ERUDITE political journalist, B.Z. Khasru, focuses his attention in The Bangladesh Military Coup and the CIA Link on documenting and exploring one of the bloodiest and most fascinating episodes in Bangladesh’s history — the 1975 coup that overthrew Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, and the counter-coups that followed.

Those who expect to delve into a relatively light journalistic treatise, though, need be warned: Khasru’s tome is dense, complex, and heavily detailed. He draws frequently on previously unexamined and unpublished material taken from the United States National Archives in order to delineate the role played by the Americans (especially US national security advisor Henry Kissinger) in shaping the politics of South Asia in the early 1970s.

Khasru begins by documenting the history of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, and provides us with a deftly sketched political portrait of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who, inspite of having conceded independence to the Bangladeshis, remained adamant, and ultimately successful in freeing the majority of the West Pakistani prisoners of war from the clutches of the Indian and Bangladeshi governments.

The book presents Bhutto in a positive light, underscoring how he managed to navigate the turbulent geopolitical waters at that time, refusing to recognise Mujib’s state until his key demands had been met.

A particularly fascinating aspect of the text involves numerous (hitherto confidential) verbal exchanges between Kissinger and his major aides that serve to emphasise how intensely concerned the US was about the destabilisation of the South Asian region that would necessarily result from the fallout following the 1971 war. Credit must be given to Khasru for painstakingly outlining the various diplomatic stances to Bangladeshi politics adopted at diverse junctures by US ambassador to Dhaka, Davis Boster.

That Bangladesh was indebted to US humanitarian food aid is dealt with in the earlier portion of the text; later in the book Khasru notes that the independent state demanded military assistance from the US in order to safeguard its interests against India. It would have been worthwhile for Khasru to have depicted Indira Gandhi in as extensive a manner as he did Bhutto — unfortunately, the book ends up contrasting the late Indian prime minister’s emotional, ‘feminine’ temperament with that of male politicians in a manner that comes across as somewhat prejudiced, and decidedly unfavourable.

Perhaps Khasru can be excused for this gender bias because his text is ultimately almost entirely geared towards explicating aspects of the intensely patriarchal and male-dominated regimes of upper-level politics.

Inspite of his overwhelming national popularity, Mujib was unable to prevent some of his more aggressive military men from expressing intense dissatisfaction with his policies and lack of reform. This resulted in a tragic and bloody massacre of the president and most of his family members on Aug 15, 1975. Although the efforts of the formidable Shariful Haq Dalim and Colonels Faruk and Rashid placed Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed at the pinnacle of power following the coup, he too was overthrown by Ziaur Rehman, a brief three months later. Zia consolidated his position by wooing the Indians, a move that made him unpopular with nationalist parties such as the Awami League and the Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal, but was tacitly applauded by the Americans who were anxious that stability be restored in the country. Khasru pulls no punches when it comes to describing how precarious the echelons of power were in the state at the time; a number of the country’s top brass violently lost their lives in the months that followed president Mujib’s assassination, including former prime minister and finance minister, Tajuddin Ahmed.

What is perhaps most baffling about this otherwise gripping book is its title. Although an excellent marketing ploy, in point of fact this 400-page tome contains only three definitive pages about a probable CIA agent by the name of Emilio Garza who was using the Asian American Free Labor Institute as a front for his espionage-related activities. Khasru maintains an objective and balanced tone throughout about actual and probable American involvement in Bangladesh affairs of the 1970s. Even Sheikh Hasina’s emphatic assertions that international governments were implicitly involved in the plot to kill her father are only fleetingly touched upon. The Kissinger transcripts are indeed interesting, but they hardly connote anything sinister, or even inexplicable. The most chilling account of the massacre of Mujib’s family comes from a condemnatory letter written by the director-general of the Red Cross, Victor Umbricht, which places the blame for the deed squarely on the shoulders of the Bangladeshis themselves. It is sad that publishing has to rely on thrilling titles in order to lure audiences that would normally not immerse themselves in dense and dry historical texts.

It may be argued that for Khasru to include even three pages on the CIA’s direct role in Bangladesh is a bold move, but this does not detract from the point that the title misleads readers. Even more problematic is his inability to soundly document his information. Although chapter bibliographies are provided at the end of the text, not a single fact is footnoted or endnoted. This, plus the inexcusable absence of an index, mars an otherwise important endeavour.

Rainlight Rupa appears to have skimped on thorough editing of the work as well. Typos abound in the book, and while minor ones could be excused, there is a particularly embarrassing one on p. 250 where Khasru wishes to note that the “political changes in Bangladesh swung the pendulum in America’s favour.” Instead the phrase reads “swung the pudendum.” Although ultimately humorous, such an error only draws attention to the way in which careless mistakes can undermine even the most serious-minded writing. Nevertheless, the book will certainly interest many South Asian scholars in general, and those who study unstable dictatorships in particular.

The reviewer is Assistant Professor of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts at the Institute of Business Administration.

---- The Bangladesh Military Coup and the CIA Link

(HISTORY)

By B.Z. Khasru

Rainlight Rupa, India

ISBN 978-8129129086

399pp.