(Derived from the book on 1971, by former Ambassador Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi)
Pakistan does not have any issues outstanding with Bangladesh. Bangladesh has outstanding issues with Pakistan when Awami League (under Sheikh Hasina) is in power. The Awami League government insists, without the resolution of these issues, there cannot be forward movement in the relations with Pakistan.
Foremost is the demand that Pakistan
must FORMALLY APOLOGISE for what Awami League alleges, is the “genocide” of “3 million” Bengalis and rape of “200,000” Bengali women by the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan in 1971.
Intrinsically linked to the issue of apology, is their demand that Pakistan pay REPARATIONS in respect of the above ‘atrocities.’
By international standards, if US $ 5000 to 10,000 per person is to be paid for an excess committed against one (person), multiplying this figure with 3 million plus, would total billions of dollars. May be, Pakistan would be required to pay $ 30 billion as ‘war reparations’ to Bangladesh in respect of 1971.
In the recent past, UN Security Council Resolution 687 declared Iraq’s financial liability for the damages caused to Kuwait during the Gulf War. Later, Iraq was constrained to accept making payment of compensation claims worth $ 52.4 billion for around 1.5 million war reparation petitions. (As of 2 March 2021, Iraq has made payments to the tune of $ 49.5 billion.)
While a number of impartial analysts (Bengali, Indian and in the West) have seriously contested the veracity of the figures of 3 million killed and 200,000 women raped, questioning these statistics in Bangladesh today tantamounts to treason against the state and its very creation in 1971.
Questions have been asked as to how could 34,000 or so Pakistani troops in East Pakistan in 1971, have committed crimes of such magnitude as claimed by the Awami League leadership! Were these 34000, fighting a war against 400,000 plus troops of Indian Army aided by India-trained Mukti Bahini, or killing and raping their own countrymen in East Pakistan, that too in the month of Ramadan which fell in October/ November 1971!
The third demand (after apology and war reparations) that Awami League government has consistently raised with Pakistan during bilateral interactions, relates to the DIVISION of ASSETS. (Meaning, if Pakistan Army had 10 tanks in 1971, cost of 6 be paid to Dhaka as East Pakistan had more population than West Pakistan. Same could be the case with other assets common between the two sides, when East Pakistan was part of Pakistan.)
These (three) demands also used to be conveyed to me officially by the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh and other functionaries of their government, when I was serving as Pakistan’s High Commissioner in Dhaka from 2011 to 2014.
Significantly, Awami League is not the only important political party in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is also a large party with a huge following in the country, whose leader Khaleda Zia served two times as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Many in BNP and in Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami do not go by the Awami League narrative on 1971 in terms of casualty statistics, as has been the case with the average Muslim in Bangladesh.
Analysts in Dhaka have also been emphasising that Bangladesh had never raised the issue of apology with Pakistan for “20 years”, from 1975, till 1996 when Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister of the country.
Importantly, no Awami League leader would admit in public that the Mukti Bahini committed atrocities against West Pakistani men, women and children in East Pakistan. They would not admit that they massacred Biharis and raped Bihari women in East Pakistan in 1971. Some in Dhaka have been writing on their desire even in the 1950s, to dismember Muslim Pakistan, which the international media has avoided to report on.
The Pakistan-Bangladesh-India Tripartite Agreement signed on 9 April 1974, would be important to note. It paved the way for the development of Pakistan’s relations with Bangladesh.
Para 13 of this Agreement specifically states that Pakistan “condemned and deeply regretted any crimes that may have been committed” in 1971. According to para 14, the Prime Minister of Pakistan “appealed to the people of Bangladesh to forgive and forget the mistakes of the past.” This para also quotes Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declaring that “he wanted the people to forget the past and make a fresh start,”adding, Bengalis “knew, how to forgive.”
During his visit to Dhaka in July 2002, President Musharraf apologised to the people of Bangladesh on 1971 by using the words “sorry” and “regrets.” Earlier, President Ziaul Haq had declared during his visit to Bangladesh, “Your heroes are our heroes.” However, the Awami League leadership continues to demand an unconditional APOLOGY, WAR REPARATIONS and DIVISION OF ASSETS from Pakistan.
Even if Pakistan acts exactly in accordance with the above demands by the Awami League, Pakistan’s relations with Bangladesh will still not improve. Senior Bengali analysts in Dhaka have been describing Bangladesh as a “client state of India.” India would never allow development of brotherly relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh. This is the sad reality.
1971 happened due to colossal mistakes by some in West Pakistan and some in East Pakistan. The common man in East Pakistan and common man in West Pakistan was not responsible for 1971. We have to learn from history.
In future, the Muslims of Pakistan, Muslims of Bangladesh and the Muslims of India, would be required to confront challenges, unprecedented in the history of the world.
(Book titled ‘1971: FACT AND FICTION’ by Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi Qureshi, pages 285-294, published in 2021. The book was first time published in 2014.)
