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Jamat-e-Islami

This page is dedicated to Prof Humayun Azad: academic, critic, linguist and poet, for his commitment to the demystification of the so-called Islamic politics of Jamat-e-Islami and like-minded extreme jihadi outfits (who are often ex-members of Jamat-e-Islami or its student organization Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir.

Blast at a Bangla New Year’s Fair in Dhaka in 2001

Blast at a Bangla New Year’s Fair in Dhaka in 2001. Screenshot from video

The onslaught on secular Intellectuals during 2001-04 (click here for 1971)

Principal Gopal K Muhuri: 2001 Journalist Manik Saha Prof Azad: 27 Feb 04

Stats of bombings carried out by the Jamati/Jihadi terrorists

Date Location District Target Weapons used No of deaths No of injuries Updates
9 Sep 04 Chittagong Chittagong public-bomb scare bomb found in a bin on the street 1
9 Sep 04 Noapara public 4 bombs 800gm explosive material 3 arrested
9 Sep 04 Tekerhat public 5 kilos of materials 2 arrested
9 Sep 04 Faridpur Faridpur bomb scare 3 bombs, 3 round SLR bullets, explosive materials 13
9 Sep 04 Madaripur Madaripur Planned bomb scare 26,000 chocolate bombs captured
Sylhet exploded in the Jihadists’  house A shell of anti-aircraft gun (army issue) exploded 5
21 Aug 04 Rally against terrorism in front of AL office Dhaka Sheikh Hasina & key AL leaders Grenade & gunshot 19 300 A Hindu cyber cafe owner Partha Saha is arrested and maimed by police torture in custody. Govt is trying to implicate  Al and India
Shrine of Shah Jalal Sylhet Mayor Bomb
21 May 04 Shrine of Shah Jalal Sylhet The British High Commissioner Grenade 03 50 No progress
21 Feb 04 Fulbaria Mymensingh Rally on Language Movement day Bomb recovered from a water tank No progress
28 Jan 04 Winter fair, Golakandail, Rupgonj Narayangonj Visitors of centuries-old traditional winter fair bomb 02 20
12 Jan 04 Shrine of Shah Jalal Sylhet Religious congregation bomb 05 50
13 Feb 03 Islami Militants Camp (Jamaatul Mujahidin) at Chhoto Gurgola Dinajpur Documents revealed that terrorists were planning to bomb an open-air concert at Dinajpur Stadium and Festival of Painting Hena / Mehendi in hands. bombs exploded in the house of the jihadist 15 Accused were released by Court due to lack of evidence
17 Jan 03 Shrine of Pagla Pir at Shakhipur Tangail Village carnival bomb 07 20 No progress
6 Dec 02  Four Cinema Halls Mymensing Viewers Time bomb 27 300 No progress.
28 Sep 02 Gurpukurer Mela and Cinema Hall Satkhira Visitors of a folk festival a bomb went off at the fair. Another bomb was recovered from the cinema hall on the same day. 04 No progress.
26 Sep 01 Awami League public meeting Sunamgonj Supporters of a secular political party bomb 04 No progress.
23 Sep 01  Awami League rally   08 Bagerhat Election Campaign rally of a secular political party No progress.
16 June 01 District Awami League office Narayanganj Office of a Secular Political party a powerful bomb was detonated Police said the allegation against accused could not be proved. 22 50 A new case was filed accusing a number of AL activist
3 June 01 Church at Baniarchar Gopalgonj Christian community Time Bomb 10 25 No progress
14 Apr 01 Ramna Park, Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka People celebrating Bangla new years remote-controlled bombs were detonated 11 22 No progress
20 Jan 01 CPB Conference,
Paltan Ground
Dhaka Rally of Communist Party of Bangladesh Explosive implement underneath the earth 07 50 No progress
20 July 00 Kotalipara, Helipad Gopalgonj Attempt to assassinate the then Prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Two heavy bombs were planted at the helipad No progress
8 Oct 99 Ahmadiyya Mosque Khulna Prayer Center of Ahmadiyya sect. 08  No progress
6 Mar 99 Udichi Central conference   10 100 Jessore Cultural conference explosive implement
underneath the earth
10 100 Charge sheet submitted but the process was negated by the government allowing the accused to go free.

List of secular Bangalees killed by Jamati/Jihadi terrorists

Name Profile Location
Dr Yunus Prof of Economics, Rajshahi University, Vice President, Bangladesh Economists’ Society Rajshahi University campus
Dipankar Chakraborty Journalist, executive editor, Durjoy Bangla Bogra
Humayun Kabir Balu Chair Khulna Press Club and Editor The Janma Bhumi Khulna
Ahsanullah Master Member of Parliament, Awami League Gazipur
Manik Saha Journalist Khulna
Prof Humayun Azad Prof of Bangla literature, Dhaka University (attacked in Dhaka university campus but later died in Germany) Dhaka University campus
Manjurul Imam Lawyer
Bijan Bihari Lawyer
Sajjad Hossain Lawyer Chuadanga, Uthli
Kamrul Islam Kutu Opposition politician AL Ward 29 Khulna
Syed Faruq Ahmed News editor, Weekly Pubali Shrimangal
Harun-or-Rashid Senior Crime Reporter, Daily Purbanchol Khulna
Ahsan Ali Journalist, Daily Jugantor, Rupganj correspondent Gandhabpur,
Manjur Morhsed Labu General secretary, AL Khulna City-ward-19 Khulna
Wahab Ali Joardar Chair AYL, Atlia UP, Khulna Sadar Khulna
Chan Miyan Sikder Opposition politician
Alimuz Zaman Opposition politician Bagherhat
Bhupal Barma Opposition politician Chitalmari
SK Mukherjee Physician and organizer of the liberation war
Ataur Rahman Shanti Teacher and opposition politician Kotchandpur
Ahmed Ali Opposition politician Gangnei Upazilla Meherpur
Ibrahim Sardar Opposition politician Noapara municipality
Ali Hossain Opposition politician Chuadanga
Mashiur Rahman Bipu Opposition politician
Fazlur Rahman Opposition politician Sharsha, Jessore
Jamat-e-Islam: The Hard Facts

Jamat doesn’t preach Mohammedan Islam, it preaches Maududi version of Islam which is a combination of aggressive tribal values coated with quasi egalitarianism and Leninist party line combat tactics. Maududi was an installed and patronized by British imperialism and Jamat was originally created by CIA and trained by ISI to fight the communists so as to preclude the emergence of another socialist region comprising Nepal, Bangladesh, Tripura and West Bengal. Jamat emerged out of the researches carried out by various Orientalist institutions in UK, France and Germany and recommended, most likely, by TE Lawrence as an effective subversive method against the advancement of India.

Jamat-e-Islam as a political party did not grow from the grass-root level. It never had more than .2% representation in the parliament. The reason it became such a powerful fascist organization is it is installed by the British imperialists and then pampered by the neo-imperialists (US). The same imperialist strategy underlies the creation of HAMAS in Palestine and Jamat-e-Islami in Bangladesh. Jamat-e-Islam always pursued British agendas in British India and they presently pursue US interest in Bangladesh. Jamat-e-Islami never opposed the US attack on Iraq.

The net profit of Jamati investment per annum is 500,000,000,00 (10% of the annual budget of the Bangladesh government). Click here for a detailed report.

The sources of Jamati income are: Muslim NGOs (a billion-dollar industry supported by the Middle Eastern Islamic countries such as Saudi Arab, Libya and Iran) arms and drug trafficking, Arab Bangladesh Bank, private clinics, private universities, chain of kindergartens (Ideal) schools around the country, nearly 120,000 Islamic schools (madrasas), tea stalls, coaching centres, fax/photocopy shops.

The largest chunk of Jamati income is invested in order to install and reinforce Islamic ideology among the educated middle class. Private universities, namely North-South, IUB, are used as Jamati bases to launch an ideological campaign.

Hundreds of academics are kept on Jamati payroll in order to establish Islamic ideology as the dominant discourse. The opportunist intellectuals are paid to keep their mouth shut or to propagate Islam while the secular humanist/main conformist intellectuals are killed by Jamati goons.

Jamati terrorist cells are organized and operatives are trained by the military personnel of Pakistan Military Intelligence (ISI) and based on al-Qaida model. Jamati terrorist operatives are caught, home and abroad, teamed up with international al-Qaida operatives. Al-Qaida videos are used in training the Jamati operatives in various training camps in northern and southern districts of Bangladesh.

