IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1430 
Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 14, 2022 
Mr. CHABOT (for himself and Mr. KHANNA) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971. 
Whereas, in August 1947, British rule in India ended, cre-
ating the 2 independent sovereign countries of India and 
Pakistan, the latter of which included the noncontiguous 
regions of West Pakistan (Pakistan) and East Pakistan 
(Bangladesh), also known as East Bengal; 
Whereas the Pakistani ruling elite was comprised overwhelm-
ingly of West Pakistanis who concentrated the country’s 
resources and development efforts in West Pakistan to 
the detriment of East Pakistan’s development; 
Whereas West Pakistani officials harbored well-documented 
anti-Bengali sentiment, considering Bengalis to be a less-
er people group that had been corrupted by un-Islamic 
practices; 
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•HRES 1430 IH 
Whereas, during elections held in 1970, the Awami League, 
led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a majority in Par-
liament on a platform of autonomy for East Pakistan; 
Whereas negotiations to form a government between Paki-
stani President, General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, 
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto leader of the Pakistan People’s 
Party, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman failed; 
Whereas, at a meeting on February 22, 1971, General Yahya 
Khan is recorded as saying to his top military brass 
‘‘[k]ill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our 
hands’’; 
Whereas, on the night of March 25, 1971, the Government 
of Pakistan imprisoned Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 
Pakistani military units, in conjunction with radical 
Islamist groups, began a general crackdown throughout 
East Pakistan code-named ‘‘Operation Searchlight’’ that 
involved widespread massacres of civilians; 
Whereas atrocities continued during the ensuing 9-month 
Bangladesh War of Independence as the Pakistani mili-
tary scapegoated ethnic Bengalis and Hindus and tar-
geted supporters of the Awami League, Bengali military 
or police personnel, intellectuals, students, and profes-
sionals, while victims included members of both majority 
(Bengali Muslim) and minority (non-Muslim) commu-
nities; 
Whereas the genocide against ethnic Bengalis and Hindus is 
one of the forgotten genocides of the 20th century and 
its lack of recognition remains an open wound for mil-
lions of people who were directly effected by the atroc-
ities; 
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•HRES 1430 IH 
Whereas estimates of the number of those killed in these 
atrocities vary, with the Government of Bangladesh esti-
mating that 3,000,000 persons were killed; 
Whereas over 200,000 women were raped and, due to stigma, 
the full number will likely never be known nor the victims 
remembered; 
Whereas, as a result of the atrocities and the war, nearly 
10,000,000 refugees fled to India, and countless others, 
up to 50 percent of Bangladesh’s population, were inter-
nally displaced; 
Whereas the Government and people of India magnanimously 
cared for the refugees until the culmination of hostilities; 
Whereas in a seminal column on June 13, 1971, for The 
Sunday Times, titled ‘‘Genocide’’, journalist Anthony 
Mascarenhas wrote ‘‘It seems clear that the ‘sorting out’ 
began to be planned about the time that Lt.-Gen. Tikka 
Khan took over the governorship of East Bengal.’’ and 
continues ‘‘When the army units fanned out in Dacca on 
the evening of March 25, in pre-emptive strikes against 
the mutiny planned for the small hours of the next morn-
ing many of them carried lists of people to be liquidated. 
These included the Hindus and large numbers of Mus-
lims; students, Awami Leaguers, professors, journalists 
and those who had been prominent in Sheik Mujib’s 
movement.’’; 
Whereas, on March 28, 1971, United States Consul General 
in Dacca, Archer Blood, sent a telegram to Washington 
titled ‘‘Selective Genocide’’ in which he wrote ‘‘Moreover, 
with support of Pak military, non-Bengali Muslims are 
systematically attacking poor people’s quarters and mur-
dering Bengalis and Hindus. Streets of Dacca are aflood 
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