History Is Easy U Need To Read It

3/30/2009 10:06:14 PM 3/30/2009

::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Home - Back Issues - The Team - Contact Us

Volume 8 Issue 63 | March 27, 2009 | Letters Voic ebox Chintito Cover Story Remembranc e Sc ienc e One Off Food for Thought Art Musings Theatre Music Film Review Star Diary Book Review Write to Mita Post Sc ript SWM Home

Chintito

History is easy, just study Chintito It is a churlish fact that the history of the W ar of Liberatio n 1971 and facts leading up to our most prized nationa l achievem ent ever have bee n officially disto rted over the decades, and sham elessly so by vested quarters only for their m ere political survival. Thankfully, even a child und erstands tha t. There are those few who say that eve rything the pure Bangalee say is not true. ‘Onek gap achhey,’ the y utter, possibly with the sam e hope of a retreating terrorist bursting a ca niste r of sm okescreen to run away from reality and the people. It is easy to sieve out the heroes and m artyrs from the villains of this country without relying at all on the present p ack of liars, few though they m ay be. They rem ind one of the murderer, who unde r oath told the judge tha t as he was checking the sharpness o f the knife, his wife cam e and fe ll on it. ‘She used to freque ntly do such things, Your Ho nour, but the last tim e she was not so lucky’, he sob bed while wiping a te ar from som ewhere.

suffe r for 24 years, from 1947:

The facts are in the pa st. T he facts are availab le in o ur lo cal a nd international ne wspap ers of 1970-71, and ea rlie r, and in official governm ent d ocum ents of m any countries, including India, Pak istan and the USA. Som e of these docum ents are also availab le on the net. Search for them . Le t m e give you som e excerpts from do cum ents pre pared b y P akistan, our sworn enemy then, on how unfa ir a de al we had to

In those days it wa s ille gal to carry gold from W est Pakistan to East Pakistan, but le gal from East to W est. And they called it one country! W hy! Throug hout March all the TV channels here have b een running d aily docum entaries on the W ar, original b/w fo ota ges, for the world to see. See them . Arrang e special screening of those scene s e ven when it is not Ma rch. The to ol of our strug gle for self em ancipation was Awam i Leag ue presid ent She ik h Mujibur Rahma n’s sixpoint program me (Choy Dafa), delivered on Ma rch 23, 1966, five yea rs before o ur independence. The points calle d for Pak istan to b e a Fed era tion (of two wings, that is East Pakistan and W est Pa kista n) base d on the La hore Re solution (o f two na tions) with the Fe dera l governm ent dealing with only d efe nce and fo reign affairs, two separate currencie s for the two wings, or one currency with constitutional pro visio n for stopping flight of currency from East (Banglade sh) to W est Pakistan, se parate power of taxatio n a nd re venue collection fo r the two wings, se parate accounts for fo reign exchange ea rnings, and a militia or a param ilitary force for East Pakistan. The Sheikh practically took responsibility of liberating the

thedailystar.net/…/chintito.htm

Page 1 of 2

1/2

3/30/2009 10:06:14 PM 3/30/2009

::: Star Weekend Magazine ::: The Sheikh practically took responsibility of liberating the peop le of this country fro m then on. The struggle was lo ng and arduous, and m eant years in ja il for the gre ate st Bang ale e that e ver lived. The pe ople thronged to his m eetings, waite d for his instructions, and obeyed the m with the ex pectatio n of getting closer to having a free country of their o wn. O n Janua ry 18, 1969 cam e the 11-po int p rog ram m e of the Centra l Students Actio n Co mm ittee base d in Dhaka University. Am ong other m atters they called for to tal autonom y fo r East Pakistan, form atio n o f a fede ratio n, and re lea se of all political prisoners (including Sheikh Mujibur Rahm an) d etained under the Agartala Case . The co mbined pe ople-stude nt m ovem ent, given im petus by the m artyrdom of Md. Asaduzzam an Asad (of Asa d Ga te fa me) Janua ry 20, 1969 near Chand Khar P ool and o thers, le d to the rele ase of Mujib fro m jail February 23, 1969. O n that day at a rally at Ram na Race Course (Suhrawa rdhy Udya n since ind epend ence ) the peo ple ga rlande d Sheik h Mujib with the title Banga bandhu. Eve n a s Awam i Lea gue la unched its e le ction ca mp aig n o n 7 June 1970 from Ram na Race Course, ‘the Sheik h repea ted ly held out the a ssurance that Islam was in no danger on the sacred so il of Pakistan’. (T he Dawn, Ka rachi). And look how he has bee n labelled by the enem ies of Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announces Six Points in Lahore-- February 5, 1966. Photo: w w w .genocidebangladesh

In his spee ch at Jo ydebp ur, Bangab andhu ‘called upon the peop le to rem ain prepa red to join a m ass m oveme nt which he threatened to launch if the ve ste d intere sts consp ired against the “p eople’s victory” after the general elections’. (The Peop le, Dacca, 1 Nove mbe r 1970)

At Bha nga on Nove mbe r 12, 1970, Bangabandhu declared that the ne xt (1970) elections was the la st cha nce fo r Beng ale es. (The People, Da cca ) O n 12-13 No vem ber there was a d evastating cyclone a nd tidal wa ve in the coastal are as of greate r Barisal, Patuakha li and Khulna districts. O ne m illion pe ople d ied . The gove rnm ent of Pakistan le nt little or no supp ort to the survivors (25% of the popula tion in so me areas), prom pting Bang aband hu to declare on Nove mb er 26, 1970 for full autono my for Bang la Desh, as it was then spelt in the m edia. In the P akista n Nationa l Assemb ly Elections, Banga bandhu’s Awam i Lea gue won 167 sea ts out o f 313. In the East Pa kistan provincial asse mb ly elections Awa mi League wo n 298 seats out of 310. W hen it b ecam e clear that East Pa kista n (nam e was cha nged....) would a ttain full autonom y, P akistan Peop le’s Party leade r Z A Bhutto (fathe r of Benazir) op posed and b roug ht out the re d he rring o f boycotting the yet-to-sit parliam ent. W hile app are ntly discussing the issue for two weeks with Bangab andhu Pak istan re inforced its m ilitary personnel and eq uip ment in Ba ngla De sh. O n the night of March 25, 1971, the ruthless Pa kista n Arm y launche d o n the unarm ed Bangalee the m ost heinous and cowardly military a ction in history, killing tho usands, including Muslims (I say this especially beca use the Pa kista nis then pride d in calling them selve s Muslim s). All these events are well docume nte d in lo cal a nd international newspape rs and perio dicals. O ve r the following nine m onths, we lost three million souls, including child ren. Thousands of our mothers and sisters we re re ndered chaste . Countle ss were m aim ed. A nation had to sacrifice that m uch to ha ve a land of its o wn, to speak in their m other to ngue. T oday we do. W e m ust understand how dangero us and suicidal the m isrep resentation of historical facts is ho wever insignificantly done, for o ne d ay the lie s m ay attain such a p ile as to be able to hide the truth; already they have ca st a shad ow on o ur glowing sun. But the o minous clo uds sha ll clear.

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2009

thedailystar.net/…/chintito.htm

Page 2 of 2

2/2