The most alarming form of Jamati activism is not the armed terrorism, torture and extortions, but the rapidly expanding Jamati control of the Bangladeshi minds through its domination in the educational institutions and media. While Islam is challenged everywhere around the world, Jamat succeeded in turning Islamic ideology into a discursive movement as Marxism was among the Bangalee intellectuals in the 1960s. Decontexualized English language (using Koran as texts for English language learning) is promoted in private schools and universities to install and advance Islamic ideology. Pro Jamati academics are appointed in all the major universities. The Jamati VC of National University created 600 posts overnight to Jamatize the whole university.

THE RETURN OF JAMAT-E-ISLAM

The idea that the Muslim-dominated parts of British India should become a separate country was articulated for the first time in a short essay written in 1933 by an Indian Muslim student at Cambridge, Rahmat Ali. He even proposed a name for the new state – Pakistan – which was an acronym based on the nations that would compose it: Punjab, Afghan (the Northwest Frontier), Kashmir, Indus (or Sindh) and Baluchistan. The new name also meant “the Land of the Pure.”

However, the acronym did not include India’s most populous Muslim province, East Bengal, and, at first, most Islamic groups opposed the idea of religious nationalism. The most prestigious Islamic university in the subcontinent, the Darul Uloom, was located at Deoband in Saharanpur district of what now is Uttar Pradesh in India, and its leaders strongly supported the Indian nationalist movement led by the Congress. The Jamat-e-Islami, which was founded in 1941 by Maulana Abul Ala Maududi and had grown out of the Deoband Madrassa (as the university became known) went to the extent of “alleging that the demand for a separate state based on modern selfish nationalism amounted to rebelling against the tenets of Islam.”

Key Jamati leaders

Top Jamatis are all war criminals of 1971: Gholam Azam, Saidi, Shaikhul Hadis, Amini, SAKA, Nizami & Mojahid. Click here for their criminal past.

But gradually, the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, won support for the Pakistan idea, and when India became independent in August 1947, two states were born: the secular but Hindu-dominated Union of India – and the Islamic State of Pakistan, which consisted of two parts, one to the west of India and the other to the east. The Jamat became one of the strongest supporters of the Pakistan idea, and, somewhat ironically, the Deobandi movement through its network of religious schools, or madrassas, developed into a breeding ground for Pakistan-centered Islamic fundamentalism. Over the years, the Deobandi brand of Islam has become almost synonymous with religious extremism and fanaticism.

The Deobandis had actually arisen in British India not as a reactionary force but as a forward-looking movement to unite and reform Muslim society in the wake of oppression the community faced after the 1857 revolt, or “Mutiny” as the British called it. But in independent Pakistan – East and West – new Deobandi madrassas were set up everywhere, and they were run by semi-educated mullahs who, according to Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, “were far removed from the original reformist agenda of the Deobandi school.”

Much later, it was from these madrassas Afghanistan’s dreaded Taliban (“Islamic Students”) were to emerge. The Jamat was from the beginning inspired by the Ikhwan ul-Muslimeen, or the Muslim Brotherhood, which was set up in Egypt in 1928 with the aim of bringing about an Islamic revolution and creating an Islamic state. When they had come to accept Pakistan as that Islamic state, Bengali nationalism was totally unacceptable. The Jamat’s militants fought alongside the Pakistan army against the Bengali nationalists. Among the most notorious of the Jamat leaders was Abdul Kader Molla, who became known as “the Butcher of Mirpur,” a Dhaka suburb which in 1971 was populated mainly by non-Bengali Muslim immigrants. Today, he is the publicity secretary of Bangladeshi Jamat, and, despite his background, was granted a US visa to visit New York in the last week of June 2002. In 1971, he and other Jamat leaders were considered war criminals by the first government of independent Bangladesh, but they were never prosecuted as they had fled to Pakistan.

The leaders of the Jamat returned to Bangladesh during the rule of Zia and Ershad because they were invited to come back, and they also saw Ershad especially as a champion of their cause. This was somewhat ironic as Ershad was – and still is – known as a playboy and hardly a religiously-minded person. But he had introduced a string of Islamic reforms – and he needed the Jamat to counter the Awami League, and, like his predecessor Zia, he had to find ideological underpinnings for what was basically a military dictatorship. The problem was that the Jamat had been discredited by its role in the liberation war – but, as a new generation emerged, that could be “corrected.” Jamat’s Islamic ideals were taught in Bangladesh’s madrassas, which multiplied at a tremendous pace. The madrassas fill an important function in an impoverished country such as Bangladesh, where basic education is available only to a few. Today, there are an estimated 64,000 madrassas in Bangladesh, divided into two kinds. The Aliya madrassas are run with government support and control, while the Dars-e-Nizami or Deoband-style madrassas are totally independent. Aliya students study for 15-16 years and are taught Arabic, religious theory and other Islamic subjects as well as English, mathematics, science and history. They prepare themselves for employment in government service, or for jobs in the private sector like any other college or university student. In 1999, there were 7,122 such registered madrassas in Bangladesh.

The much more numerous Deobandi madrassas are more “traditional”; Islamic studies dominate, and the students are taught Urdu (the national language of Pakistan), Persian and Arabic. After finishing their education, the students are incapable of taking up any mainstream profession, and the mosques and the madrassas are their main sources of employment. As Bangladeshi journalist Salahuddin Babar points out: “Passing out from the madrassas, poorly equipped to enter mainstream life and professions, the students are easily lured by motivated quarters who capitalize on religious sentiment to crate fanatics, rather than modern Muslims.”

The consequences of this kind of madrassa education can be seen in the growth of the Jamat. It did not fare well in the 1996 election, capturing only three seats in the parliament and 8.61% of the votes.16 Its election manifesto was also quite carefully worded, perhaps taking into consideration the party’s reputation and the fact that the vast majority of Bangladeshis remain opposed to Sharia law and other extreme Islamic practices. The 23-page document devoted 18 pages to lofty election promises, and only five to explaining Jamat’s political stand. The party tried to reassure the public that it would not advocate chopping off thieves’ hands, stoning of people committing adultery or banning interest – at least not immediately. According to the NGO SEHD: The priority focus would be the alleviation of poverty, stopping free mixing of sexes and thus awakening the people to the spirit of Islam and then eventually step by step the Islamic laws would be introduced.

It is impossible to determine how much support the Jamat actually had in the 2001 election as it was part of an alliance whose various members voted for each other against the Awami League, but its 17 seats in the new parliament – and two ministers in the government – suggest a dramatic increase. Its youth organization, Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), is especially active. It is a member of the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations as well as the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and has close contacts with other radical Muslim groups in Pakistan, the Middle East, Malaysia and Indonesia. One of its main strongholds is at the university in Chittagong, and it dominates the Deobandi madrassas all over the country, from where it draws most of its new members. It has been implicated in a number of bombings and politically and religiously motivated assassinations.

On April 7, 2001, two leaders of the Awami League’s youth and student front were killed by ICS activists and on June 15, an estimated 21 people were killed and over 100 injured in a bomb blast at the Awami League party office in the town of Narayanganj. Two weeks later, the police arrested an ICS activist for his alleged involvement in the blast.18 A youngish Islamic militant, Nurul Islam Bulbul, is the ICS’s current president, and Muhammad Nazrul Islam its general secretary.

For many years the mother party, the Jamat, was led by Gholam Azam, who had returned from Pakistan when Zia was still alive and in power. He resigned in December 2000, and Motiur Rahman Nizami took over as the new Amir of the party amid wide protests and demands that he be put on trial for war crimes he committed during the liberation war as the head of a notorious paramilitary force, the Al-Badar. In one particular incident on December 3, 1971, some members of that force seized the village of Bishalikkha at night in search of freedom fighters, beating many and killing eight people. When Nizami’s appointment was made public, veterans of the liberation war burnt an effigy of him during a public rally. In October 2001, Nizami was appointed minister for agriculture, an important post in a mainly agricultural country such as Bangladesh. His deputy, Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid, became minister for social welfare. The terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001, occurred during the election campaign in Bangladesh when the country was ruled by a caretaker government. But the outgoing prime minister, the Awami League’s Sheikh Hasina, and then opposition leader Khaleda Zia of the BNP, condemned the attacks and both, if they were elected, offered the United States use of Bangladesh’s air space, ports and other facilities to launch military attacks against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Many Bangladeshis were moved by the loss of as many as 50 of their countrymen in the attacks on the World Trade Center. While some of them were immigrants working as computer analysts and engineers, most seem to have been waiters at the Window on the World restaurant who were working hard to send money back to poor relatives in Bangladesh. A Bangladeshi embassy official in Washington branded the attacks “an affront to Islam…an attack on humanity.” Jamat’s stand on the “war against terrorism,” however, contrasts sharply to that of the more established parties. Shortly after the US attacks on Afghanistan began in October 2001, the Jamat created a fund purportedly for “helping the innocent victims of America’s war.” According to the Jamat’s own announcements, 12 million Bangladeshi takas ($210,000) was raised before the effort was discontinued in March 2002. Any remaining funds, the Jamat then said, would go to Afghan refugees in camps in Pakistan.

