Witness No. 276, Lt. Col. Aziz
Ahmad Khan, was present to testify before Hamood-Ur-Rehman Commission which was
set up in December 1971 to find out “the circumstances in which the Commander,
Eastern command, surrendered and the members of the Armed Forces of Pakistan
under his command laid down their arms” before the Indian Army after 1971 war.
The Commission put several questions to this witness including queries about ill
repute of the Commander Eastern Command, General A. K. Niazi qua his chastity
and sex matters. The statement given by the witness was highly shocking when he
stated that “the troops used to say that when the Commander (Lt. Gen. Niazi) was
himself a raper, how could they be stopped”.
After receiving substantial evidence in this regard the Commission was
constrained to remark in its report that “due to corruption arising out of the
performance of Martial Law duties, lust for wine and women and greed for lands
and houses, a large number of senior Army Officers, particularly those occupying
the highest positions, had not only lost the will to fight but also the
professional competence necessary for taking the vital and critical decisions
demanded of them for the successful prosecution of the war… [the] men given to a
disreputable way of life could hardly be expected to lead the Pakistan Army to
victory.”
The report of Commission was never published until in 2000 an Indian magazine
India Today leaked parts of it. And to date no action has been taken by any
government to implement any of recommendations put forward by the Commission.
Our governments chose not to disclose the truth to the public and a cooked up
version of 1971 tragedy was included in school and college textbooks. These
books, with little variations, sum up the whole episode of separation of East
Pakistan in following words; “In East Pakistan a great deal of propaganda was
already being carried on against West Pakistan, and after the announcement of
the postponement of the session of the National Assembly great disorder began in
the province in which peace and quiet disappeared. Elements which were enemies
of Pakistan took advantage of this situation and utilized it for their own
poisonous goals. These people had already been inciting the simple folk of East
Pakistan to demand separation, and now they assured the Bengalis that the West
Pakistani leadership did not want to transfer power to East Pakistan. After this
the Bengalis were given the impression that a conspiracy was being hatched
against them. Thus the movement of subversion and secession became strong in
East Pakistan, and at last things went out of control. West Pakistanis and
Biharis were massacred and the province was openly looted… When things were
completely beyond his control, Yahya Khan ordered an army action. Within one
month the army, to a great extent, cleared every part of East Pakistan of rebels
and miscreants and also all the enemies of Pakistan and their agents… After the
military action Yahya Khan did not pay any attention to a political solution of
the real problem. Therefore the rebel elements once again became active. At last
in November 1971 the Indian army invaded East Pakistan in full force (and in
December also attacked West Pakistan) and things took such a turn that by the
middle of December East Pakistan went into the hands of India.”
The governments not only attempted to conceal the truth but efforts were made to
suppress any voices raising truth. In this regard, mention of Section 123-A of
Pakistan Penal Code would be interesting which prohibits words spoken or written
“prejudicial to ideology of Pakistan” (words ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ inserted in
1992) and declares uttering or writing such words an offence punishable with
rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten (10) years. To qualify
the requirements of said provision, however; it is necessary that speaker or
author of such words must have an intention to “advocate the curtailment or
abolition of the sovereignty of Pakistan”. An act against the sovereignty of the
country can surely be a crime but an unconscious relation between Ideology of
Pakistan – an expression which, according to Ex-Chief Justice of Pakistan
Muhammad Munir, was unknown until 1962 – and sovereignty of the country is not
understandable, except, as the historical evidence in abundance suggests, that
the so called Ideology has been widely used as a shield to suppress the truth
and murder the history.
In the name of Ideology of Pakistan, a planned move to distort the history began
in Zia era. State-published textbooks have emphasized a lot on it since then as
the dictator envisioned manufacturing a youth having his brand of Islamic
outlook and mind. His education policy (promulgated in 1979) envisaged that
“highest priority would be given to the revision of the curricula with a view to
reorganizing the entire content around Islamic thought and giving education an
ideological orientation so that Islamic ideology permeates the thinking of the
younger generation and helps them with the necessary conviction and ability to
refashion society according to Islamic tenets”. In practice, the policy also
included distortion of historical facts and rewriting of country’s history.
Though the murder of history had already started in Ayub’s era, Zia regime took
the practice to its ultimate climax. Winston Churchill’s saying “history will be
kind to me for I intend to write it” was perhaps misunderstood by Zia as he
ordered to ‘rewrite’ same.
Thenceforth the students are being taught myths and fairy tales in the name of
history. Every effort has been made to keep them ignorant from reality and
facts. They are forced to learn carefully selected collection of falsehood,
fairy tales and plain lies. The intensity of lies which have been fed (and are
being fed) to the students can be measured by the statement of Air Marshall (Retd.)
Asghar Khan, who categorically stated in June 2011, that “from the first
incursion after independence in Kashmir till Kargil, all hostilities were
started by us (Pakistan)” and not by India. Needless to mention that we all have
been taught in school and college that 1965 and 1971 wars started when ‘all of a
sudden coward Indian Army attacked the Land of Pure under the cover of
darkness’.
It is disappointing that our intelligentia and pseudo intellectuals have abetted
our governments in this conspiracy of murdering history. Renowned historian K.
K. Aziz quotes one such intellectual writing on 1971 war that “the Pakistan
armed forces created new records of bravery, and the Indian forces were defeated
everywhere”. These intellectuals fail to mention that Commander of Eastern
Command, Lt. Gen. A. K. Niazi – otherwise known as ‘Tiger Niazi’ – was shivering
with fear of death during the war. The Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission when asked
this Tiger about his weakness for the fair sex, he replied, “I say no… I became
very religious during the East Pakistan trouble. I was not so before. I thought
more of death than these things.” A prudent mind fails to accept that a person
of such weak nerves rose to become a general and commander to lead an army in an
all out war.
These historians, while writing on the 1971 war, further fail to mention the
Operation Searchlight, alleged killing of civilians and Bengali intellectuals by
Pak Army, rape of Bengali women and violence against them and other atrocities
by committed our soldiers. They even attempt to wash out from historical records
the humiliating defeat of Pakistan in the war and shameful surrender of our over
90,000 troops before the Indian Army.
Winston Churchill once said, “The farther backward you can look, the farther
forward you are likely to see.” By reading our history books, we look nothing
but a bright and shining past. Its shine makes our eyes blind and we are bound
to fail to set on correct path for future.
In an attempt to make our past bright, they are forcing us towards darkness.