A Testimony of Pakistan’s Cruelty, Genocide and Failure in Bangladesh

History is usually written by the winners. But the Liberation War of Bangladesh is such a huge affair; it has so many characters like an epic, so many layers of incidents, and so many chapters and segments that its history cannot be completely captured by writing in a small scale. The span of the Liberation War cannot be fathomed with the facts that almost ten million people became refugees, three million people were martyred, and three to four hundred thousands of women were raped. The War of Liberation and the struggles associated with it messed up the lives of the seventy-five million people of then East Pakistan in one way or another. Every family had to migrate inside or outside the country at some point, the country was flooded with blood and tears, and new stories of resistance, bravery, heroism and self-sacrifices were created every day in every locality.  India, Russia, America, China, England -- the heat of this war spread across the world. 

Henceforth, not only are many books being written about the year 1971 in Bangladesh, but valuable researches and memoirs are still being written and published in various other countries including India, Pakistan, USA and United Kingdom. Defeated army generals in Pakistan have written many books, mainly trying to exonerate themselves. Yet those books also have historical value, because by putting together the many small pieces of the puzzle we get a dim but detailed picture.

The Report of the HAMOODUR REHMAN COMMISSION of Inquiry into the 1971 War (HRC) is one of the most important texts among all the books and documents published from Pakistan. It's good news that the available original English content of this report has been first published in Bangladesh by Prothoma Prokashan. The preface of the book is as follows --

'The Hamoodur Rehman Commission was assigned by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto immediately after the defeat of the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh. The Commission investigated what happened in 1971 in East Pakistan. They have analyzed the struggling democracy of Pakistan, the periods of Marital Law leading up to the birth of Bangladesh, and all the events up until the surrender of the Pakistani army in Dhaka. It presents a striking analysis of the personalities who ruled Pakistan and those who carried out their orders. The report's findings accused the Pakistan Army of carrying out senseless and wanton arson, killings, and rape on the pretence of quelling the "rebellion".'

It is known from the Publisher's note of the HRC Report published by the Prothoma Prokashan that originally only 12 copies of this report were made.  All were destroyed, except the one handed over to President Bhutto who never made the report public as he was afraid that the report would further contribute to the demoralization and humiliation of Pakistan armed forces. He told Justice Rehman that the report was either lost or stolen from the Prime Minister's Office. In the year 2000, Pakistani media informed that the report was found within armed forces and Pakistan officially declassified the report in December that year and later VANGUARD, a Pakistani publisher, printed and marketed the report and it became a source of debate from the very beginning. Pakistani daily Dawn said, 'One can say, on the authority of unimpeachable sources, that the probe body was specifically told to confine its investigations to the military debacle and not to delve into the "cause of surrender," notably its political background.'

The Hamoodur Rehman Commission started recording its evidence in February, 1972. It was empowered to call before it any citizen of Pakistan, including former president and chief of staff to seek information about the incidents during the war. The Commission questioned some 300 witnesses including General Niazi and examined hundreds of classified documents and army signals.  The initial report was handed over to the President in July, 1972 as the "Main Report" and the final report was submitted to the government of Pakistan in October, 1974.  The HRC report has been divided into several parts that include Political Background, International Relations, Military Aspect, and Moral Aspect of the 1971 War as analyzed by the Pakistani side. Later a Supplementary Report was also added as Top Secret which include Political Events of 1971, Military Aspect, Surrender in East Pakistan and the Moral Aspect.

The HRC Report reflects the worm-eaten military backed politics of Pakistan and at the same time it is a testimony of their torture, cruelty, oppression, genocide and failure in Bangladesh during 1971. Although the Commission never mentioned the word "genocide" in the report, we see in chapter 7 under the Section Political Background, it stated that it had clear evidence to show that from time to time the Pakistan Eastern Command issued instructions that there should be no indiscriminate killing or wanton action. 'Cases have been brought to our notice where those guilty of taking advantage of the situation to gratify their own lust were duly dealt with and properly punished,' it said.

The Commission squarely blamed Pakistan armed forces for the defeat in the Indo-Pak war of 1971 and accused the armed forces of carrying out the indiscriminate killing. The Prothoma Prokashan publisher's note says that the magnitude and the graveness of the crimes committed by Pakistan armed forces in Bangladesh were   not always correctly reflected in the report, but the Commission could not also deny the occurrence of the crimes committed by Pakistan army. In the part "Alleged Atrocities of the Pakistan Army" under the Moral Aspect of the Supplementary Report, the Commission said quoting a witness named Lt-Col Mansoorul Haq that under the orders of CO 53 Field Regiment, Lt-Col Yaqub Malik, 17 Bengali officers and 915 men were just slain by a flick of one officer's finger which is just an example of indiscriminate killing. There was a general feeling of hatred against Bengalis among the soldiers and the officers including the generals. Even there were verbal instructions to eliminate Hindus. It is said under the Military Aspect that some officers have also admitted that the possibility of the troops being more vindictive towards Hindus cannot be altogether excluded as even senior officers were often noticed jokingly asking as to how many Hindus have been killed. The Commission also found out that there were enough evidences on the record that some West Pakistani officers and men indulged in wanton acts of loot, arson, rape and indiscriminate killing and there were even evidences of deliberate killing of members of the Hindu minority.