Click here to view the Network of Jamati terrorist cells and organized bomb blasts around the country

Jamat-e-Islami of Bangladesh and the Regional Jihadi Networks

by Shahriar Kabir

Most national dailies of Bangladesh published on May 21, 2004, the gruesome photographic testimony of brutality of Bangla Bhai, the self-proclaimed militant fundamentalist, from greater Rajshahi area. The picture showed the dead body of Abdul Qayum Badshah (52) of the Raninagar of Naogaon district, hanging from the branch of a tree. It has been alleged that Badshah was a member of the Sarbahara Party. The Jihadi outfit, Jagrata Muslim Janata of Bangladesh (JMJB) brutally killed him and hung his dead body from a tree to warn the anti-fundamentalists of dire consequences that anyone opposing them.

Such grisly pictures were familiar during the liberation war of 1971. The Pakistani army used to kill the Bangladeshi freedom lovers and hung their dead bodies from the trees. They would at times hung them alive from the trees upside down and light fires below to roast living human beings. Alternatively, they skinned them alive while hanging. Again we saw such pictures in the Taliban’s Afghanistan. They killed pro-communist President Najibullah and hung his dead body publicly in Kabul. This was to demonstrate to their socialists and communist opponents what brutality the Mullah Omar’s Taliban were capable of. Now again after eight years, with Talibanist coalition Government of Bangladesh, we visited similar pictures of fundamentalist brutality.Three days after the publication of the vicious picture of hanging dead body of Badshah an appeal was published in Daily Janakantha, under the title, “ Aro asankhya gachhe asankhya lash jhule thakar aggei kichhu karun” (Please act before numerous more trees have innumerable more dead bodies hanging from them). This appeal was a letter from Shafiqpur High School’s Head Master Mahmud Musa, a victim himself, who wrote as follows:“I am the Head Master of Shafiqpur High School of Rani Nagar Sub-District, Naogaon District of North Bengal. My home is also in the same village. In the last fifteen years, I built this High School on own paternal property step by step, with the help of education loving public of the area and public representatives. With persistent personal effort, and in my small way, thus I had managed propagation of education in the area. On May 8th last the JMJB cadres attacked and razed to ground my four-roomed inherited paternal living quarters. This incident was published in various national dailies on May 16th, 2004. On the same day, another seventy houses were razed to the ground including that of another Head Master and an elected chairman. In these conditions, I and other members of my family have taken shelter in a nearby town. Before the tragedy of the destruction of our ancestral house and leaving the village could be absorbed, the JMJB cadres abducted my elder brother (Abdul Qayum Badshah) on Wednesday, May 19th. The next day they killed him after a public announcement in the microphone, all over the area. Later they hung his dead body from a roadside tree in the neighbouring Baman village, of Nandigram sub-district, of Bogra District. Newspaper readers have seen this picture on last May 21st. I heard that these butchers are looking for me. They will probably kill me with similar brutality and display my dead body if they can find me. I am also frequently hearing similar threats of life to other members of my family. Another brother of ours has stayed back in the village risking his life because it is now the harvesting time. They have once abducted him and after torturing him in their camp have let him go. Our family has a well- established reputation in the area. Our family has a tradition of association with progressive politics and culture. My father and brother both were established in the literature and social work in the area. We were also trying to perpetuate this tradition to the best of our ability. Probably that is now considered to be my family’s crime and mine.The state of Bangladesh has a government and an administration. The country has the police and an army. This area has an elected MP, who is a deputy minister. This district also has a responsible minister. There are many human rights organizations in this country. There is a civil society. There are a government and an opposition party. I want to earnestly appeal to all of them and their sense of responsibility and conscience. I want to let them know that a citizen and an ordinary teacher is now dangerously threatened and is at high risk of life. Would you not come to the aid of this teacher, who is a refugee from his own home with friends and family, due to danger to his life? Will none of you feel responsible enough to stop this medieval terror? Do these goons who have destroyed my home and killed my brother perpetrate it in my fate to continue to see horrors? Those who are not threatened today, how are they assured that they will not be threatened tomorrow? Who is giving them this assurance? Their silence today may turn too dangerous for tomorrow. It may be too late then. I appeal to the government, the administration and conscientious citizen – “ Please do something”. And please do it before you observe many more dead bodies dangle from roadside trees.” The writer of the above letter Mahmud Musa came to see me on 26th May. He came to inform me about the helplessness of his whole family. I asked him if his murdered brother was actually connected with the “Sarbahara Party”. Mahmud Musa said, “Maybe, but I do not know.” He stated, “Suppose my brother had done some crime, there is a government, police, a judicial court and law. If my brother was ordered hanged after the judicial procedure – I would have no complaint. But who is this Bangla Bhai? Is he the court or the government? By which law has he ordered the execution of my brother?” I asked Mahmud Musa if there were any pending cases against his brother with the police. The younger brother of the murdered confirmed that there were, some. But he claimed them to be all false cases. For example, he said there is a case with the date of crime 30/2/2000. Obviously there was never a 30th February. I asked him, what proof he had that Bangla Bhai’s JMJB had killed his brother. Musa said they (JMJB) have themselves announced and the newspapers have carried this in their report. Bangla Bhai’s 2nd in command Hemayet Hussain Himu, Jamat Amir (a leading position of Jamat-e-Islami party) of Raninagar sub-district. Muffajjal Hussain and Jamat’s former worker Abul Master lead a JMJB armed gang which abducted Badshah and three others. They have hung the dead body of Badshah on a roadside tree, the other three are still missing. I asked Mahmud Musa further whether they have filed a case (FIR) in the police station. He said, “No, not yet.” Badshah’s family is out of the area due to the militant acts of Bangla Bhai. He himself is unable to go back to his village. Additionally, police do not accept complaints against Bangla Bhai.

