From: was@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (wasif.sattar)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: Independence vs Autonomy ( was Re: The word "liberation")
Summary: Mujib's awareness of the events of 1971
Date: 5 Oct 92 16:58:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnewsm.1992Oct5.165808.27391
Organization: AT&T

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

I think it was all right on Zunaid's part to bring up the topic. I can
understand his reluctance to name names. In a country like Bangladesh
people often make comments off the record (remember the famous statement - 
"According to an official who declined to be identified" you see in so
many media reports?). Governments change but the mainstay of the civil
administration remains the same. Government officials have to watch and
tolerate the antics of politicians in power and those who have knowledge
of some quirks of people in high places dare not identify themselves in
public in making off the cuff remarks for fear of damaging their own
careers and readjusting their life expectancies.

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