General Yahya Khan's association with women was especially mentioned in the report.  It said that 'he was leading an extremely licentious life, devoting most of his time to wine and women.' The report mentioned, 'there is evidence to show that the General was addicted to heavy drinking and was extremely friendly with a number of ladies of indifferent repute…'  Degradation of character of General Hamid, evidences of corruption, cruelty and scandals of Pakistani generals including Niazi have been mentioned in this Report with examples. The personal conduct of Lt Gen Niazi has also come in for adverse criticism before the Commission. Serious allegations were made against him by two civilian witnesses who alleged that while posted as GOC Sialkot, and later as GOC and Corps Commander at Lahore, Niazi made millions of rupees in various transactions affecting the disposal of criminal cases brought under the Martial Law against smugglers and other criminals. They also contended that he was on intimate terms with one Mrs Saeeda Bukhari of Lahore, who was running a brothel where young women were residing. They stated that Mrs Bukhari openly acted as the General's tout for receiving bribes and getting things done. Niazi was criticized by the Commission for not saving Dhaka from India.

Lt. Gen Niazi tried to put the blame on his predecessor Lt. Gen Tikka Khan for excessive use of military action at many places for which Tikka Khan earned names such as, "Genghis Khan" and "Butcher of Balochistan." Khan also became nicknamed as "Butcher of Bengal" for his cruelty. Tikka Khan, who was the Martial Law Administrator from 7th of April onwards, stated before the Commission that the number of people killed was probably about 15,000, but later in a press interview he gave a figure of 30,000. Although the Government of Bangladesh stated that three million people were killed during the 1971 genocide, the Commission rejected this number.  It said that examination of the available evidence shows that there is substance in the allegation that during and after the military action excesses were indeed committed on the people of East Pakistan, although the versions and estimates put forward by the 'Dacca authorities were highly colored and exaggerated.' The Russian daily Pravda reported on January 4, 1972 that 'over 30 lakh persons were killed throughout Bangladesh by the Pakistan occupation forces during the past nine months.' Quoting its correspondent stationed in Dhaka, the Pravda said 'the Pakistan military forces immediately before their surrender had killed 800 intellectuals in the capital city of Bangladesh alone.'

The Hamoodur Rehman Commission has come to the conclusion that the debacle was due to the cumulative effect of a number of factors, namely political, moral, psychological and military. So it recommended that the government should set up a high-powered Court or Commission of Inquiry to investigate into these allegations so that those who indulged in these atrocities, brought a bad name to the Pakistan Army and alienated the sympathies of the local population by their acts of wanton cruelty and immorality against its own people, are duly punished. The composition of the Court/Commission should be publicly announced so as to satisfy national conscience and international opinion. The HRC also made some recommendations for the consideration of the government that Gen Yahya Khan, Gen Abdul Hamid Khan, Lt General SGM Pirzada, Maj Gen Umar, Lt Gen Gul Hassan, and Maj Gen Mitha should be publicly tried for being party to a criminal conspiracy to illegally usurp power from Field Marshal Ayub Khan on the 25th of March, 1969. These officers should also be tried and/or court martialled for criminal neglect of duty in the conduct of war both in East Pakistan and in West Pakistan.

It must be remembered that the report is written from the perspectives of the Pakistani side. It rejects the responsibility of the Pakistani Army for the massacre of intellectuals in December 1971 with almost no argument or explanation. The commission report attempts to downplay the number of women who were raped by Pakistani soldiers in 1971. Nevertheless, we shudder with fear when we read harrowing descriptions of brutality including rapes, killings and violence by the Pakistani junta and the armed forces.  A recent report by The Guardian says that although official estimates on the Bangladesh side 'put the number of Bengali women raped at between 200,000 and 400,000, though even those numbers are considered conservative by some' (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/apr/03/52-years-bangladesh-birangona-women-mass-rape-surviviors?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other). One of the researchers studying war atrocities across the world, Susan Brownmiller, wrote in her 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape that the number of rapes during the Bangladesh Liberation War was about 400,000.

This entire Hamoodur Rehman Commission report has not been published as a book before in Bangladesh.  By publishing this full report as a book in 2023, Prothoma Prokashan has carried out a very important responsibility. We hope that this report will act as one of the most important documents/records for the researchers, readers, writers, teachers, and students who would like to research on the Liberation War of 1971.

Marina Yasmin works at Prothoma  Prokashan.