Indomitable March: Bangabandhu flown to Karachi

March 29, 1971

In the evening, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was flown via helicopter from the cantonment, where he was detained, to the Tejgaon Airport. Afterwards, he was flown to Karachi by a special military aircraft.

Siddiq Salik, then public relations officer in the Pakistan army at Dhaka, writes in his memoir, "When complications arose about the final disposal of Mujib (i.e international pressure for his release), I asked my friend Major Bilal why he had not finished him off in the heat of the action. He informed me that General Mitha had personally ordered him to capture Mujib alive."

NIXON-KISSINGER CONVERSATION

Today, US President Nixon had a telephone conversation with his Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger on the situation in East Pakistan. Kissinger informed the president that Yahya had taken control of Bangladesh. Nixon commented, "Good". Kissinger agreed with him saying that the use of power against seeming odds pays off.

"Because all the experts were saying that 30,000 people can't get control of 75 million. Well, this may still turn out to be true but as of this moment it seems to be quiet," added Kissinger.

Nixon replied, "When you look over the history of nations 30,000 well-disciplined people can take 75 million at any time. Look what the Spanish did when they came in and took the Incas and all the rest. Look what the British did when they took India."

They also discussed the long-term impact of Pakistan's separation. Kissinger said, "People now say that the fellow Mujib in the East is really quite moderate, and for a Bengali that's right. But that's an extremely unstable situation there and the radical groups are likely to gain increasing strength." The President commented, "This will be only one blip in the battle and then it will go on and on and on…"