Bangladesh Newsletter
No. 4
July 1, 1971
“GENOCIDE OF NO SMALL MAGNITUDE COMMITTED”—U.S. Congressman Gallagher
Congressman Cornelius Gallagher, Chairman, Asian and Pacific Affairs Sub-Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in Calcutta on June 4 that he was “now convinced that terrorism, barbarities and genocide of no small magnitude have been committed in East Bengal”.
Mr. Gallagher was addressing members of the Calcutta Press Club immediately after his return from a tour of some refugee camps in the border areas.
Congressman Gallagher said : “When I came here I came with an open mind. But after meeting some of the evacuees, I am now convinced that terrorism, barbarities and genocide of no small magnitude have been committed in East Bengal”.
“Reports of the Pakistani army’s atrocities in East Bengal are not all exaggerated”, he added.
He said : “From what I have heard from a cross section of the evacuees, I came to the conclusion that the people have been terrorized in East Bengal. Two things have become clear to me—firstly, there was a deliberate attempt to destroy and wipe out the intellectuals such as doctors, students, professors and writers ; secondly, communal feelings have been aroused to squeeze out the Hindu population”.
Referring to an unending stream of evacuees, Mr. Gallagher said that 5 million people had so far come away to India from East Bengal. Each Congressional district in the United States consisted of 500,000 people and If the exodus of such magnitude stated coming to his constituency (New Jersey), it would create innumerable problems as experienced now by India, he said.
Mr. Gallagher said that on his return home, he would try to mobilize public opinion in favor of offering immediate relief to the evacuees. It was incumbent on the part of the world community to come to the aid of these poor and unfortunate people of East Bengal, he said.
“As a partner of the World Consortium, I think the United States will play a prominent role to see that the situation improves and people return home”, he said.
Replying to a question, he said that the people whom he had met at the camp sites were willing to go back but they found it impossible until some sort of a “political accommodation” was reached and atmosphere created for their going back. “I think economic pressure by the world community on Pakistan would go a long way in improving the situation”, he said.
Asked what he thought about a permanent solution of the problem, Mr. Gallagher said, “Obviously, it requires political accomodation by the leaders of that country. Until recently, it was an internal affair of Pakistan. But when 5 million people are driven out of the country, it becomes an international problem which the world community should take nate of. I think sanity will return there and compassion would play an important role”.
Replying to a question of the release of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Mr. Gallagher said : “In may opinion, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman should be called in for discussions for a political settlement. I think most of the evacuees will return to East Bengal if a call is made by him”.
Editorial
BANGLADESH COUNTS ON YOU
Three months have passed since brutal army operation began in Bangladesh. During this time hundreds of thousands of defence less Bengalis have sacrificed their lives at the altar of freedom and justice. A conservative estimate puts the number of those killed by the Pakistan Army close to half a million. Six million people have been forced to leave their homes for the safety and protection on the other side of the border. A hundred thousand more continue to pour into India everyday with tales of army brutalities, rape, torture, arson and killing. Thousands fall dead on the way from fatigue and exhoustion. And several more thousands have died from cholera and other diseases and continue to die everyday in the over-crowded comps in India. An exodus of this magnitude is probably unprecedented in human history. Within its own limitations, the government and the people of India have done a super-human job in taking care of these helpless millions of refugees. We owe a deep sense of gratitude to them for coming to our aid at the time of our greatest need.
Within Bangladesh Bengalis are sacrifining their lives to ensure that we can live as a free and proud people for all times to come. The tales of their courage and determination are being documented everyday in the press.
But what are we doing for our motherland at the time of her greatest need? We, who are living in the comfort and luxury of Western life, far removed from the scene of death, disease and destruction, may ask ourselves : Have we given our utmost for the sake of our country? Individually and collectively we must put every bit of pressure on the officials of this country to stop all aid to Pakistan, and take all possible measures to create a strong public opinion in this country against any aid to Pakistan.
Secondly, Bangladesh is badly in need of foreign currency. A dollar goes a long way to help cause. Let us pledge that from every pay-check we will keep only an amount to cover bare necessities and the rest will go to help Bangladesh. Can we afford to do otherwise?