Police’s refusal to accept complaints against Bangla Bhai is very normal. It is published in the newspapers that the Police O.C. follows around as bodyguard of Bangla Bhai, the militant fundamentalist leader. The district A.S.P., the divisional D.I.G. are also the protectors of Bangla Bhai, hence in the greater Rajshahi area, there is no one with enough courage to complain against Bangla Bhai. Then he revealed why the fundamentalists were mad at his family. Their family is a politically conscious family of the area. Family wise they have been associated with left movements and he once was a member of left-oriented National Awami Party of Bangladesh. Badshah and Musa’s father Abdul Kader was a participant of the Tebhaga movement. Ila Mitra personally knew Abdul Kader. His grandfather Sakim Sardar and great grandfather Kasim Sardar were known to Rabindra Nath Tagore and had hearty relation with him. Patisar, the famous Tagore Zamindari, skirts Raninagar area. In Ahmed Rafiq’s research paper on Tagore, there is a description of Rabindranath’s friendly relations with Kasim Sardar of Raninagar. In their family, they still learn and practice Rabindra Sangeet. They also have a tradition of reading modern literature. They had family relations with Ismail Hussain Siraji. The books that police party confiscated from their house included books by Aroj Ali Matobbar and Ahmad Safa. Musa said JMJB did not allow this year’s Rabindra Jayanti celebration at Patisar. They said, “You can’t sing Rabindra Sangeet – you have to sing Hamd and Naa’t.”Musa does not know when they will be able to go back to their home, destroyed by Bangla Bhai. Due to the terrorist activities of militant Bangla Bhai, hundreds of people have left the area. This has been admitted by Maolana Abdur Rahman, JMJB’s Amir and spiritual guru of Bangla Bhai. In an interview with Asaduzzaman Samrat of Ajker Kagoj, Maolana Rahman explained that in the greater Rajshahi area, in seven sub-districts, in this task of suppressing ‘the Sarbaharas’ they had active cooperation of Post and Telecommunication Minister Barrister Aminul Haq, Housing and PWD Deputy Minister Alamgir Kabir, Land Minister Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu and member of Parliament Nadim Mustafa. In Bagmara, where their activities are at the peak, even MP Abu Hena is not opposing their action. They are getting full cooperation with the administration. He said there is widespread support among ordinary people of the area. In a short time, they have arrested fifty people and found a huge amount of weapons. More than five thousand Sarbahara have surrendered. (Ajker Kagoj, 13 May 2004). The atrocities of Bangla Bhai, under the shelter of two BNP ministers, three MPs and Police have become so widespread that he has not been bothered by the arrest warrant ordered by the Prime Minister (before her departure for China). He is very safely and openly moving around in the area, without any cover. On May 23rd last Bangla Bhai’s stormtroopers have marched in Rajshahi under police protection and displayed their arms. They came to the city riding on hundreds of motorcycles and mini-buses and submitted a memorandum to the administration. The police officers have congratulated the so-called Jihad of Bangla Bhai against the Sarbahara group.The militant activities of self-styled militant fundamentalist Ajijur Rahman, aka Siddiqul Islam, aka “Bangla Bhai”’ are being published in Bangladeshi national daily newspapers again since April 1st week of this year. In August of last year, militant fundamentalist organization Jamiatul Mujaheddin (JM)’s members were in the limelight, when they attacked police to decamp with arms, ammunitions and the wireless sets. At that time reportage on their activities continued for about 20/21 days. In January of 1999, militant fundamentalist organization Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami’s (HUJI) killers were in the news when they attacked poet Shamsur Rahman at his home. At that time Dhaka newspapers serially published a story of their fundamentalist militant activities. But the present coverage of Bangla Bhai’s JMJB is more widely covered. The organization was once secret and after a few arrests – the reportage subsided. This time however the reportage is continuing even after eight to nine weeks and will not subside till fundamentalist militant Bangla Bhai is arrested and JMJB banned.In 1999 and in 2003 we were stunned and frightened to know the countrywide militant fundamentalist network of HUJI and JM, respectively. Like the underground tunnel network of a sly fox, the network of these militant organizations is spread all over the country. The reason JMJB is getting more reportage is: HUJI and JM are not open organizations, but JMJB, is. Hadn’t HUJI’s potential killers were not caught on January 18, 1999, while trying to kill poet Shamshur Rahman, we would not have known about their presence in Bangladesh. Initially, only three were captured who admitted their association with HUJI. Later, based on their admission police arrested another forty-eight person of which one was South African and another Pakistani. All these facts have been published in various national newspapers.On 24th January 1999, Daily Ittefaq had published, based on an investigative report, that twenty-eight other prominent artists, poets and novelists were on the hit list of HUJI. In a publication, Afghan Atlas, published from Nebraska University, USA an important research paper states, “ bin Laden has ISI’s logistics and intelligence support. HUJI and quite a few of Pakistan’s militant organizations have a connection to bin Laden. HM has a connection with Dhaka based Jihadi Islami, the organization whose assignment is to recruit Bangladeshi and Indian Muslims to fight in Kashmir.” At that time the Pakistani citizen Mohammad Sajjid and South African Ahmed Sadeq Ahmed had admitted to police that bin Laden had given them two crore Taka ( more than 300,000 US dollars) to build a Taliban-style militant group in Bangladesh. This money they had spent via 821 madrassas. (Reuters, Jan 28, 1999).In spite of such concrete proof, police submitted such weak charge sheet, that the superior court criticized police for weak charge sheet. It has been seen in the last seven years that whether it is JM or HUJI – police arrested them when there are hue and cry in the newspapers – later they submitted such weak charge sheets that criminals were let go or released on bail. There is never any problem for them to get out of jail. Last year the militant cadre of JM, who were arrested red-handed with arms and seditious pamphlets, they had no problem to get out of jail on April 2nd of this year. The present Inspector General of Police has been alleged to be a collaborator of the genocidal Pakistani army of 1971 and the current Home Secretary is known to have a Jamat connection. Thus it can be clearly surmised why to arrest or keep in custody the militant fundamentalists or to judiciously run the criminal cases against them is not on cards for the Khaleda-Nizami government. Whenever there has been any allegation against any activities of the militant fundamentalists, immediately the Jamat-e-Islami chief and Industries Minister of the coalition government Matiur Rahman Nizami states that Jamat has no relation with militant fundamentalists. On last 24th May, he again stated in a news conference, “Jamat does not have any relation with so-called JMJB or Bangla Bhai. Jamat does not have any relation with Hijbut Tahrir, Hijbut Tawheed, JM or similar organizations.“ (Janakantha, 25th May 2004). On the same day at a news conference sponsored by Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee( EGDNC) and South Asia People’s Union Against Fundamentalism and Communalism, Professor Kabir Choudhury said, “On January of this year in Sylhet, at Hazrat Shah Jalal’s Mazar, there was bombing and five persons were killed. In February, the powerful voice against fundamentalism, Professor Humayun Azad was attacked with a machete and he survived narrowly. Again on May 21, at the same Mazar of Hazrat Shah Jalal, an attempt was made on the life of the newly-appointed British High Commissioner to Bangladesh. In this attack, another three persons were killed and nearly a hundred were injured. Even though the British High Commissioner survived the attempt on his life, he is still in the hospital. Even though the investigative reporters of Bangladesh’s national dailies found a member of the coalition Jamat-e-Islami responsible for the terrorist act, the coalition government, in an attempt to protect Jamat, has taken no action.”The US Asst. Secretary of State Christina Rocca expressed displeasure about the activities of Bangla Bhai, during her 3-day visit to Bangladesh, on May 18th, last. She asked Jamat leader Matiur Nizami about Bangla Bhai’s whereabout. (Janakantha, 20th May 2004). Obviously, before coming to Bangladesh she must have done her homework on the related information and documents of proof in this regard. If Bangla Bhai did not have any relation with Jamat, Ms Rocca would not have asked Nizami about this issue, since the issue is not about his Industries Ministry, but his party Jamat-e-Islami. No one else is expected to know better than Nizami in this regard. The chief of Jamat is an influential member of the present cabinet. Thus there is no possibility asking Nizami under arrest and oath about his party’s relation to JMJB, Jamiatul Mujaheddin or other militant organizations of Bangladesh. If such a hypothetical scenario ever happens, the close links between Nizami’s Jamat-e-Islami and the Islamic extremist organizations would have been divulged in a second. In August of last year, JM militants had a clash with police and a few were arrested, Jamat, as usual, said they had no connection with Jamat. Again on May 20th of this year, Nizami repeated the same story to Ms Rocca. But in last August all Bangladeshi newspapers had published reports about the relation between Jamat and Jamiatul Mujaheddin. When police raided the house of Montajurul Islam, the chief accused of Khetlal militant attack, the documents they found not only had distinct proof of Jamat connection to JM but also to al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Also in August of 2003, three books written by Maulana Masud Azhar were found in the Jamiatul Mujaheedin office in Jaipurhat. Pakistan based Jaish-e Muhammad‘s commander Masud Azhar’s name flashed across the newspaper headlines in the sub-continent in December of 1999 when Indian Airlines flight number IC 414 was hijacked. The Islamic extremists hijacked the passenger plane to Afghanistan with a primary demand to release the militant leader Masud Azhar. The Indian government was forced to release him to meet the demand of the hijackers. When he was arrested in India he had submitted in his deposition the following facts: He was born in Bhawalpur in Pakistan on July 10th, 1968. His father was a Deobandi type, a strictly religious person. He joined Harkatul Mujaheddin (HM) during his student days and went to Afghanistan as a Jihadi per instruction of the organizational head Maolana Fajlur Rahman Khalil. In 1993 catching an Air Emirate flight he flew into Dhaka, Bangladesh accompanied by Sajjad Afghani. Then he went to Karachi but Sajjad Afghani went to India. In January 1998 he again came to Bangladesh, on a Portuguese passport, to enter India. On January 29th he boarded a Bangladesh Biman flight to New Delhi. In February, on his way from Delhi to Srinagar, he was arrested. (www.stratmag.com/issue2nov-15/kargil.html me of Khetlal terrorist attack, Jamat declared, that the principal accused Montajurul Islam was expelled from their party two years earlier. But according to published newspaper reports Montajurul had applied for becoming Roqan (Jamat-e-Islami’s senior hierarchical position) of the Jamat and these papers were found by the police. While Police is not admitting publicly to the news reporters any connection between Jamat and JM, they admit that diaries found in the terrorist hideouts provide a full list of workers and leaders of Jamat and Shibir.“…The following were also found during the search there: a. Election leaflets of Abbas Ali Khan, ex-Amir of Jamat. b. An application for monetary help from Sirajul Islam, a local Beniapara madrassa student to the Jamat funding organization Baitul Maal. 3. A Baniapara Ahmedia Madrassa receipt book for donations received. 4. A copy of Dhaka’s Bengali daily Bhrorer Kagoj dated February 13, 1995. The newspaper had the headlines in Bengali: “Rajshahi University declared closed – two dead in Chhatradal- Shibir clash – more than 150 injured. “After the militant-police confrontation, police informed that in the hideout they also found: 1. Many books and publications belonging to Jamat and Shibir. 2. Monogrammed diaries of many Shibir activists. The recent full day’s investigation has yielded that the building where the militants had congregated for training was owned by Jamiatul Mujaheddin leader Montajurul Islam. In the concerned area, processions were taken out under the leadership of Montajurul, more than a months before January 20, 2003, brutal murder of five persons in the Pir place of Begunbari sub-district. He had openly declared in these rallies that they would oppose and annihilate any anti-Islamic activity in the area, soon after which the brutal murders were conducted. The absconding militant leader was seen in the open, hobnobbing with the Jamat leaders and was also actively building armed JM organization. Many sources in the area inform that he regularly trained more than 100 persons military and guerrilla tactics and warfare, in his private compound. Additionally, letters have been found which clearly establishes Jamat and Jamiatul Mujaheedin connections. In this letter district Jamat secretary, Abdul Matin Sardar had given Montajurul Islam a significant number of organizational directives. (see Bhorer Kagaj, 20th August 2003). In all Dhaka newspapers including prestigious “Daily Star”, “Prothom Alo” and “Janakantha”, in their investigative reports have stated that the Bangla Bhai’s, JMJB is the open manifestation of banned organization JM.It has been noticed that whenever the government is under pressure from donor nations they ban the fundamentalist organizations and arrest some of their operatives. Then soon after the banned organizations and operatives resurface under a different name, with the same activities. The jailed activists are soon released, as usual. The jailed militants came out of prison on April 2nd, 2004. The same day’s Janakantha carried the news that in Rajshahi, under police protection, the militants attacked and mercilessly butchered a person named Babu, who was allegedly a Sarbahara activist. They shouted slogans like, ” Nara e Takbir, Alla ho Akbar.” Since then for the next eight weeks, the news of Bangla Bhai’s of JMJB has been reported in Bengali media with a clear reference of the organization’s link with Jamat and Afghan Taleban. The brother of Badshah,(the Hanging dead body of May 21), Mr. Mahmud Musa informed that Jamat’s Raninagar Amir, Mufajjal Hussain was in the team of Badshah’s abductors.In the long sixty-three years of Jamat-e-Islami’s history, there is no example of any of their leaders ever accepting the blame/responsibility for any of their misdeeds. In 1953 Jamat’s Chief Maududi was charged with the murder of thirty thousand innocent Ahmadiya in Pakistan’s Lahore, after a riot in which that many had lost their lives. Maududi was prosecuted, proven guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Yet until today, Jamat has not acknowledged that they were responsible for the massacre of innocents. During Bangladesh’s war of independence, Jamat-e-Islami’s militant wings like Razakar, Al Badr and Al-Shams were formed simply to assist Pakistan army’s perpetration of genocide, which they did in the name of protection of Islam. They tortured and murdered the freedom fighters and intellectuals in large numbers, which were published in their own party paper“Daily Sangram”. Now, however, they say that they were not involved in those murders but Awami League was. I had retorted to this blatant lie in a BBC interview. I stated that if we had to assume that Nizami or Jamat was not involved in the preparation of the list of intellectuals till the last days of 1971’s Bangladesh liberation war, then we had to assume that Nizami was an Awami League activist in 1971. In that context, we were supposed to believe that “Daily Sangram” was the party paper of Awami League. This is the same daily, which published vivid details of many massacres by Al Badr of freedom fighters with glowing tributes. And lastly, Nizami himself wrote many columns to inspire Al Badr cadres to kill the freedom fighters, in this ignoble newspaper.There is a commonality of purpose between the Nizamis and the JMJB, JM and other Islamist fascist outfits. Every one of them has a goal to establish an “Islamic state” in Bangladesh like the one under the Taliban in Afghanistan, with a Koran and Shari’a-based law. Where is the difference between Jamat and these militants, in goal and ideal? It is now quite evident the main pillars of Jamat’s politics are: lies, deception and slyness. When Matiur Rahman Nizami says that he and Al Badr have no connection with 1971’s mass murder of the Bangladeshi intellectuals, or Bangla Bhai or Montajurul have no connection with Jamat – the lies became very glaring and self-evident. If everything is false then why does police look for Shibir activists after the bomb attack on the British High commissioner, at Shah Jalal’s Mazar in Sylhet? Why did Christina Rocca ask Nizami, and not others, “What about the whereabouts of Bangla Bhai?”According to psychologists, continuous lying develops into a type of mental disorder. Nizami is so much overtaken by this disorder that soon a day may come when Nizami would say, “I have no relation with Jamat” or maybe– “I am not Nizami.” Nizamis may think that the people of Bangladesh are fools, as they perceived them in 1971. They claimed then that without Pakistan there would be no trace of Islam in the face of the earth. In 1971, the people of Bangladesh, buried Pakistan, the beloved land of Nizami and his likes, to create Bangladesh. In 1971 also Jamat had a two-member representation in the cabinet and they jubilantly performed all the murders and atrocities. They are repeating the story, now, again. Had anyone in March 1971 envisioned that the burial of Pakistan and Jamat would have been conducted only nine months later, in these very banks of Buri Ganga in Dhaka? The Dhaka of 1971 is now a metropolis. The progeny of the three million martyrs and this old city are waiting eagerly and are counting the days for the upcoming disaster of Jamat.

