Pardon for some
The Economist | 11th September 1971
President Yahya has at last done something. Last week General Tikka khan, East Pakistan’s governor, was sent home to West Pakistan and his responsibilities are now divided between a Bengali civilian, Dr Abdul Malik, who becomes governor, and General Amir Niazi, who becomes the martial law administrator for the province. An official spokesman said that the army would now act. “Only in support of the civil administration.” And on Sunday an amnesty was granted to all those who have alleged to have committed offences between March 1st and September 15th. An undisclosed number of detainees, including Bengali members of the police and the Army, have already been released.
Mr Bhutto, the leader of the People’s party in West Pakistan, who has his own axe to grind against the military regime, has described the appointment of a civilian governor as “whitewash”. It is too early to tell whether he is right. Much will depend on whether Dr Malik includes members of Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League in his councils of ministers, and how much leeway the army will give him. Dr Malik id no Bengali Idol, and the fact that he served in President Yahya’s cabinet in 1969 will lead many Bengalis to treat him with suspicion.
However, the amnesty offer looks genuine. President Yahya’s previous offers of clemency, in June, were limited to those resistance fighters who surrendered (but many of them reportedly ended up doing hard labor in the docks) plus an amnesty of sorts for those who could show that they had been bludgeoned into taking up arms by Awami League Militants. For the first time, the new amnesty pardons those known to have taken up arms of their own accord.
If the new civilian administration proves more than a cardboard façade, it should remove the fear that relief supplies are being used by the army as a political weapon in its tug-of-war with the Mukti Fauj resistance for the loyalty of the Bengali population. Some organisations have accepted this risk and are operating in East Pakistan. Nut one British charity, Operation Omega, decided that it was not going to entrust its supplies to official channels, and chose to crash the east Pakistani border. Last month its team was turned back. On Sunday four of its team was returned back. On Sunday four of its number tried again, carrying rucksacks of protein, and were arrested. Omega might have done better to stick to the book: the Pakistani government has agreed that outside observers may watch over relief distribution.
President Yahya may have been impelled into taking his latest steps by various motives. He needs to ease the Americans’ qualms about continuing the supply of arms; he needs to woo the western aid consortium into resuming aid; and he would like to divert attention from the trial of Sheikh Mujib. But the test of his action will be whether the 7.5 million refugees in India begin to return, and the Mukti start giving themselves up.
Edited by
Tushar Mondal