Claims of 3 million massacres in Bangladesh: What is the truth?

(The author of this article does not want to reveal his identity. He runs a Facebook page about Pakistani history called Ancient Pakistan.)

Let me start with the biggest controversial issue which is a self-made story that the Pakistani army killed 3 million people during the 1971 civil war in East Pakistan.

This allegation was first made by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on January 8, 1972, which seems to be circulating as a fact. But Bangladeshi sources also question its authenticity.

Sirajur Rahman, a journalist and broadcaster then associated with BBC Bangladesh, wrote an article for the British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ in 2011 in which he explains where the figure of 3 million came from.

I was the first person to meet the founder of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after his release from Pakistan on January 8, 1972. He was brought by Indian High Commissioner Apa Bhai Panth to Claridge from Heathrow, almost immediately after which I also reached there.

Hearing ‘Your Excellency’ from Mr Panth, Mujeeb hesitated. When I clarified the point and told him that Bangladesh has become independent and you have been elected president in your absence, he was very surprised.

He apparently arrived in London with the feeling that Bangladesh had been granted the full territorial autonomy he had been fighting for. That day I and the rest informed him of the full situation of the war.

I said, “The confirmed number of those who lost their lives is not available, but based on various sources, our estimate is ‘three lakh’.”

“But later when he said in an interview to the famous British journalist David Frost that ‘three million of my people’ were killed by the Pakistanis,” I was stunned at that time. God knows whether their disorganized state of mind was to blame or they mistranslated ‘million’ into ‘million’, but many Bangladeshis consider the figure of three million unrealistic and unreliable.

Sirajur Rahman’s article ‘Mujib’s hesitation over Bangladeshi deaths’ appeared in The Guardian on 24 May 2011.

However, Bangladesh’s first foreign secretary, Syed A. Karim, told a different story of the origin of the claim of 3 million deaths.

‘As for the number of Bengalis killed in the War of Independence, the figure of three million given by Mujeeb to David Frost in 1972 is incredibly exaggerated. He took this number from an article in Pravada, linked to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Excerpt from Sheikh Mujib: Triumph and Tragedy by Syed A Karim.

But where did Parvada get Mujeeb’s hand in London? The answer comes from an article in the newspaper ‘Bangladesh Observer’.

The newspaper of the Communist Party wrote that according to the reports of ENA, during the last nine months, 3 million Bengalis were killed by Pakistani exploitative forces across Bangladesh.

Quoting its special correspondent stationed in Dhaka, the newspaper wrote that the Pakistani army killed 800 intellectuals in Dhaka alone, the capital of Bangladesh, before surrendering to the Mukti Bahini and allied forces.

It is unclear where Parvada got this figure as the paper quotes its special correspondent, which the Bangladesh Observer later quotes. It is not difficult to guess that the Soviet Union played a major role in fueling the insurgency in East Pakistan.

Yuri Bezmanov, a retired psychological warfare officer of the Russian intelligence agency KGB, explains in a TV interview how the Soviet Union helped Mujeeb through India.

Bangladesh apparently tried in 1974 to count the number of Bengalis killed in 1971. However, the actual numbers collected after most of the research work was done put the number at two and a half lakh, which is nowhere near Mujib’s claim of three million in 1972.

After hearing the numbers, Mujeeb stopped the investigation. Far Eastern Economic Review’s correspondent in Bangladesh, Lawrence Lafschels, wrote about it in detail.

‘While reporting I met a very interesting person who had a fascinating story related to his work in recent days. He was an employee of the Ministry of Home Affairs and part of the team that was collecting the full death toll during the nine-month war that raged across the country in 1971.

“The Ministry of Interior was determining how many people were directly killed by the Pakistani army and their local allies. She was also looking at how many people died en route or on arrival at refugee camps across the Indian border.

A large majority of the dead were children and the elderly. The research was conducted by social workers who systematically visited different families in the villages and obtained information about the members of that village who died during or as a result of the war.

‘They were gradually creating a collective image of the entire country. By the time we met, the survey had been completed in about one-third of the districts.

‘My interior ministry source told me that according to their estimate the number of people who died in the war was around 250,000. As far as I remember it does not include the young, the sick and the elderly who lost their lives fleeing from refugee camps or fear of the Pakistani army.

“A quarter of a million people killed by military violence is a horrifying and deplorable number by any measure. However, according to my sources, this research was stopped and submitted to the office in an incomplete state.

“This was because the review was reaching a statistical conclusion that was not in line with the prevailing narrative that 3 million people died during military violence and migration in search of asylum.”

Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief and former prime minister Khaleda Zia has also questioned the veracity of the 3 million claim.

How many lakhs of people were killed in the war of independence is still hotly debated today. Different books and documents give different figures.’ Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia (Sources)

According to Population Studies Volume No. 30: Journal of Demography, a 1976 study entitled ‘Demographic Crisis: The Effects of Civil War in Bangladesh’ gives a figure of 500,000 deaths during the war.

A study published in the 2008 issue of the British Medical Journal, ‘Fifty Years of Violent War Deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: A Review of World Health Service Statistics’ estimated approximately 269,000 deaths during the 1971 Bangladesh war (range 125,000 to 505,000). showing) mentions.

The review also mentions that the human casualties of the war in Bangladesh were initially estimated at around 58,000. The objective of this review was to provide an accurate estimate of the casualties during the war. The review analyzed war casualties in thirteen countries over a 50-year period.

Some Bangladeshis, and for that matter Indians too, believe in this absurd number, despite real evidence from sources other than Pakistan to prove the 3 million as a myth. Convenor of the War Fact Finding Committee of Bangladesh, MA Hassan, says that the number of martyrs of the war of independence is an issue on which no one should raise any questions.

This statement from a person who is the head of the ‘Fact Finding Committee’ is very painful. This is a proof that the search for facts is not impartial here but for the purpose of further solidifying this fictitious narrative.

After regaining power in 2009, the Awami League used the sentiments associated with the 1971 war as justification to impose a one-party dictatorship in Bangladesh. According to this view of history, only the Awami League is entitled to the party and government of the Liberation War, while the other opposition parties are branded as ‘pro-Pakistan’ and declared dangerous and treacherous.

However, in the eyes of many other Bengalis and non-Bengalis, it is very important to raise questions about the 1971 war.

The above written material is mostly taken from short reviews and articles. However, if you want an in-depth, unbiased study of the events of 1971, I would recommend Sarmila Bose’s book “Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War.”

Sharmila Bose is credited with the first research work by any researcher on the 1971 war in East Pakistan. He is an American academic and journalist who is currently a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Oxford’s International Center for Research.

American historian Sharmila Bose is currently a specialist in Indian history at Oxford University’s International Center for Research. He is credited with writing the first primary book on the 1971 war in an in-depth analytical manner.

Bose’s investigation began in 1971 when he saw a photograph of the Jessore massacre on April 2, 1971.

The photo’s caption is as brutal as the content: ‘April 2, 1971, Genocide by Pakistan Army at Jessore.’ This photo is included in a book compiled by a Bangladeshi to remember the victims of the war of independence. . There are many such scenes. There are many photographs of the victims of the 1971 war that have been published in various books, newspapers and websites.

While studying the 1971 war, he came across the same picture taken from a slightly different angle in another book, showing the same corpses and scenes of carnage. But wait a moment, here was Kapesh: ‘Corpses of businessmen killed by rebels in Jessore city.’

This alternative caption is included in the book The East Pakistan Tragedy, by LF Rushbrook Williams, written before the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. Rushbrook Williams is a staunch supporter of the Pakistani government and a staunch critic of the Awami League.

However, he remained associated with All Souls College and Oxford, working for the BBC and The Times, in addition to holding various posts in academia and India. So there is no reason for them to intentionally put a wrong caption on a picture of a carnage.

Moreover, a war in which many corpses were left behind, but surprisingly, these are few corpses claimed by both the warring parties! Who were these people? Who killed them?

It seems that the Mysore massacre was genocide, but not by the Pakistani army. These were the bodies of non-Bengalis living in Mysore who were butchered in broad daylight by Bengali nationalists.

Excerpt from Sharmila Bose’s article ‘The Reality of the Jessore Massacre’ published in The Telegraph, March 19, 2006.

It is clear from the picture that some of the dead bodies in Jessore were wearing shalwar kameez which is a proof that they are West Pakistani or Bihari. Counting every body in his book, Bose ultimately estimates the death toll at between 50,000 and 100,000, including Bengalis, Biharis, West Pakistanis and others who died on both sides.

After reading this book I would suggest you another book written in 1971 by Bengali nationalist Dr. M. Abdulmomin Chaudhary who was active in the separatist movement.

In his book Behind the Myth of Million, he debunks the self-made and conspiracy theories associated with 1971. Citing various sources, he also reveals that after the creation of Bangladesh, the government offered to pay 2,000 Taka to the families of the victims, but only 3,000 families claimed this compensation.

If 3 million Bengalis had been killed, a much larger number of families would have emerged. Moreover, the actual strength of the army fighting in East Pakistan was 40,000 and not 93,000. This meant that when India attacked in East Pakistan, there was one Pakistani soldier in front of their 50 soldiers.