From: kazi@hercules.cis.udel.edu (Zunaid Kazi)
Subject: Re: Victory Day in Bangladesh!!! [LONG]
Organization: University of Delaware, Newark
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 04:54:04 GMT

In article <92351.181548U54479@uicvm.uic.edu> REHAN U. HAQUE. <U54479@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
>In article <BzBwoz.GLG@news.udel.edu>, khaleq@brahms.udel.edu (Mohame
>Khalequzzaman) says:
>>
>>Show your courage and greatness today to the Bangladeshi people by
>>apologizing for the atrocities organized by your previous generations.
>>
>>Khaleq
>APOLOGIZE! FOR WHAT!
>I certainly feel sorry for the so called atrocities committed by the Pakistani
>Army; for the loss of so many lives and for the destruction of the "INFRASTRUCT
>URE" of the country, but you can't expect me to apologize for the acts of other
>s. I would have absolutely no objection to apologizing, if and only if, all Ban
>gladeshis apologize to us Pakistanis for killing all those Pakistanis (from the
> west). When you are fighting for independence, you have to accept the fact tha
>t innocent lives will be lost. Infact that is the worst thing about all this WA
>R stuff. I am not trying to justify any wrongdoings by the Pakistani Government
>at that time, or the Army, for that matter, but I just don't feel that I or the
> Pakistani people should be held responsible for the justified or unjustified a
>cts of a few.

War is tragic. Loss of innocent lives as a result is tragic, when civilians
are "collateral damage". But, the loss of lives due to a systematic and
brutal pogrom of slaugther that highlighted the Pakistani Army actions
during the 9 month long war for Bangladesh's independence. Lexicons have
a word for the carnage : GENOCIDE.

I take issues with some of the phrases you've used:

"so called atrocities"
"justified or unjustified acts of a few"

Firstly, you may quibble about the numbers but the veracity of the
atrocities committed are beyond doubt. And secondly, in which God's
world is the systematic killing of people "justified". 

The carnage committed by the Pakistani Army did prompt retaliatory
acts by some. Though not justifiable by any means, it is completely
understandable. We Bangalis are not afraid to apologize or come to
terms with those acts.

It will take a supremely magnanimous or blindly ignorant Bangladeshi
to forgive and forget the 3-decade long exploitation of Bangladesh's 
economy by the ruling feudal-military oligarchy of the West, that 
transformed a surplus economy into a deficit one, that siphoned off the 
East's economy for the West's economic development, that discriminated 
against Bengalis in all spheres, that killed 3 million people during a 
nine month orgy of bestiality, that killed hundreds of intellectuals 
in the days before the final victory, setting Bangladesh back years 
behind. 

Are people responsible for the sins of their fathers? Yes, when the sins 
go unacknowledged, unrepented, uncondemmed and even unknown. 

Legalese has a simple terminology for them: "accessories after the fact". 
With the excetion of a few Pakistanis, the majority have not yet shown
any semblance of contrition or regret, let alone guilt or remorse. And 
as in 1971, most Pakistanis are silently ignoring the facts. And isn't 
silence a form of acquiescence?

Bangladeshis do not wish to hold Pakistanis of the current generation
responsible for acts committed by other Pakistanis even before they
were born were or old enough to have tried to stop the genocide. We
do wish that you acknowledge and accept the fact of what did happen
in those 25 years of Pakistani yoke on Bangladesh. 

The Germans of today are not held responsible for the Nazis. But, the
German nation has apologized for the acts committed by them, and made
every effort to make amends for the actions of people with whom a
majority of the Germans do not have anything in common. It's easier
to forgive a nation this way. But, we will not ever forget.

I am attaching some statistics about the Bengali Holocaust. You might
find it enlightning:

The Bengali Holocaust


According to New York Times (3/28/71) 10,000 people were killed; 
New York Times (3/29/71) 5,000-7,000 people were killed in Dhaka; 
The Sydney Morning Herald (3/29/71) 10,000 - 100,000 were killed; 
New York Times (4/1/71) 35,000 were killed in Dhaka. 

These figures tell you the seriousness of the situation created by the 
Pakistani army. Although the actual figure may be never known. Number of 
Bengalis slaughtered by the Pakistani army during different periods of 
1971. The list is as follows;

     The Baltimore Sun (5/14/71)       : 0.5 million
     The Momento, Caracas (6/13/71)    : 0.5 - 1.0 
     Washington Daily News (6/30/71)   : 0.2
     World Bank Report (June, 71)      : 0.2 (upto June 11, 1971)
     Die Zeit, Bonn (7/9/71)           : 0.5
     New York Times (7/14/71)          : 0.20 - 0.25
     Wall Street Journal (7/23/71)     : 0.2 - 1.0
     The Christian Sci. Mon. (7/31/71) : 0.25 - 1.00
     Newsweek (8/2/71)                 : 0.25
     Time (9/2/71)                     : 0.2 - 1.0
     Newsweek (3/27/72)                : 1.5
     National Geographic (Sept. 1972)  : 3.0 (probably)


According to National Geographic (Sept. 1972), the estimated number of 
Bangladeshi refugees was 10.0 million. According to Indian govt., the 
number of refugees was 8.3 million (8/31/71). Other sources such as

             Washington Daily News (6/30/71) :  6.0 million
             Die Zeit, Bonn (7/9/71)         :  6.0
             New York Times (7/14/71)        :  6.0
             St. Louis Post-Dispatch (8/1/71):  6.5
             Newsweek (8/2/71)               :  6.0
             Time (9/2/71)                   :  7.5
             Sen. Kennedy (8/15/71)          : 12.0 by end of 1971.
             The UN in Bangladesh            : 10.0
             Newsweek (3/27/72)              : 10.0

I hope you do understand the difficulties involved in estimating the 
total number of refugees. It is clear that by end of Aug., 1971, the 
number of refugees was around 6-7 million. By the middle of Dec., the 
number reached 10 million. Also, a large number of people were displaced 
within the country, estimated number was around 20 million (The UN in 
Bangladesh).[The United Nations in Bangladesh -- Thomas W. Oliver, 
Reports Officer at UNROD/UNROB headquarters in 1973.UNROD.United Nations 
Relief Operations in Dacca. UNROB. United Nations Relief Office in Bangladesh.]

What do you wish to apologize for?

- Zunaid Kazi
  kazi@cis.udel.edu

Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan