Pakistan should apologize to BD for '71 tragedy

Hasan Akhtar
Courtesy: Frontline [29 January 1998 ]
 

ISLAMABAD, Jan 28: Air Marshal Asghar Khan has justified the reported demand of Dhaka that Pakistan should apologise to the people of Bangladesh for the 1971 tragedy, and said it would be a proper and decent course for Islamabad to adopt.

The founder president of Tehrik-i-Istiqlal told Dawn here on Wednesday that Pakistan would never be able to absolve itself from the tragedy of East Pakistan, which led to colossal loss of life and dismemberment of Pakistan, even after the lapse of many, many years.

A Bangladesh news agency report on Jan 26 stated that Dhaka wanted Islamabad to "express regret for the 1971 genocide in former East Pakistan". The report recalled a recent statement of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif saying his government would like to punish all those responsible for the 1971 tragedy.

"But we would like them to go a little further by regretting the genocide against the people of Bangladesh", the Dhaka report stated, attributing the observation to a Bangladesh foreign ministry official.

Asked for his comments on the Dhaka demand, Mr Khan said he sincerely believed that it would be a decent and proper course for Pakistan to adopt, pointing out that he had all along condemned the military action in former East Pakistan.

Mr Khan, who now heads an alliance of several parties, called the Pakistan National Conference, said Japan and the US had also publicly apologised for committing atrocities during the last world war.

"It is apparent that even after 27 years, it will be a national mistake to gloss over the events of 1971 tragedy,as has been done by General 'Tiger' Niazi in his recent book and the reaction it aroused, particularly from an important bureaucratic actor of that period in his scathing criticism of Niazi's version of the 1971 story", he added.

The Foreign Office here declined to be drawn into any "on record" comment on the Dhaka news report. It is, however, apparent that the report has touched its raw nerves, particularly at a time when it is making allout effort to bring to world attention the Indian forces' oppression in held Kashmir.

Observers said the Foreign Office could still make amends for the past lapse by accepting Islamabad's responsibility for the East Pakistan tragedy.This would greatly strengthen its argument against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir,they added.

It may also be opportune at this stage when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is reported to have affirmed his intention to punish those guilty of the 1971 tragedy, to seriously consider making public the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report which has not seen the ray of light even after more than two decades.

Some of the press reporters who were called to the chamber of the then Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman's chamber at the Supreme Court premises on Rawalpindi' Peshawar Road after he had submitted his report to the then government, should be able to recall that along with voluminous main report on the military debacle, the Commission had also a summary prepared for news media.

Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman pointing to the neatly bound copies of the Summary, said that it would facilitate correct presentation of the condensed version of the main report, besides taking care of the sensitivity of the Establishment about those issues which could be considered harmful on points of security. Subsequently on an occasion, the Chief Justice who by that time had retired, had admitted he was disappointed over the non- publication of the report which had been the result of painstaking work of the statutory Commission.

It may still be not too late to publish at least the abridged version of the Commission report to remove lurking doubts and answer nagging questions relating to the nightmare events of 1970-71.