Rahman's ideals were all rooted in one main belief, autonomy for Bangladesh. General Yahya Khan was unsurprisingly in shock and dismay at the results. He delayed the first assembly meeting and then put martial law into action. Now both of these actions did nothing but further intensify the already stressed relationship between East and West. In retaliation to these actions by General Yahya Khan, the state called for a civil disobedience movement, rightly, on March 7th, 1971, leading to strikes and riots erupting all across the country. This did not sit well with General Yahya Khan and although they met to discuss these issues, on the night of March 25th, 1971, Sheikh Shajbir Rahman was arrested. This began the downward spiral that was the Bengali Genocide of 1971. Welcome back to Unspoken History. Firstly, I want to put in a trigger warning for some of the content that may accommodate in this episode. While I understand that this may be distressing for some, it is vital that we can comprehend and understand the harsh reality for those who experienced the bleak night of March 25th, 1971 and onwards. After the Sheikh was arrested, 60,000 to 80,000 West Pakistani soldiers, who had both infiltrated and been planning the operation for months, began to attack. This began the massacre and genocide that was known as Operation Searchlight. Estimate numbers range from 500,000 to 3 million when it comes to the death toll. The numbers which were estimated in the cases of rape was no less, with estimates of 200,000 to 400,000 being estimated to be too low. The brutal force and premeditated nature of the attacks unfolded was horrific. Not only a target list was made, it was also not kept to. Civilians, intellectuals and activist Bengalis were murdered along with troops, members of the Army League and their supporters. The premeditated nature is evident in President Yahya Khan's statement in a meeting on February 22nd, 1971. It was suggested that we eliminate 3 million of them and the remainder would be subservient to us. I think this does well to determine that it was in fact intentional and blatant genocide of the Bengali population. To understand the horror further, of 10 million Bengalis who fled to India, there is an estimate of around 200,000 women who were also raped along the journey. Not only were they attacked in their homes, but they were also attacked when they attempted to seek refuge in another country. To see the true reality of the events which unfolded, an author by the name of Ronak Jahan wrote a chapter, chapter 7, Genocide in Bangladesh to be more specific, within the book Century of Genocide, which includes a collection of eyewitness accounts made by a diverse range of individuals who experienced and lived through the horrors of 1971. The first eyewitness account tells us about the testimony from Amita Khan's The Year of the Vulture, 1972. One thing to bear in mind is just how early this account was recorded. The witness speaks of a professor by the name of Professor Nourul Allah, who lived nearby Jagannath Hall in Dhaka University, and had a window whereby he could see the halls where students and members of the university lived. He speaks of the view he had of bodies laid down in neat orderly rows by those forced to carry them at gunpoint. He talks of how university members were made to carry dead corpses of their colleagues and classmates, and then made to line up themselves. He states, This action was repeated, and the witness tells of up to 50 bodies which were piled up on top of one another, some piled on top of the very corpses they had to carry out at gunpoint. The psychological and physical torture which the university students would have had to face is something further than can be understood. The ruthless and merciless actions of the Pakistani army truly identify as the result of a culturally superior mindset, along with placing the wrong individuals in power. The next account is one from M. Atul Zaman Mondoor's Amar Demabond, in translation, Our Mothers and Sisters, in 1971. Now, it's from a book named Bayabaha Abi Nata, 1996. The witness tells of how they, along with many others, decided on November 11th, 1971, that they would take action to liberate the area of Virunga Marwari. With the help of the Indian air forces, there was a silence by November 14th, 1971. The witness tells of how they captured 50-60 Pakistani soldiers, and furthermore, how their captain, Atullah Khan, was laying dead in a bunker. In quotation, He still had his arms around a woman. The woman had marks of torture all over her body. We put her in a grave. The eyewitness then says that even with this, he could not prepare himself or guess what he would see next. As they were told, they went on to the circle officer's office, and there, he said, we found four naked young women who had been physically tortured, raped and battered by Pakistani soldiers. We immediately came out of the room and threw in four lungis, dresses. The inhumane treatment of these women by that circle officer indicates what those in higher-ranking positions were doing in the dark. The physical, mental and emotional trauma which would have been left with these women was so severe that even when the witness says he tried to talk to them, he says he could not, as all of them were still in shock. The girls were sent to India for medical treatment, and the witness tells of how we found many dead bodies and skeletons in the bushes along the road. Many of the skeletons had long hair and had on torn saris and bangles on their hands. The skeletal remains of the bodies is a fearful vision, as it indicates not only all the trauma which women in 1971 had to endure, but also the severe lack of care and aid which could be given to those women who were facing these traumas. There was nowhere to run or hide, and it is clear that these women were left dead without remorse or reason. This reflects not only the soldiers' treatment of Bengalis, but more specifically the sexual abuse and torture which Bengali women and girls had to face. In Episode 3, we will talk more about the Pakistani Army's understanding of these heinous actions, as well as their views and poor reasoning for the soldiers' horrific actions within East Pakistan. The final account, the Mulvi story, is a testimony which again appears in Amita Malik's The Year of the Vulture. This eyewitness account does well to highlight the sheer reasonless and merciless