Shahriar Kabir is a writer and a human rights activist in Bangladesh

Taliban Factory

What does “Taliban” mean? Taliban is an Arabic word that is a plural form of the word student who studies Holy Koran and Hadiths. Afghani Taliban, the pure (Pukka) Muslims on earth, existed for several years after Mohamed. We are so lucky; we had a great chance to see some fresh Muslims a few years ago. These warm-blooded Muslims are gently trained and boosted by their spiritual masters in the factories. The biggest Taliban factories are the Arab-based “Madrasahs,” which are scattered throughout the Islamic kingdoms. Likewise, there are thousands of Taliban factories in the West. But, because of the western influences, the factories turn into a small size that can be called “the mini Taliban factory.” The question is, “where are the factories located in the lands of Kafirs?” These mini-factories are nowhere but in many Masques, Islamic Learning Centers, and reserved rooms in universities & colleges. There is another question left, that is, “then who are the mini Taliban in the West?” The simple answer for that question is: the mini Taliban are the devout Muslims and hard-core Islamists who smoothly get energized in the mini-factories.

Since I almost grew up in North America, please let me focus on its territories where I know hundreds of Muslims who are from around the world. I often talk to many Muslims and Islamists on the phone, and I sometimes meet them in their residences, Islamic Learning Centers, Masques, and many other places. Whenever I talk and meet them, I always discover a 100% identical idea from almost all Muslims. Therefore, I get to know what most Muslims think and try to do. I never, however, get to hear from the factories about any progressive work that could be beneficial for USA or Canada. Today, I will be discussing the roles and ultimate goals of the mini Taliban for North America (the USA and Canada). Now let’s see some of their (the mini Taliban) functions.

