From: hassan@bnr.ca (Abu Hassan)
Subject: Re: Independence vs Autonomy ( was Re: The word "liberation")
Organization: bnr
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 20:20:32 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.165808.27391@cbnewsm.cb.att.com> was@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (wasif.sattar) writes:
>In article <1992Oct2.191851.16502@udel.edu>, kazi@dobie.cis.udel.edu (Zunaid Kazi) writes:
>> In article <009617E3.995814E0@vms.csd.mu.edu> 5916rahmank@vms.csd.mu.edu writes:
>> >|>Since we are on this thread, here's an interesting but little known fact:
>> >|>                                       ----------------------------------
>> >|>On the airport dias which was set up to receive Sheikh Mujib, (on his truimphant
>> >|>return to freedom and free Bangladesh in 1972), one of the first words that
>> >|>Sheikh Mujib uttered were to the then Prime Minsister Tajul Islam. He said,
>> >|>"A tomrA ki korlay? Desh takey bhengay dilay?" [What have you done? You broke
>> >|>up the country?]. This is based on a first hand account from someone who was
>> >|	 	    ------------------------------------------------------
>> >|>standing next to Sheikh Mujib at that time. I have no doubts as to the
>> >|>veracity of the quote; though the actual wordings might have been slightly
>> >|>different.
>> >|>
>> >|>- Zunaid Kazi
>> >|>  kazi@cis.udel.edu
>> >
>> >	Would you please provide some more info on this 'someone'? 
>> 
>> Unfortunately, I am unable to do that. As I mentioned in a prior post, this
>> person was standing next to the Bangobondhu when he uttered those questions.
>> This story was told only to a few people. Though I have no reason to doubt
>> his veracity, this is something that is unsubstantiable and I would
>> prefer not to divulge the name of that person. 
>> 
>> I understand that this "fact" might be hard to believe, and since I have
>> nothing more informative than what I have already said, we should as well
>> ignore this; unless there are corroborative evidence (if any). I apologize for 
>> bringing up something for which I am unable to provide references.   
>> 
>> >	Anisur Rahman
>> >	5916rahmank@vms.csd.mu.edu
>> 
>> - Zunaid
>>   kazi@cis.udel.edu
>
>
>Sometimes bold journalists like Anthony Mascarenhas come forward and
>reveal some of the idiosyncracies (or abnormalities) they have discovered
>in an important person. In his book Bangladesh - A Legacy of Blood,
>Mascarenhas details some of Mujib's habits and traits that he had noted
>while on a trip together to the USA sometime in the 50's when they were
>traveling by train and at one time even shared a hotel room. I am sure
>Mujib's aides have knowledge of his quirks but they wouldn't dare to be
>quoted publicly. Mascarenhas also alludes to Mujib's disappointment and
>dismay about a free and independent Bangladesh (when he had only wished
>for total autonomy within the framework of Pakistan) just upon touching
>down in London in January 1972 after being released from a Pakistani
>prison. Evidently he was totally cut off from news about the events that
>unfolded in East Pakistan. He was not aware of India's role in the
>independence of Bangladesh and started out with the slight animosity
>towards India that most Bangladeshis had before 1971. Mujib was pains-
>takingly updated about the events of 1971 by aides in London in the few
>hours (or days) he was there while being interrupted every now and then 
>by hundreds of followers, well-wishers and dignitaries. To complicate
>matters India desired a mandatory stop in New Delhi where Mrs. Gandhi
>would pay homage to him. His aides were afraid that he would not say the
>right thing at the right place and time and really mess things up.
>Fortunately his stopover in New Delhi went off fine and by the time of
>his arrival in Dhaka he had been briefed reasonably well to address the
>massive meeting at Suhrawardy Uddyan. The short period he had between
>being set free from prison and landing in a free Bangladesh was indeed
>very short for someone to absorb the reality. First of all he had to
>reckon with the enormity of the genocide by the Pakistanis. Then he had
>to accept the fact that his lieutenants did not follow any of the
>contingency plans that he and the AL had set up prior to March 25,
>1971 - they had to make plans on the fly because they had thoroughly
>miscalculated Pakistan's moves and had to organize a Freedom Struggle
>(in place of a Non-Cooperation Movement) for which they were in no way
>prepared. Mujib's threats of a Freedom Struggle/ Movement were only
>rhetorics which he thought were adequate to bring Yahya Khan to his knees
>and agree to a new constitution for Pakistan providing full regional
>autonomy for the provinces. In spite of his dream of an autonomous
>Bangladesh he had initially hoped for a confederation within the framework
>of Pakistan in accordance with the Lahore Resolution. We were literally
>forced into our War of Liberation by the commencement of the hostilities
>and the massacres on March 25, 1971. This parameter had never been taken
>into account in any of the equations about Bangladesh's fate that our
>leaders had formulated prior to March 25, 1971.
>
>Shubhechhante,
>Wasif

A related question I asked a lot of Awami Leaguers (and others) is why 
Mujib decided to stay at his residence on March 25 (and get arrested by
Pak army) instead of going into hiding like other leaders of AL ! Nobody
has a satisfactory answer to this. Even Mujib never told anything 
about this later on. But to me it was a very important turning point 
decision for our nation. 

My explanation to this act is that Mujib had no idea of the severity of
action (to be) taken my Pak army. And probably he did not have liberation
war in mind !! He probably thought that this would be like the other previous
movements (52, 69 etc.) and (as usual) he should not give up but go to 
jail to show his protest and commitment to the demands. The point I am 
trying to make is that, if Mujib was sure about the beginning of liberation
war, he should have joined the war instead of going to jail. Two things
could have been achieved by doing this. He could lead the war (and avoid 
factional conflicts among the freedom fighters). More importantly, Mujib
could have a much better perception of post-independence Bangladesh and 
how to administer the country.

If I remember Anthony Mascarenhaus's book correctly, Mujib did not have 
the slighest idea of what was going on in Bangladesh after 16th of December.
He was planning to take everything easy for sometime instead of going back
to Dhaka right away.

Abu S.Mahmudul Hassan
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh