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1971 Bangladesh Genocide

1971 Bangladesh Genocide


The genocide in Bangladesh began on 26 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight, as West Pakistan began a military crackdown on the Eastern wing of the nation to suppress Bengali calls for self-determination. During the nine month long Bangladesh war for independence, members of the Pakistani military and supporting militias killed approximately 3 million people, and raped between two- and four hundred thousand Bangladeshi women in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape.

The war also witnessed sectarian violence between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking Biharis. There is an academic consensus that the events which took place during the Bangladesh Liberation War were a genocide
Operation Searchlight
Operation Searchlight was a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistani Army to curb elements of the separatist Bengali nationalist movement in erstwhile East Pakistan in March 1971.  Ordered by the government in West Pakistan, this was seen as the sequel to Operation Blitz which had been launched in November 1970.
According to journalist Azadur Rahman Chandan, Operation Searchlight was drafted on 18–20 March 1971 in Dhaka. In the same sitting, General Farman wrote down the new plan on a light blue office pad, using an ordinary school pencil. General Khadim Hussain Raja wrote its second part, which dealt with distribution of resources and the allocation of tasks to brigades and units. The plan, christened 'Operation SEARCHLIGHT', consisted of sixteen paragraphs... It presumed that all Bengali troops, including regular East Bengal battalions, would revolt in reaction to its execution. They should therefore, be disarmed. Secondly, the 'non-co-operation' movement launched by Mujib should be deprived of its leadership by arresting all the prominent Awami League leaders while they were in conference with the President.. The hand-written plan was read out to General Hamid and Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan at Flagstaff House on the afternoon of 20 March. But General Hamid deleted the section of disarming the Bengali troops and later President Yahya excluded the section of arresting all the prominent Awami League leaders while they were in conference with the President. The amended plan was distributed to the area commanders on 24 March.
The original plan envisioned taking control of the major cities on 26 March 1971, and then eliminating all opposition, political or military, within one month. The prolonged Bengali resistance was not anticipated by Pakistani planners. The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the last major town in Bengali hands in mid May
Estimated killed
Bangladeshi authorities claim that as many as 3 million people were killed, although the Hamoodur Rahman Commission, an official Pakistan Government investigation, put the figure as low as 26,000 civilian casualties.As a result of the conflict, a further eight to ten million people, mostly Hindus, fled the country at the time to seek refuge in neighbouring India.
According to an American political scientists Richard Sisson and Leo E. Rose, give an estimate of 300,000 dead, killed by all parties and deny a genocide occurred.
According to Sarmila Bose's controversial book Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War, the number is between between 50,000 and 100,000.Her book was highly criticized by historians. A 2008 British Medical Journal study by Ziad Obermeyer, Christopher J. L. Murray, and Emmanuela Gakidou estimated that up to 269,000 civilians died as a result of the conflict; the authors note that this is far higher than a previous estimate of 58,000 from Uppsala University and the Peace Research Institute, Oslo.
Many of those killed were the victims of militias who fought with the West Pakistan Army: Razakars, Al-Shams and Al-Badr forces,at the instruction of the Pakistani Army.There are many mass graves in Bangladesh, and more are continually being discovered (such as one in an old well near a mosque in Dhaka, located in the Mirpur region of the city, which was discovered in August 1999). The first night of war on Bengalis, which is documented in telegrams from the American Consulate in Dhaka to the United States State Department, saw indiscriminate killings of students of Dhaka University and other civilians.
There was significant sectarian violence not only perpetrated by the West Pakistani army,but also by Bengali nationalists against non-Bengali minorities, especially Biharis.
On 16 December 2002, the George Washington University's National Security Archive published a collection of declassified documents, consisting mostly of communications between US embassy officials and USIS centres in Dhaka and India, and officials in Washington DC. These documents show that US officials working in diplomatic institutions within Bangladesh used the terms selective genocide and genocide (see The Blood Telegram) to describe events they had knowledge of at the time. The complete chronology of events as reported to the Nixon administration can be found on the Department of State website.
Every major publication and newspaper in Bangladesh and some international publications on genocide and human rights abuses use the term genocide to describe the event
Violence against women
The generally accepted figure for the mass rapes during the nine month long conflict is 200,000.Numerous women were tortured, raped and killed during the war. Again, exact numbers are not known and are a subject of debate. Bangladeshi sources cite a figure of 200,000 women raped, giving birth to thousands of war-babies. The Pakistani Army also kept numerous Bengali women as sex-slaves inside the Dhaka Cantonment. Most of the girls were captured from Dhaka University and private homes.
Among other sources, Susan Brownmiller refers to an even higher number of over 400,000. Pakistani sources claim the number is much lower, though having not completely denied rape incidents. Brownmiller quotes:
Khadiga, thirteen years old, was interviewed by a photojournalist in Dacca. She was walking to school with four other girls when they were kidnapped by a gang of Pakistani soldiers. All five were put in a military brothel in Mohammedpur and held captive for six months until the end of the war.
In a New York Times report named 'Horrors of East Pakistan Turning Hope into Despair', Malcom W. Browne wrote:
One tale that is widely believed and seems to come from many different sources is that 563 women picked up by the army in March and April and held in military brothels are not being released because they are pregnant beyond the point at which abortions are possible.
The licentious attitude of the soldiers, although generally supported by their superiors, alarmed the regional high command of the Pakistani army. On 15 April 1971, in a secret memorandum to the divisional commanders, Niazi complained,
“Since my arrival, I have heard numerous reports of troops indulging in looting and arson, killing people at random and without reasons in areas cleared of the anti state elements; of late there have been reports of rape and even the West Pakistanis are not being spared; on 12 April two East Pakistani women were raped, and an attempt was made on two others. ”
Another work that has included direct experiences from the women raped is Ami Birangona Bolchhi ("I, the heroine, speak") by Nilima Ibrahim. The work includes in its name from the word Birangona (Heroine), given by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after the war, to the raped and tortured women during the war. This was a conscious effort to alleviate any social stigma the women might face in the society. How successful this effort was is doubtful, though. In October 2005 Sarmila Bose (a Boston, Massachusetts born Harvard-educated Bengali Indian academic), published a paper suggesting that the casualties and rape allegations in the war have been greatly exaggerated for political purposes. A number of researchers have shown inaccuracies in the work, including flawed methodology of statistical analysis, misrepresentation of referenced sources, and disproportionate weight to Pakistan army testimonies.


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