The roles:
a) Duties in the schools:
While attending in the universities and colleges, mostly international and newly immigrated Muslim students (basically from the Middle East and Pakistan) build a “Muslim Association” beside their educations where the first job is to hunt down all Muslim names from the school catalogues (if possible) or any source. The devoted Muslim students do not hesitate to go up to the people who are like Middle Eastern & East Indian and have kind of dark or brown skin colour. Then those Muslim students ask people’s full name. If the names sound like Muslim names, they try to pick,
and they invite and want the fellows to join the Muslim Association. When the loyal Muslim students obtain Muslim names, phone numbers, and addresses from the new people, they make a well-patterned list. And then the Muslim students book a room or mini hall room in the Kaffirs’ universities and colleges for the Islamic performances and rituals where they invite other Muslims and Islamists.

b) Duties in both schools and other places:
Islamists advise every Muslim keeping 1000 feet away from Jews and not hanging out with the infidels, such as host Canadians and Americans.  Islamists want Muslim women to use Islamic dress code “Borkha (veil).” Islamists suggest that all Muslim children should be raised in a 100% Islamic way. If any person is a Jewish nominee, the Islamists produce and pass significant advice to the listed or known Muslims not to vote a Jew. It does not matter whether the candidate is a good person or not, but his or her religion i.e. Judaism is very important to most Muslims. Islamists ask all possible Muslims not to buy meats from the Kaffirs’ stores like Safeways, Superstores, Loblaws, etc. because the fresh and hygienic meats are considered “Haram.” Hard-core Islamists in the group particularly focus on Coca Cola, MacDonald’s, and KFC to quit them because they are American products. As well, Islamists frequently discuss to leave all types of American and British products, mostly American ones. It seems to be so funny to me that any Muslim or civilized person can never be able to quit US and UK products. Islamists and other Muslims evaluate the problems for only Kashmiri, Palestinian, and other Muslim brothers and sisters. Islamists hand out the Salat and fasting schedules to the Muslims as many as possible. I appreciate this work.

Some of the Muslim students and young Islamists know computer programming (Kaffirs’ one of the greatest inventions). Thus, they make hundreds of Islamic programs, mini software, and files (like Islamic miracles, lucky words, etc.), and then they send and forward these Islamic computing-products via e-mails to the Muslim name holder people. Young-adult Islamists and Muslim students are so excited as well. They do not wait even for a second to build hundreds of Islamic websites to brag out Islam is a good and true religion.

Some questions to consider:
1) In the universities and colleges, is any “Muslim Association” concerned about the improvement of the schools, or do these organizations usually participate in the school-development programs? The answer is negative. No usual evidence can be found from the university or college student unions. 2) Do the “Muslim Associations” and other Islamists ever discuss the progress of the USA or Canada where they live? OOO!! Never.
3) Do Islamists feel sympathy and talk over in the Masques and Islamic Centers or anywhere when some Canadian or US soldiers die in any war? Impossible!! That is not Islamic. 4) Do Islamists or the devout Muslims ever protest for the Muslim women and non-Muslims when they are in the Islamic paradises the second and third-class citizens respectively? NO!!! But, yes, Islamists raise their voice to upgrade Islam in the USA and Canada without any challenge. 5) Do Islamists or Muslims ever pray to Allah for the Kaffir officers who granted visa and immigration papers
for the USA or Canada??? HMM!! Never heard a good response from any Muslim so far. 6) Do Islamists or Muslims ever pray for the Kaffirs in every Salat (prayer) in the Masques which are at least granted and partially funded by the Kaffirs or infidels, Jews, Christians, and so on? The Answer is big “NO.” 7) Did Islamists pray in the North American Masques for the innocent Kaffir people who died in 11-September tragedy? Oops!! Nope!! (Now the whole world knows Allah’s best code of life and how He teaches.) 8) Do Islamists or their organizations participate for any national and social work which they (Islamists) at least should do as residents or citizens of the USA or Canada? I do not think they do. (I find most Muslims busy in the Masques and Islamic Centers discussing Islam and Muslim brotherhood mostly at the weekend and on the statutory holidays. I was amazed on Remembrance Day, 2003 when I went to a big Masque in X area. I found not a single Muslim ever pronounced a single word for those who fought and died in WW2. All I heard was the same stories of Islam and brotherhood).

Please consider these also:
Do all types of Muslims (mostly under 40) from every Islamic country prefer to settle in North America? Of Course!
2. Do many Muslims even want to pay thousands of dollars for the fake visas or passports just to get to North America? YES.
3. Do Islamists or Muslims want citizenship from the USA and Canada? Of Course! YES, who wants to miss this opportunity?
4. Is it true that Islamists or Muslims or whoever needs to take OATH in order to receive citizenship for the Kaffir lands USA or Canada? YES.
5. Is it a national threat or offence if any guest citizens violet the oath that they took by raising the right hand? YES.
6. Do any work by the Islamists or Muslims that you have already read look like they are with the interest of USA or Canada? NO. I do not think at all.
7. Do the Islamists or Muslims want to install Islam in the USA and Canada? YES. Absolutely. No doubt of it. Do they want and expect to rule the USA and Canada as per Allah’s true words? YES. So, do those Islamists or Muslims break the words which they (Islamists) promise to US or Canadian government? YESSSS.

Now, can’t I (or any sane person) say that Islamists or most Muslims are betraying and cheating the US or Canadian govt. by dishonouring the oath? Then, can’t those Islamists or Muslims be called “betrayers?” Dear readers please go ask any Islamists or devout Muslims who reside in the USA and Canada whether they want the Islamic light (Noor) or not where they live. I bet my bottom dollar, all of them spontaneously reply you, “YES, OF COURSE, WHY NOT?” Here it is! Islamists or most Muslims have a higher expectation to get united and make a huge Ummah to establish Allah’s best code of life in USA and Canada.

Well, let’s see some of the Islamic symbols if these were imposed in the USA and Canada by the betrayers. In general, primarily, the following things we might expect to experience: 1) All white and other ladies will be forced to use Borkhas (veils) leaving skirts, tight jeans, shorts etc. Also, no lady can ever show her beauty to the guys as per the Islamic rules. 2) All white and other ladies can not work in the workplaces and attend in the class rooms with boys. 3) All white and other ladies will not be able to go out of their home and hang out on the streets without any guy. If so, ladies will receive some Islamic rewards like “lashings (Dorrah).” 4) Openly, liquor stores will not survive. 5) Hopefully, Mohamed’s language Arabic will be the prime language rather than Kaffirs’ language English and French (French i.e. in QB and NB, Canada). 6) FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) in the USA will turn into IBA, that is, Islamic Bureau of Investigation, and RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in Canada will become ICMP i.e. Islam Canadian Mounted Police. ICMP will act like “Muttawallee” (a special type of police force that is to look after and impose Islamic laws to the common people). 7) Canada’s head of state is Queen Elizabeth 2; after the Islamic revolution, Allah will be the head of state of USA and Canada.8) Islamists will build Masque at every block. As a result, we will hear loud Azan (prayer call) 5 times a day, 365 days a year. As well as, Islamic reciting (Khutba, Koran Teloat) will often reach to our ears beside loud Azan. (All of these exist in the Islamic soils). 9) Islamists will flood with full Madrasahs, Islamic Learning Centers, Tablighs (meeting) Centers, and Majar Sharifs (e.g. Ajmir Sharif in India) as well. 10) Islamists will never authorise any organisations like NASA that plays with Allah’s mystery of the universe and makes Muslims’ holy moon dirty. 11) I hope Islamists will NEVER tolerate Hollywood, so Islamists will instantly terminate it.12) Financial institutions that offer credit card, mortgage, lease etc. will be eliminated by the Islamists because these financial products depend 100% on interest. Interest is Haram in Islam. 13) Islamists will soon drive out the Haram food items which are made of Haram pork like bacon, sausage, pepperoni, and so forth. 14) Islamic butchers will be ready to invade all meat firms to slaughter animals in the name of Allah to make meats 100% Halal. 15) Islamists will never allow semi-naked women in the lakes, sea beaches, and swimming pools. So, the sun-bath process, swimming, etc. in the USA and Canada will permanently be locked for women.

In fact, there are lots more things to write. I think, for today, I shall not continue anymore. For the rest, you readers can take a guess. The mini Taliban factories in the west vigorously encourage the Muslims to get united and invade the West by Islam. Eventually, what would be then if USA and Canada got Islamized? North America would become like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and former Talibani Afghanistan. Am I dead wrong? Dear readers, if you are Muslims and live in the continent of USA or Canada, please honestly tell us- do you support the mini Taliban and want them to launch the pure Islam in North America?