YOUNG FLOCK TO JOIN MUKTI FOUJ
East Bengal Border, June 14 (Reuter)
Sixteen young men, most of them students, crowded into a small, bare room to sign up for the Bangladesh Mukti Fouj. Behind a small, wooden table, sat a man in his early theories, and former history lecturer at an East Bengal college. He is now running a recruiting center for guerrillas to fight in East Bengal.
He declined to give his name and asked that the location of the recruiting office, ostensibly an office to register refugees crossing into West Bengal from East Bengal, should not be reveoled.
As each of the waiting youths stepped forward to the table, the recruiting officer interrogated him as to his name, age, what organisations he had belonged to in East Bengal, his political affiliations, his home and why he wanted to join the underground army.
“Most of the people who come here for recruitment are students and youngsters, although the age group ranges from 18 to 35”, the Bangladesh officer said in an interview yesterday.
“This is a preliminary recruiting center. From here we send them to transit camps (known as youth camps to conform to Indian law), and from those camps to the main army camps where they will be trained somewhere in Bangladesh—it is a military secret where these camps are located.
“All the training camps are in Bangladesh. We are recruiting those who have crossed the border, but we also have about 200 recruiting centers in Bangladesh itself”, the former lecturer said. There were probably about 100 such centers in West Bengal.
Since this particular center was set up six weeks ago, he had processed between 20 and 30 people a day. “The students are very eager to join and to fight for the liberation of Bangladesh and achieve their rights there”, he said.
A number of people who came to join were personally known to him and he screened them carefully. They were further screened and their political ideas were tested at the transit camp before they moved on for training.
As each young man stepped in front of his desk, he warned them that once they had joined the Mukti Fouj they could not leave. If they tried to defeat, they would be shot.
The interviews were conducted in a bare, concreate, second-storey room with a wooden door and iron bars on the two windows.
At the official’s side sat a young man dressed in a dark blue shirt with a cap pulled jauntily over one eye, who copied down answers into an exercise book.
One of the people being recruited was a commerce student, aged 21, who had crossed the border specially to join because there were no equivalent centers in his area across the border.
Asked if he expected the guerrilla movement to succeed, one recruit said : ‘Yes, why not? No liberation movement in the world, according to my knowledge, has failed.
BOMB BLASTS WELCOME WORLD BANK TEAM TO “NORMAL DACCA”
Officials of the international aid consortium narrowly escaped death in Dacca on June 10 from the bombs thrown by the freedom fighters.
Thd incident occurred in from of the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Dacca. One American and two British officials were thrown, one of which exploded in the car. Bomb fragments were said to have caused some minor injuries, and the car was demolished.
A mission of the II-nation consortium is in Pakistan to study prospects of peace and political stability as one of the prerequisites to full-scale resumption of aid to this country. The consortium, which included the United States, is headed by the World Bank.
New York Times correspondent Malcolm W. Browne in a dispatch from Islamabad writes :
Foreigners concerned with the situation report that terrorist resistance to martial-law authority in East Bengal has increased markedly in recent weeks. They say that members of Government “peace committees” have been assassinated and that officials cooperating with the military regime there have been assassinated and that officials cooperating with the military regime there have been receiving threatening letters on official stationery overprinted with the words “Bangladesh”.
Some foreigners report, the dispatch continues, that installers of irrigation wells. rural agricultural teams and other local technicians on whom the administration of aid to East Bengal is dependent are too frightened to leave the main towns to work in the countryside.
COORDINATION BODY FOR WEST COAST BANGLADESH GROUPS
With the beginning of the liberation war in Bangladesh it became necessary to find ways for coordinating and channeling the spontaneous patriotic responses of all the Bengalis. In order to arrive at some specific lines of approach for effective coordination and communication, a meeting was held on May 22, 1971 at San Francisco attended by the representatives of Los Angeles, Berkeley, Stanford and San Francisco Bengali residents. The following dicisions were taken in the meeting :
1. The main co-ordinating body will be stationed at Los Angeles and will communicate with the other units of the West Coast at Berkeley, San Francisco, Stanford, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Denver (Colorado) and Tuscon (Arizona). It will also look forward to setting up co-ordination with more units in Hawaii, Dallas, and Pitteburg (Kansas).
