(By: Abdul Basit Alvi)
Sakoot e Dhaka is a miserable story for Pakistanis as one part of the country was separated from other. Few people immediately blame Pak Army for this tragedy without looking into details which is quite unfair. There were many factors behind Sakoot e Dhaka which should be considered before putting baseless allegations against Pak Army.
Addressing the Defense and Martyrs Day ceremony at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, the Ex Army Chief of Pakistan General Qamar Javed Bajwa also explained some real facts about it. Commenting on the Dhaka debacle in 1971, the army chief said he intended to discuss the topic that people usually avoid, which related to the performance of army in the former East Pakistan in 1971. “I want to rectify some facts here… the East Pakistan crisis was not a military but a political failure,” he said.
“The number of fighting soldiers was not 92,000, rather only 34,000, the rest were from various government departments,” he explained. “Those 34,000 people had been confronting 250,000 Indian Army soldiers, and 200,000 trained Mukti Bahini but still they fought valiantly despite all odds,” he added.
“They offered unprecedented sacrifices, which was acknowledged by former Indian army chief Field Marshal Manekshaw himself. The sacrifices of these brave Ghazis (war veterans) and martyrs were not duly acknowledged by the nation till date, which is a huge injustice.”
Readers, it’s an unfair aspect of 1947’s partition wherein there was a gap of thousands miles between eastern and western parts of Pakistan and one have to cross thousands miles of enemy territory to reach in the other part. Both air and maritime contact could be blocked by India at any time. This unique geographical position could pose a grave threat to the integrity of the country. With the exception of religion and common struggle for independence, there was practically nothing common between the two wings of the country. Geographical separation was the base for together differences i.e. racial identity, language, habits of life and culture. East Pakistan was only one-seventh of the total area of the country but its population exceeded the total population of all other provinces and states of West Pakistan. In West Pakistan, people spoke different languages but there was a consensus on Urdu as their common Language. In East Pakistan, Bengali was the common language but also a symbol of Bengali nationalism and pride.
Moreover, unlike West Pakistan which was predominantly Muslims, East Pakistan had important non-Muslims minorities, particularly Hindus who largely controlled the economy and education of the eastern wing. The Hindu teachers played a vital role in poisoning the Bengali youth against West Pakistan, prescribing textbooks that contained material against the ideology of Pakistan. The photographs of Gandhi and Nehru were reportedly displayed on the walls in many educational institutions instead of Quaid e Azam.
The Leadership in West Pakistan mainly came from the landlords while in eastern wing was from professionals like lawyers, teachers and retired government officials. The people in the eastern wing were, therefore, more conscious about political matters and well aware of their rights compared to the people in the western wing who had been living in a society dominated by the feudal lords and the tribal chiefs.
Awami league which was a large political party presented six point- demands which were; A directly elected government, The Federal government to control defense and foreign policy. All other decisions to be made at provincial level, Separate Currencies and/for financial policies for East and West Pakistan, The provinces to tax their people and send a share to the federal government. The federal government not to tax people, Each province to set up its own trade agreements with other countries and to control money spent/made through this trade. Each Province to have its own troops.
The main parties in the elections for the National Assembly were the Pakistan People Party (PPP) led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, which was based in West Pakistan and the Awami Muslim League, led by Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman which was based in East Pakistan. The Awami League as able to win support by proposing a programme which according to them called for a fairer share of government spending and more power to the provinces. The Awami League won their huge victory by campaigning on the basis on the six points.
The election resulted in a stunning victory for the Awami League.162 of the 300 seats in the election were allocated to East Pakistan. The Awami League won 160 seats which gave them a majority in the Assembly. The PPP won just 81 seats of the 138 seats in the West Pakistan. The Awami League had contested the election on a manifesto for East Pakistan. The League would have a majority in the National Assembly.
The Awami League had won such a large number of seats that it now had a majority not only in East Pakistan, but also in the National Assembly as a whole. This meant that it was in a position to form the government on its own. In theory, the future Prime Minister and the entire cabinet could come from East Pakistan. Although the PPP had won an overwhelming victory in West Pakistan (in terms of number of seats), it was quite possible for it to have no role in the government unless the Awami League invited it to share power.
The second problem was that the Awami League had won the election on a programme limiting the power of central government over the provinces. The call for the provinces to have control of their foreign exchange earned from trade would greatly reduce the funds available to the central government in West Pakistan.
Readers, No doubt the six point-demands from Awami league were quite unfair but again these were political parties which failed to come on a conclusion by dialogue. The lack of acceptance to other and rejecting the mandate of majority were the main reasons behind this tragedy. This separation was resulted due to many factors, few of which have been discussed above. To blame Pak Army for it is not justified and is a baseless propaganda from Anti State elements.