Wasim Abbas/Islamabad

Rudad Khan, the author of several books, says that he had seen the rise of Bangladesh when he was a high-ranking government official in Pakistan. He had direct meetings with key figures involved in the idea of Bangladesh. He said when the military operation in Dhaka started in March 1971, he was in East Pakistan. People were very upset. The hate towards Pakistan had reached its peak.

Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujib, Pakistan Peoples’ Party leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and President General Yahya Khan are responsible for the breakup of Pakistan. All three were against a unified Pakistan for their respective reasons.

1971 War: Pakistani Perspective 

Bhutto did not want to give power to Sheikh Mujhibur Rehman, whose Awami League had won the 1970 General elections, and become the leader of the opposition. General Yahya Khan feared that if the power of a united Pakistan was handed over to Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the army headquarters would be shifted to Dhaka. The institution's control in West Pakistan will end.

Before the 1970 elections, Rudad Khan was the Secretary in the Ministry of Information of Pakistan; he headed the Radio Pakistan and PTV.

He said that before the election, President General Yahya Khan had asked him to allow all the leaders of all political parties to address the people on the state radio and TV. Each leader was given half an hour for his address on Radio and TV.

According to him, "When I reached there, Sheikh Mujib had the scrip of his speech ready. During his address, he referred to East Pakistan as Bangladesh several times. When he was asked to call it East Pakistan on the state media, he said that I would call it Bangladesh. I contacted the top leadership in Rawalpindi; informed him that he had mentioned Bangladesh (in his address) on radio and TV.”

According to Rudad Khan, if Pakistan was to be saved, a military operation should have been launched before the 1970 general election. After the unprecedented electoral victory, Sheikh Mujib's vision had changed. He started talking about Bangladesh openly. Things seemed to have gone too far and not even a military operation could save Pakistan.

In his view, if there had been military action before the election, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman could have been persuaded to go with a united Pakistan.

According to Rudad Khan, when Bangladesh was formed on 16 December 1971 and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a ceasefire, he met General Yahya. He told them that Pakistan is in a very difficult military situation in East Pakistan. You teach India a lesson from West Pakistan. He asked the General why he agreed to a ceasefire. The reply given by President Yahya shocked him.

President Yahya said to me, "Why should we put West Pakistan in danger for these black Bengalis?" Former Secretary of Defense Lt Gen (Retd) Naeem Khalid Lodhi says that our mistakes are also responsible for Dhaka's downfall. According to him, India by training Bengalis formed a guerrilla force and used it against Pakistan.

According to him, the 1971 India-Pakistan war wasn’t a 13-day affair. India had started operations in April. In August, the regular attacks began. So he believes it was a prolonged war.

He claims that 90,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendering before the Indian Army and thousands of rape allegedly committed by the Pakistani Army was gross exaggerations.

According to General Naeem Khalid, the fall of Dhaka is a stigma on both our military and political leadership. If there are two equal parts of a country and there is a distance of a thousand miles between the enemy, then these are two parts.

According to General Naeem Khalid Lodhi, if Bangladesh has made more progress, then we should also see that there is a lot of difference between us and their position.

(The write up is translated from Urdu News blog)