2. Active communication with New York, Washington, Chicago and Michigan bodies will be maintained by the main co-ordinating body, and it will also convey the instructions received from the Bangladesh government to all other units of the West Coast.
3. All units with exchange information of interest amongst themselves and will pass on the news to all local members.
4. A remittance of 5% of the total collections will be made by all the West Coast units to the Los Angeles body in order to cover the overhead expenses of publicity and other co-ordinating expenses.
5. Generally each unit will keep up the publicity compaign to expose the brutalities and the atrocities of the Pakistan army committed in our land, and promote our legitimate claims of Bangladesh to complete independence amongst the American public in general and the representative Americans in particular.
6. Statement of all collections of funds will submitted to Los Angeles.
7. A master list of all residents and sympathisers will be prepared and the co-ordinators of each unit will send names and addresses of all such persons to the co-ordinators in Los Angeles.
PUBLIC MEETING
A public meeting will be held on Thursday, June 24 at 8 :00 P.M. at Fridays Meeting House, Fourth and Aroh Streets, Philadelphia, Pan The purpose of the meeting is to establish an organization the FRIENDS OF EAST BENGAL in order to 1) inform the American public of the events in East Bengal, 2) to Support relief work and 3) to appeal for an embargo on further aid to West Pakistan until it ends its reign of terror in East Bengal. The meeting is being organized by Prof. Charles Kahn (Univ. of Penn), Rev Richard L. Keach (Central Baptist Church, Wayne) and others. All are requested to attend.
BANGLADESH RALLY IN NEW YORK
A large rally in support of the Bangladesh was held in New York on June 12, 1971. The rally was attend by about 2000 persons representing Bangladesh communities and friends of Bangladesh from various places of the United States and Canada. It was a reflection of the fremendous concern of the Bangladesh citizens living abroad for the cause of the struggling millions in Bangla Desh.
Raising various slogans the participants expressed the determination to make any sacrifice necessary for the success of the Bangladesh Liberation war. They also appealed to the American people to come out in support of the legitimate demand for the freedom of the 75 million people of the Bangladesh.
The rally was organised by the Bangladesh League of America in co-operation with the American Friends of Bangladesh and the Joint Committee of the India Associations. It was addressed among others by Mr. Iqbal Ahmed (a West Pakistani Scholar) and Mr. Jaiprakash Narayan (Indian Sarvoday Leader).
NEWS FROM INSIDE BANGLADESH
The commandos of the Mukti Fouj dealt a crushing blow to a company of Pakistani troops and battered the electricity and railway network in a series of attacks in Dinajpur district.
A platoon of commandos fought a pitched battle with a company of Pakistani troops armed with mortars, LMG’s and rocket launcers opposite the Samajhia area. Although outnumbered, the freedom fighters fought back gallantly and killed more than 20 Pakistani soldiers.
Mukti Fouj commandos also struck at a number of Pakistan Army positions in the Sylhet, Comilla and Noakhali sectors of Bangladesh.
Four soldiers were killed when guerrillas blew up an Army jeep and a truck near a bridge in the Jessore sector. More than 12 troops were killed at Jhingargacha in a surprise attack by the liberation forces.
Freedom fighters are planting mines on a number of rods and bridges with a view to dislocating supplies to Pakistani troops. Train services between Kushtia and Chuadanga were disrupted as the railway track had been sabotaged.
In Comilla sector, the commando activity has compelled the military authority to re-impose curfew in the town of Kasba.
In Barisal, a steamer which was being used by the troops for movement from Barisal to Dacca was surprised by the freedom fighters who inflicted a number of casualties.
In Sylhet sector, Mukti Fouj guerrillas ambushed a Pakistan army convoy. About 100 army men were killed and four trucks destroyed. They have also secured control of Jaflong township about 20 kilometers from the Bangladesh border.
In Tamabil sector where the liberation forces are in control of the Tamabil checkpost, the Pakistan army have lost nearly 100 men.
