ONCE again we are on the backtrack, handing our detractors a field-day and harming the lives, liberty and well-being of 150 million Pakistanis, many of whom, hungry and thirsty, exist below the poverty line.
Portions of the main Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report of 1972 which does no damage to the interests of those now in power has been 'exhibited' (as opposed to released). Those who wish to read it and do not live in the capital city must travel all the way there to do so. Copies, strangely enough in view of the release last year of the Supplementary Report of 1974, have not been made available to the general public. Supposedly, we will now have to wait for the Indians to let us have the entire main report with the portions which have been withheld from us.
The principal culprits responsible for the break-up of Pakistan are all dead, the cleverest of the lot of course being the power-hungry, megalomaniac politician, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto - 'I'd rather be the topdog of half of Pakistan than the underdog of the whole of Pakistan.'
Second on the list is President of the Republic, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, But, to our eternal shame, the brave leaders who followed him denied him an open trial and an opportunity to speak.
It has been recorded, and remains uncontroverted, that to the credit of Yahya, it must be said that he never denied responsibility for the part he played in the dismemberment of Pakistan. He made this admission on many an occasion, including to the Hamoodur Rahman Commission. Major-General Rao Farman Ali Khan, in his book 'How Pakistan Got Divided', records: "As far as Yahya was concerned, the Commission stated that he had accepted responsibility for everything."
Yahya was immediately incarcerated and held incommunicado by Bhutto at the end of December 1971, first in a 'special house' and then in his own home. By the time Zia came along and released him it was too late. He had suffered a debilitating stroke and was severely incapacitated until he died.
The third culprit and victim was Mujibur Rahman, who, prior to the break-up, was imprisoned by Yahya, released to become the first head of the new country Bangladesh and was subsequently killed together with members of his close family, daughters Hasina and Rehana being the two survivors, by factions of his own warring former supporters. (Hasina is now the prime minister of Bangladesh and the least any gentleman from this side could now do, in this age of apology and frank admission, is to condole, sympathize and express regrets for the bitter bloody past.).
After the first three on the list of culprits follow the mass of minions, the misled empty-headed army, and the cunning devious bureaucrats (Pakistan's 'gods on earth') who from the very birth of the country regarded and treated the people of East Pakistan, the 'Bingos', like dirt (for want of a better word) and never missed an opportunity to humiliate them. Most of the top layer of bureaucrats are now dead. Those senior army officers who survive should be shamed and ostracized, even at this late stage of their lives. and not feted and feasted and requested to spare their valuable time to open flower shows and melas.
On the subject of Yahya Khan, reproduced is an excerpt from a book written by former American diplomat James W. Spain, 'In Those Days - A Diplomat Remembers'. It is humorous and informative and the portions relating to Pakistan tell us just how we are regarded by observers:
"Once the family and I went overseas again, the 'rubbing of shoulders' with the Great began in earnest. General Yahya Khan had replaced General Ayub Khan as president a few months before we arrived in troubled Pakistan in 1969. I had been friends with Yayha during my earlier incarnation in Karachi. That he liked a drink was known even then. Indeed, I had occasionally supplied a bottle of whiskey from our rationed diplomatic stock. I don't suppose that the difference was much greater in those days when he had been a colonel and I a vice-consul than that between a president and a charge d'affaires. I observed that now he never had anything more than a glass of sherry with lunch or dinner.
"In any event, in Pakistan old friendships run deep. To the annoyance of my anointed ambassadorial colleagues in Islamabad (including old friend General Parkavan, who was back in Pakistan as Iranian ambassador), Yahya took to calling the American charge to sit next to him on public occasions. We talked of the long-standing US-Pakistan alliance and how to preserve it. He got me off the hook with the US Air Force on the matter of compensation for the movables left at Badaber. I escorted to him a long line of visiting senior US officials, culminating in President Nixon's visit on August 1, 1969. Lasting good came out of that. Henry Kissinger's subsequent secret visit to Beijing from Pakistan, the first step in US recognition of Communist China, was arranged.
"By the time of the break-up of Pakistan in 1970-71, the pains were in far-off Turkey. Yahya emerged in the world press as the bloody but incompetent 'Butcher of Bengal'. Word came from old friends that he was drinking again. That may have explained some of the brutality and inefficiency of Islamabad's performance in what soon became the independent country of Bangladesh.
"In my mind even now, however, the real reasons for the break-up were different. Aspiring prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, fearing rejection by an East Pakistani majority, enraged the people of East Pakistan by forcing a delay in the national elections Yahya had promised to restore democracy. An always suspicious India seized the opportunity to undermine Pakistani unity and supported Bangladesh independence by war. In my experience, Yahya was a decent and honourable man. His intentions were good, and his sins were human. May peace be upon him."
Today Pakistan is mired in a deep sticky pool of cess. Our sole ally is the uneducated, violent, obscurantist, terrorism-bent Taliban government of the internationally-ostracized sanction-stricken Afghanistan.
General Pervez Musharraf and his men are floundering, as would 99 out of 100 in their position and circumstance. However, there is no corruption that we know of at the higher levels, and at the lower levels what seeps through is far less than it was in the 'democratic' '90s. That in itself is a plus. The general has neither the guile and gall of Zia-ul-Haq nor his amazing capacity to tell lies. Another plus. But, in a short space of time he has decided that he has been assigned a 'mission' (which he hinted was divinely inspired). Now this is a definite minus. Reportedly, he does not read as many newspapers as did Zia, thereby hoping that he will be less confused. Another minus.
The general's one ear is Major-General Rashid Qureshi who luckily does not commute as often as did Qaim Ali Shah, Benazir's commuting chief minister of Sindh, but who for ever seems to be hovering over various areas of our land and is thus affectionately known as 'Eagle'. He sometimes reads, and he may read this column.
As far as the Hamoodur Rahman Report is concerned, why not let the entire unexpurgated document be made public? This may do less harm than a truncated version which arouses high suspicion. Let It be read, commented upon and criticized. General Musharraf should be big enough to do this.
As for the people of Bangladesh, Musharraf should do as did Conrad Adenauer, Chancellor of West Germany, after World War II, who visited war memorials and various controversial sites and started the trend of atonement for the sins committed by a country at war. This trend has continued down a half century with other countries such as Japan and the US. If Musharraf cannot bring himself to travel and offer atonement for the sins committed for 24 long years by the Pakistan military and civil authorities, he should form a delegation of senior officials to do so. Is anyone in this country aware that it is the man who extends his hand and offers an apology, no matter how late, who is bigger than the one who doesn't?