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War Criminals: Pakistan Army

Victim of Pakistani holocaust 

During the liberation war of 1971, Pakistani occupation army led by General Yahya Khan and his colleagues in collaboration with the anti liberation forces (Jamat, Muslim League, and other Islamic fundamentalist groups) of Bangladesh killed a total of 3 million unarmed Bangalees, molested and raped about 4, 50, 000 Bangalee women and,  on the eve of the independence, murdered hundreds of leading intellectuals to spiritually cripple the nation. A crime far exceeds, in its atrocity and inhumanity, the crimes of Hitler, Melosovitch, the nazis and the fascists. The war criminals of Bangladesh liberation war were never tried and  they have never apologized for their crimes to the nation. Muktadhara,  on behalf of the Bangalees of Bangladesh, appeals to the world for the trial of those war criminals. Crimes of Pakistan occupation army in the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971:

  1. Killing of 50,000 Bangalees in Dhaka on 25 and 26 March, 1971 under the military operation code named ” operation searchlight”.

2 Ruthless massacre of 3 million unarmed Bangalees over nine months of armed occupation by Pakistani military.

  1. Senseless and wanton loots, rapes, arson and killings in Bangladeshi countryside during the course of the “sweeping operations” following the military crack down.
  2. Preplanned killings of intellectuals and professionals like doctors, engineers, civil servants, students and social workers  and burying them in mass graves over nine months occupation to spiritually cripple the Bangalees.
  3. Killing of Bangalee officers and soldiers of the units of the East Bengal Regiment (EBR), East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) and the East Pakistan Police force in the process of disarming them.
  4. Planned killing of  Bangalee civilian officers, businessmen and industrialists, or their mysterious disappearance from their homes by or at the instance of Pakistani army officers performing martial law duties.
  5. Rapes and molestation of 450,000 Bangalee women by the officers and soldiers of Pakistani occupation army as a deliberate act of  revenge, retaliation and torture.
  6. Use of thousands of Bangalee women as sex slaves and comfort girls in military camps and bunkers by the members of all ranks of Pakistani occupation army.
  7. Ethnic (Hindu) cleansing. Forced pregnancy of Hindu women and deliberate killing of Hindu males to exterminate Bangalee Hindus as a race.
  8. Massive destruction of Bangladeshi industries and institutions. Loots, extortions and forced possession of Bangladeshi assets and taking them over to Pakistan.

 

Skulls found in a mass grave: evidence of Pak army’s atrocities

“I curse today those devils of hell

who compelled me to run up the stairs

with my feet deep in the blood

of my parents,

float on rivers,

and make my bed in wild forests.

I curse them :

let them forever wander

with rotting bodies

hung around their emaciated necks.

I curse them :

when at the close of each day

they beg on their knees

for a piece of dry bread,

it will always stay ten feet away

from their outstretched palms.

their cup for quenching thirst

will always fill to the brim

with blood,

the blood with which they flooded

the soil of Bangla.

I curse them !”

I Curse Them: Shamsur Rahman

 

Top Pakistani War Criminals

General Yahya Khan

General Yahya was the president of Pakistan in 1970. He was supposed to hand the political power over to the winner of the national election of 1970: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as his Awami league won 162 seats out of 168 seats, more than double of his west Pakistani counterpart Bhutto. Sheikh Mujib’s unprecedented victory in the general election was a crushing blow to the Panjabi military -feudal axis. So they involved in a pact known as Larkana Conspiracy to shut the Bangalees by violent massacre. In this very meeting the military macho man and the Pak feudal lord planned to implement  Shahibjada Yakub’s notorious Operation Blitz on the Bangalees. They modified the plan and rendered it more destructive ( to crush the Bangalee uprising forever) and renamed it Operation Searchlight. To implement Operation Searchlight they (Bhutto and Yahya) recruited  (as both Gen Yakub and Admiral Ahsan recommended political instead of military measures to deal with the victory of the Bangalees in general election) two of their two most extremely notorious generals: General Tikka and General Niazi.

According to the plan Yahya, since early February, 1971, secretly sent Pakistani troops to Dhaka and prepared for the final crack down. When the preparation was complete, Yahya dismissed the constituent assembly. On March 25, after giving full instruction for mass killing of the inhabitants of Dhaka, at about 11 pm that night Yahya secretly left Dhaka. He went to Dhaka airport in a private car, completely unescorted in fear of identification by the airport officials. He was scared that Indian air force may stop him in the air. But Group Captain AR Khandaker saw Yahya sneaking out of the country in the dead of the night.

Soon after Yahya’s departure, the Pakistani army crashed down Dhaka city. Their main target was to devastate the center of Bangalee political strength: student halls of Dhaka university and the top leaders and intellectuals involved in nationalist movement. They crashed the whole of Dhaka city by killing thousands of innocent civilians and poor people on the street (rickshaw pullers, homeless people, day laborers, street kids etc). The casualties were more than 50, 000. They arrested Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from his resident and took him to Pakistan. Yahya’s officers also looked for other top leaders of Awami league specially Tajuddin Ahmed. But they could not find them as they, apprehensive of Pakistani military junta’s next move, disappeared from their residences. Their failure to capture top Awami leaguers fueled their hatred against Bangalees and they appeased their avenging impulses by killing them in multitudes.

After 25 March, the Dhaka crack down night, the devastation of Bangladesh topped the personal agenda of Yahya. He used all means at his disposal to crash down the Bangalees. The intensity of his personal hatred against Bangladesh rules out the ” liability theory” adopted by Pakistani bureaucrats and academics to ditch, resource less but politically less obliging, Bangladesh and Bangalees. Even when the victory of the Bangladesh liberation forces became obvious, in September, 1971, Yahya manipulated all his international connections to destroy Bangladesh:

1. Exhausted his connection with Kissinger/Nixon duo to get massive arms supply from the US and finally, on the eve of the victory, to demonstrate US nuclear threat to counter Bangladesh-India alliance, Yahya managed to bring US Seventh Fleet to crush the independence of Bangladesh.

2. He used his Chinese connection against Bangladesh-India alliance.

3. When Yahya finally realized his absolute defeat in the war, he used his loyal military officers to kill the Bangalee intellectuals to spiritually cripple Bangladesh for centuries. Yahya’s plan to eliminate the intellectuals further reinforces the fact that the Pakistani military junta did not want to ditch Bangladesh only, they intended the total destruction of Bangladesh and absolute extinction of the Bangalee race as reflected in Tikka’s war cry: ” I want land only, not people.”

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

 

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the head of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) in 1971. In the general election of 1970, Bhutto won 88 seats in West Pakistan as opposed to Mujib’s 162 seats out of 169. As per the legislation Mujib was supposed to form the government of Pakistan. According to some Pakistani high officials sources, at first president Yahya  was more inclined to hand power over to Mujib.

But Bhutto opposed Yahya’s decision. Bhutto represented the influential Panjabi civil and military bureaucrats and the  feudal lords. Pakistani military-feudal axis vehemently opposed the transference of power. They were afraid that Mujib’s democratic policies may adversely affect the existing feudal system of West Pakistan and curb the power of the top civil and military bureaucrats. So their representative Bhutto invited Yahya in the notorious Larkana meeting and together two shrewd jackals conspired to repress the Bangalees with military means and retain the political power in the hands of the West Pakistanis. This theory is plausible because such a brilliant idea is more likely to emanate from the arch machiavellian: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Yahya is more given to kill his fellow countrymen to show off his military prowess than formulate a brilliant idea to sort all the problems together: destroy Bangladesh; keep the power in the hands of  Bhutto and him; make Niazi and the army the scapegoat of the war in order to divert the attention  of the Pakistani people. Tajuddin Ahmed was right to think that Bhutto was the deux ex machina behind the political conspiracy leading to the devastation of Bangladesh: “…..Bhutto is responsible for the unprecedented brutality unleashed nationwide. Seating with him is impossible. Pakistan can be saved only if two federations  are formed. Both the federations are to write up their separate constitutions. Then if situation permits they can write the constitution of Pakistan. In other words, confederation…….Tajuddin’s view on Bhutto as described by Rao Forman Ali.