Signs of terror and alertness have become pronounced among the Army authorities in Dacca after the quick spread of guerrilla activities in the urban and semi-urban areas recently. Army authorities are now making “war preparations” around the Dacca city. Heavy artillery and a good number of powerful anti-aircraft guns have been placed on both sides of the 31/2 mile road from Dacca Airport to Kalyanpur bus stand.
Issued by
BANGLADESH DEFENSE LEAGUE
5245 S. Kenwood, Chicago, Ill. 60615
THE FACE OF TRUTH
Pakistani’s military rulers tried its best to suppress all the facts about the situation in Bangladesh but somehow the truth has always found its way out. Sometimes it has found its way out through its own instruments of propaganda.
The latest in the series is a horrifying tale of the military brutality unleashed on the innocent people of Bangladesh. This story has been documented by Anthony Mascarenhas in The Sunday Times (London : June 13, 1971). Mr. Mascarenhas was one of the eight West Pakistani journalists who were flown into Bangladesh by the military junta of West Pakistan during the end of March in order to write “eye-witness” reports as to how fast situation in Bangladesh is returning to normal. All of these journalists did exactly what they were expected to do and Mascarenhas himself came out with report of the so-called “Bengalis atrocities” against non-Bengalies before March 25 which was published in The Sunday Times of London on May 2, 1971.
However, Mascarenhas could not live with a bad conscience for not telling the truth to the world. He wanted for an opportunity and as soon as he got it he came out of the country with his family, leaving his job and property behind him.
His story, which was carried in the Sunday London Times, presents a graphic description of the systematic repression of the Bengalis in Bangladesh by the West Pakistani Army. He was accompanying a military unit as it went around the countrysied trying to do a “good job” of destroying life and property of the helpless villagers.
PAKISTANI BLACK-LIST FOR BENGALIS
A list of approximately 3000 names typed in 63 sheets of foolscape size paper are available with various branches of the occupation army in Bangladesh. Purpose? It’s anybody’s guess. This list is continually referred to by the State Bank of Pakistan and all major branches of the commercial banks in conducting their daily business.
A top-ranking Bengali official who just excaped from his death-trap in occupied Bangladesh gave the details of this black-list. The list, which is headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, includes politicians, professor, lawyers, businessmen, government officials, journalists and students.
The same source described the modus operandi of the army brutalities in recent days. Fatuallah and Siddhirganj have become two sites for daily mass execution in recent days. People collected from all around are assembled at night at these two points, tied togather and then thrown into the river. With a bomb-blast in a cinema hall or in a business district the army quickly rounds up a big catch for their nocturnal operation at Fatullah and Siddhirganj.
This highly-placed official also reports that at least four Bengali pilots who flew the PIA Boeing 707 planes have been killed. Captain Sikandar is one of them. All other Bengali pilots have been grounded. (Pakistan Air Force grounded all its Bengali officers since the invasion of Bangladesh began.) PIA has dismissd about 1500 Bengalis from its offices and another 250 from flight kitchens.
REPORTED STATEMENT BY PRINCE SADRUDDIN :
Prince Sadruddin, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is reported to have stated in a press interview in Calcutta that the situation in East Bengal is “optimistic” and that he “did not see why the refugees should not be able to return home in time.” This has created dismay and anger in the Bengali community all over the world.
It may be pointed out that Prince Sadruddin is also a religious leader of the Ismaili community. As such he cannot be expected to be completely impartial in view of the fact that his speaking the truth may adversely affect the Ismaili community in occupied Bangladesh. It is important that this fact in brought to the attention of the UN. We urge our readers to write to the Secretary General of the UN and other UN officials, including the representatives of the big powers at the UN pointing out that some impartial person be chosen to head the UN operation on Bengali refugees.
PAKISTAN ‘GUILTY OF GENOCIDE’
The president and military leaders of Pakistan are accused of having broken the genocide convention of the United Nations—and therefore, by implication, of being liable to trial—in a motion tabled in the House of Commons last week by 120 Labour MP’s.
They include six Privy Councillors, the chairman of the Labour Party, Mr. Ian Mikardo, and three other members of Labour’s national executive—Mr. Frank Allaun, Mr. Tom Bradley, and Mr. Tom Driberg.
