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| India-Pakistan |
| December 16, 1971: a flashback: A day when Lahore was thunderstruck |
| 2006-12-17 |
| LAHORE: December 16, 1971 was a day when Lahore was thunderstruck. People were glued to their radios hearing BBC reporting that Pakistan Army had surrendered in Dhaka and East Pakistan had become a new country, Bangladesh. Daily Times spoke to Dr Mubashir Hassan, former federal finance minister and the then Pakistan People’s Party Lahore chapter chairman, and Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan, an eminent activist, on the fall of Dhaka and its impact on Lahore and its people. “The city was totally stunned with the news of the humiliating surrender,” Dr Mubashir said. “The people could not believe their eyes when Indian General Arora brandished his sword and cut the lapels off Pakistan’s General Niazi’s shoulders on Indian Television.” “For a whole week before that,” he said, “Pakistanis had been told of their victories over the Indian army and how it had been stopped from marching into what was then East Pakistan.” Dr Mubashir said the people of Lahore fully supported the army. “When I told a very educated man that we are losing, he said, ‘No, we are not. Chinese armies are about to march into India to support Pakistan and the American fleet has arrived in the Bay of Bengal armed with nuclear weapons which will be used against India’,” Dr Mubashir recalled. He said General Yahya Khan asked Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to return to Pakistan. “Bhutto did not reject Yahya’s offer but was not willing to return to Pakistan unless he was sure that Yahya had become week enough not to take action against the PPP,” Dr Mubashir said. “When Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) announced a procession against Yahya’s government on December 17, I announced that the PPP would also hold a procession,” he said. “Mustafa Khar tried to convince me to call off the procession. I did not cancel the procession but postponed it. Two days passed in the suspended state, then I got a coded message from Khar, ‘It is a turnkey job’. This message brought back Bhutto.” “Meanwhile, some people had burned down Yahya’s house in Peshawar and not a single magistrate or constable stopped them,” he said. “The end is: The Pakistan Army lost all the respect it had among people on December 16, 1971.” Talking to Daily Times, Tahira Mazhar Ali, a progressive activist from Lahore, recalled seeing an old man going on his bicycle on the Shadman Road loudly mourning the fall of Dhaka that evening. “We were only eight women who protested on the Democratic Women’s Association platform, and were later arrested.” “There were rapes in Dhaka and tears in the eyes of Lahori women because they thought that whoever raped women was someone’s son, father, brother or husband,” she said. The majority of Lahoris were silent but sad, she said. “They were keeping their voices low, afraid of the military, but BBC broadcasted the news and the Pakistani media released it later. The military had been claiming that all was well in West Pakistan and things were in control,” Tahira said. “We demanded that military action be stopped in Dhaka,” she said, “but the protest only resulted in our office being raided and all the literature confiscated.” Tahira blamed the army for the East Pakistan debacle. |
| Posted by:john |
| #10 A geologist friend tells me the Indians have dammed the Ganges just on their side of the border, so when the heavy rains come they release an even biggerflood into Bangla Desh. And in the dry season, they keep all the water. Is this true/ accurate? He does go on about the "water wars" but knows his stuff... lately I double check everything. Echo the appreciation for John & his contribution. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2006-12-17 16:58 |
| #9 The main river in that delta comes from Tibet. China has plans to redirect that river to provide water to the northern parts of China. One plan called for using a nuke (just like Project Plowshare wanted to do engineering) to remove a mountain and do the redirection. Then the delta would dry up and sink.. leaving India with lots of refugees. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-12-17 16:22 |
| #8 That's what it is, Zenster. The crotch of the Bay of Bengal that takes it in the shorts when a typhoon churns in. And it is underladen with lots 'o arsenic in the groundwater. Charming study in geography. Second the appreciation from john on our education on that area. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-12-17 15:09 |
| #7 from the news stories in typhoon season, it's approximately 98% under water |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-17 14:55 |
| #6 Without being able to see any topological features, that map makes Bangladesh look like one giant riverine delta flood zone. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-12-17 14:51 |
| #5 John, the creation of India/Pak/Bangla is something I'm woefully ignorant about - your posts are really welcome |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-17 13:19 |
| #4 |
| Posted by: RD 2006-12-17 12:57 |
#3  |
| Posted by: john 2006-12-17 10:24 |
| #2 Genocide in Bangladesh, 1971 "Kill three million of them, and the rest will eat out of our hands." - General Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan, 1971. |
| Posted by: john 2006-12-17 07:27 |
| #1 “There were rapes in Dhaka and tears in the eyes of Lahori women because they thought that whoever raped women was someone’s son, father, brother or husband,” One Pak writer remembered a party at which the cream of Lahore society was present. The women tut-tutted the mass rapes, one commenting that "at least the babies will be fair skinned now" |
| Posted by: john 2006-12-17 07:19 |