killings by the Pakistani soldiers. In the testimony, the witness tells of how Pakistani soldiers asked him for the mother and father of the Sheikh's house. When they came to it, they called the Sheikh's father out and made him sit on the floor, even though a chair was brought out for him. Although the parents were old, the soldiers paid no heed to this again. They repeated to the Mulvi, Imam of the mosque, and Sheikh's father, When the Mulvi, the eyewitness, asked why they would kill the father, an innocent and old man, they responded with a disturbing reply, Or in translation, This is why, because he had produced a devil. The most shocking thing around this is the act of killing innocents, and then turning to say that the point of this killing was due to the innocents supposedly producing the devil. This sounds much too contradictory for me, and demonstrates just how delusional and in denial these soldiers were of the wrongs and horrors which they committed. In addition to this, the eyewitness tells of a total of six innocent boys who were shot by the Pakistani army without any provocation. They were all good looking, and therefore suspected to be relatives of the Sheikh. The supposed justification that they were related to the Sheikh, and the identification being purely through looks, indicates the hatred and spitefulness which the soldiers had within them. Lastly, the soldiers did not allow for proper burials, as they wanted the bodies exposed to public view to terrorise the villagers. This indicates the psychological trauma and torture which the bodies were put through. The soldiers wanted to cause horror and terror for those innocents who they wrongfully murdered and abused, based on their own false beliefs and stereotypes. These eyewitness accounts tell the vivid stories which are unfortunately for some, a not so distant memory from around 60 years ago. I say this because I myself can't fathom how a genocide so recent and so devastating is not only unheard of within the South Asian community, but also generally. I hope you can understand why these stories need to be heard. My aim with this podcast was not only to raise awareness, but allow us to understand why it's important to look deeper into our community's histories. Hi everyone, and welcome back to the third and final part in this series for Unspoken Histories. We will be continuing on from Part 2, where we looked at March 25th, 1971, and eyewitness accounts from Operation Searchlight. In this final part, we're going to look at the Hamidur Rahman Commission Report, a report created in 1972 and then 1974 after the release of those war prisoners who were being held in India after the Pakistani army's defeat. To begin with, it's fundamental to understand the purpose of the report. In the first few pages of the text, it is clearly written and repeated several times that the report is a further inquiry should be held in the circumstances which led to the surrender in East Pakistan. This immediately demonstrates not only a lack of remorse, but also a demonstration of West Pakistan's unintelligible questioning of why there was a surrender in December of 1971. The report then goes on to speak of the genocide and massacres as war. This word is consistently used. The reason why I stress this word is because we have seen many genocides being covered up and deterred in terms of awareness due to the neutral nature of the word war. In my opinion, the events which unfolded in East Pakistan was not that of war, but genocide. The poor justification for the actions of the soldiers is claimed to be, in the Commissioner Report's words, due to conflicts arising out of the performance of martial law duties. Lust for wine and women and greed for land and houses meant a large number of female officers not only lost the will to fight, but also the professional competence necessary for them to be taken to very critical decisions demanded of them for the successful prosecution of war. Now, put this into perspective. Pakistan, being an Islamic country, should have been following the Islamic laws of war. These laws include not only that no woman should be touched or involved, but also condemns the intentional and unnecessary murder of any individual who is not directly attacking soldiers. For example, civilians, intellectuals and anyone who is not involved in war directly. From this, it is astounding that the actions taken by soldiers are justified by an Islamic government as down to a loss of will to fight and blamed on the retaliation which the Bengalis took in response to the harsh martial laws wrongfully instituted after the success of the army league within politics. Again, the report repeats, the moral degeneration among the senior ranks of the armed forces was set in motion by their involvement in martial law duties in 1958. The next line is one that discussed me as an individual and as a woman more specifically. It writes that, continuing on, these martial law duties and tendencies reappeared and were in fact when martial law was imposed in the country once again in 1969. The wrongful justification of the actions of these soldiers and attempting to blame senseless killings and rapes on martial law duties seems to be too far of a stretch to me. I believe that within a formal commission report such as this one, especially one from the Pakistani government, goes to show the lengths that the perpetrators went to to justify and cover their army's own actions. I believe that this is one of the key reasons for why the South Asian and wider community lacks awareness of the case. I believe it is important to take ownership of a community's actions, even if it is part of their history. In this case, I don't know whether we can call it history as much as recent events. This brings us to the end of the series on the Bengali genocide of 1971. I really hope that this series is of some importance to you. I believe that in the current day and age, the global conflict which continues, it is important to pay attention to and raise awareness on those subjects which we believe in and offer our voices where others may be excluded. Now this sums up this discussion, but I hope this gives you something to think about. Do subscribe to this podcast and I hope you tune in again soon for unforeseen issues. This has been Ayesha Arashid on the genocide of Bangladesh, the hidden war of 1971.
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