The principal sponsor of the motion is Mr. John Stonehouse, formerly Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, who described the motion as “the greatest frontal attack on the head of a Commonwealth Government ever made”.
Mr. Stonehouse visited West Bengal in April, and went up to the East Bengal frontier. Although signatories for the motion were sought only from Labour members, Mr. Stonehouse said that some Tories were sympathetic. (The Liberals have already made clear their abhorrence of events in East Bengal.)
The motion reads : “This House believes that the wide-spread murder of civilians and the atrocities on a massive scale by the Pakistan army in East Bengal, contrary to the U.N. convention on genocide signed by Pakistan itself, confirms that the military Government of Pakistan has forfeited all rights to rule in East Bengal, following its wanton refusal to accept the democratic will of the people expressed in the election of Decmber, 1970.
NEWS IN BRIEF
A symposium on Bangladesh will be held at the University of Windsor, Canada, on July 7, 1971 at 7 :00 P.M. The topic for the symposium is THE CASE FOR BANGLADESH. Speakers will include Prof. Ron Inden, Department of History, University of Chicago, Prof. Ralph Nicholas, Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, Prof. Peter Bertocci, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Oakland University, Michigan, Azizul Hug Khondkar, BDL director from Detroit. The place of the meeting is The Room, Assumption College, 400 Huron Line, Windsor, Canand. Everybody is cordially invited to attend.
The next meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bangladesh Defense League will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, on July 3, 1971 (Saturday) at 1:30 P.M. All members of the BDL and sympathisers are welcome to attend this meeting. If you decide to come please contact BDL, 408 Virginia Terrace, Madison, Wisconsin (Phone 608-233-0253).
The Bangladesh Information Center has been set up in Washington headed by Mr. Abdur Razzaque Khan. This office will co-ordinate all lobbying activities in Washington, D.C. Please contact Mr. Khan (703-931-2997) if you need any guidence for lobbying.
MARCH AND RALLY IN SAN FRANCISCO
The American League for Bangladesh, Stanford chapter, in conjunction with several other organizations and other League chapters in the San Francisco Bay Area held a march and a rally on Wednesday, June 2, to support the struggle of the people of Bangladesh.
The activity started with a rally in front of the U.S. Federal Building in San Francisco. While several speakers discussed the tragedy of Bangladesh, a black coffin symbolizing this tragedy was placed on the steps of the Federal Building. People with black armbands and carrying posters condemning the genocide and the U.S. role in this tragedy stood around the coffin in silent protest. The speakers included Professor Kleindorfer of the University of California at Berkeley, Mrs. Judith Carnoy of the Pacific Studies Center, Palo Alto, Mr. Mark Schneider of the Socialist Worker’s Party and Dr. Rafiqur Rahman of the American League for Bangladesh. The speakers also pointed out that the United States government still maintains extensive military and economic involvement with West Pakistan and has refused to take a stand against the political repression and blatant massacre of the East Bengalis.
At the end of the rally a large group of protestors, with black armbands, marched to the Pakistani Consulate, a distance of about two and one-half miles. A majority of the participants in the march were Americans. Leaflets describing the purpose of this march were distributed among the pedestrians, shop owners, and residents of the area along the route of the march. During the march, three persons dressed in the native costume of the Bengali peasants carried the coffin on their shoulders. Thye also wore simulated “bloody bandages” on their foreheads to dramatize the plight of the Benagli victims of the Pakistani massacre. Slogans such as “Joi Bangla” and “Victory to Bangladesh” were frequently shouted during the march.
On reaching the Pakistani Consulate, the protestors held a short rally in front of the consulate building, where Dr. Rafiqur Rahman read a protest note.
BANGALDESH LEAGUE CONVENTION
National convention of the Bangladesh League of America will be held in New York on June 26, 1971. Representatives from all Bangladesh organizations have been requested to attend this meeting.
For Bangladesh literatures, buttons and bumper stickers please write to Bangladesh Defense League, Chicago.
Issued by
BANGLADESH DEFENSE LEAGUE
5245 S. Kenwood, Chicago, Ill. 60615