Bhutto manipulated the military monsters (Yahya, Tikka) to secure his power and maintain his vested interest in politics. All through his political career he thrived on conspiracy and intrigues. As often the fate of such treacherous politicians  is to end up in the hands of the partners in crime, Bhutto was justified to be hanged by his own Frankenstein: General Ziaul Huq

Iskandar Harappa

Reborn Alexander’s, would be Olympic champions must conform to the most stringent of training routines. So after he left Pinkie Aurangzeb, Isky Harappa also vowed to eschew every thing else that could erode his spirit. His daughter Arjumand ( virgin ironpants) would always remember that that was when he gave up stud poker, chemin-de-fer, private roulette evenings, horse-race fixing, French food, opium and sleeping pills; when he broke his habit of seeking out beneath silver-heavy banqueting tables the excited ankles and compliant knees of society beauties, and when he stopped visiting the whores whom he had been fond of photographing with an eight mm Paillard Bolex movie camera while they performed, singly or in threes, upon his own person or that of Omar Khayyam, their musky languid rites. it was the beginning of that legendary political career which would culminate in his victory over death itself. These first triumphs, being merely victories over himself, were necessarily smaller. He expunged from his public, urban vocabulary his encyclopedic repertoire of foul green village oaths, imprecations which could detach brim-full cut-glass tumblers from men’s hands and shatter them before they reached the floor. (But when campaigning in the villages he allowed the air to turn green with obscenity once again, understanding the vote-getting powers of the filth.) He stifled for ever the high-pitched giggle of his unreliable playboy self and substituted a rich, full-throated, statesmanlike guffaw. He gave up fooling around with the women servants in his city home.

Did any man ever sacrificed more for his people? He gave up cock-fights, bear-fights, snake-and-mongoose duels; plus disco dancing, and his monthly evenings at the home of the chief film censor, where he had watched special compilations of the juiciest bits excised from incoming foreign films.

He toured the villages and promised every peasant one acre of land and a new water-well. He was put in jail; huge demonstrations secured his release. He screamed in regional dialects about the rape of the country by fat cats and tilyars, and such was the power of his tongue, or perhaps of the sartorial talents of Monsieur Cardin, that nobody seemed to recall Isky’s own status as a landlord of a distinctly obese chunk of Sind….

Salman Rushdie: Shame

General Tikka Khan

On 11 April 1971, Yahya appointed his loyal general Tikka Khan as the  Governor General and the Chief Martial Law administrator of Bangladesh and as such he was the highest authority on both civil and military administrations. The Pakistani military junta was confident about Tikka’s ability in violent repression of Bangalee nationalist movement. Tikka Khan proved his ability as a formidable machine for massacre by killing thousands of Bangalees on 25 March, 1971. Tikka unleashed such a terrible reign of terror that even the blockheaded General Niazi, a soldier himself, was critical of his Tikka’s ruthless massacre of the unarmed civilians of Bangladesh:

“General Tikka let loose every thing at his disposal as if raiding an enemy and not dealing  with his own misguided and misled people. The military action was a display of stark cruelty, more merciless than the massacre at Bakhura and Baghdad by Changez Khan and Halaku Khan and at Jalianwala Bagh by British General Dyer”

” ….On the night (25 March, 1971) Tikka Khan ordered for action, 50, 000 people were killed”.

Niazi: Betrayal of East Pakistan

Brigadier Shah Abdul Quasim on the massacre of 25th March: “no pitched battle was fought on the 25th of March in Dhaka. Excessive force was used on that night. Army personnel acted under the influence of revenge and anger during the military operation…. mortars were used to blast two Residence Halls, thus causing excessive casualties.”

Massacre in Comilla Cantonment: On 27th/28th of March, 1971) under the orders of CO 53 Field Regiment, Lt. Gen. Yakub Malik, 17 Bangalee officers and 915 men were  slain. There was a general feeling of hatred against Bangalees amongst the soldiers and officers including Generals of Pakistan army. There were verbal instructions to eliminate Hindus. In Salda Nadi area about 500 persons were killed.

Excerpts from the book written by Mohammad Ashraf, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Dhaka in 1971, : “after the military action the Bangalees were made aliens in their own homeland. The life, property, and honor of even the most highly placed among them were not safe. People were picked up from their homes on suspicion and dispatched toBangladesh, a term used to describe summary executions. …. The victims included Army and Police Officers, businessmen, civilian officers etc. ……There was no Rule of Law in East Pakistan. A man had no remedy if he was on the wanted list of the army…. Army officers who were doing intelligence were raw hands, ignorant of the local language and callous of Bangalee sensibilities.”

General Niazi

General AAK Niazi (PA-477) was the chief of Eastern Command in 1971. The Yahya- Bhutto gang picked Niazi for this special mission as he was notoriously corrupted and immoral and was dumb enough to be their  scapegoat in the war. In Pakistan Niazi was involved in business with the patrons of brothels and influential business women. He was also involved in smuggling pans from East Pakistan. He found his posting as the chief of Eastern Command as a lucrative one and was certainly puffed up as, due to this promotion, he stepped ahead 12 of his senior officers.

Niazi was a soldier and as such he fought a conventional war against  Bangladeshi freedom fighters and Indian alliance forces. He was too dull to conceive the ignoble scheme to kill the intellectuals. But as he was a corrupted officer he concentrated more on looting and rapes. He made fortunes for himself and encouraged his under commands in the occupation army to loot and rape as pointed out by Mr Alamder Raja, the last commissioner of Pakistan: “……It is said that the people of West Pakistan were unaware of the terrible devastation inflicted on the Bangalees by the Pakistani occupation army. It was a sheer government propaganda. Did not we have radios those days? Before the war, Punjabi soldiers used to send  Tk 200-300 per month to their families. But in 1971, they sent about Tk 500-600 per month. Where did they get the additional money ?…..”     ,

About rapes, Mr. Raja gave an example of the brutality of the Pakistani soldiers: “…….A band of Pakistani occupation army attacked a house and killed one but all the members of the family. The only young girl of the family was kept alive for rape. The girl begged for mercy; frightened to death she cried out and said is a Muslim woman and the soldiers are also Muslim. How come Muslim men can rape a Muslim woman? …..At last, as a last resort, she put the holy Koran on the bed, next to her and said, they have to step on the Koran to rape her. The bastards kicked the Koran out of the bed and group raped her….”

Loots and rapes were so rampant that Niazi, in one of his confidential memo,  mentioned that the departing West Pakistani families were carrying looted properties with them to Pakistan. Rapes and forced pregnancy to eliminate the Hindus as a race was so wide spread that Niazi had to officially warn his officers: ….” I gather that even officers have been suspected of indulging in this shameful activity and what is worse, that in spite of repeated instructions, comdos. have so far failed to curb this alarming state of indiscipline. I suspect that cos and osc units/sub-units are protecting and shielding such criminals…”.

Lt Col Aziz Ahmed Khan, CO of 8 Baluch regiment (CO 86 Mujahid Battalion in 1971) , confessed that Niazi personally encouraged ethnic cleansing:  “Brigadier Arbbab also told me to destroy all houses in Joydebpur. To a great extent I executed this order. General Niazi visited my unit at Thakargaon and Bogra. He asked us how many Hindus we had killed. In May, there was an order in writing to kill Hindus. This order was from Brigadier Abdullah Malik of 23 Brigade.”

The notorious killer, loafer, looter and rapist of 1971, rascal Niazi now, in order to evade trial, puts on the mask of a pious Muslim.  Who would believe that the old buffoon in showy Islamic attire in the photo below was the main culprit behind the loots, rapes, arsons and massacres of the Bangalees in 1971?

Niazi the hypocrite bastard in 2000

Major General Rao Forman Ali

 

Major General Rao Forman Ali (PA-1364) was the chief adviser to the Governer of East Pakistan during the liberation war. Unlike Yahya, whose only known method for all transactions was  application of brutal military force, Rao was aware of the reality leading to the war and the possible impact of the war on Bangladesh and Bangalees. He served in Dhaka cantonment for more than a decade and was involved in  intelligence gathering,  making strategic decisions and formulating policies. He was also involved in buying Bangalee politicians to subvert nationalist movements.  He was the mastermind behind the massacre of 1971 as he, being in charge of the civil administration, knew about Bangladesh more than his peers. It was Forman who blueprinted the elimination of the secular minded Bangalee intellectuals. He was more of a cold blooded murderer than the haughty Yahya or bloodthirsty Tikka. His trained killers were more ruthless than the professional soldiers. Forman ran training programs in various cantonments for the forces of Al-Badr and Al-Shams to train them to torture, mutilate and slaughter the captive Bangalees’ in Islamic manner.

In his book The Betrayal of East Pakistan, General Niazi described Forman as an opportunist, a conspirator and a swindler. Niazi also said, implicating Forman’s involvement in the killing of the intellectuals, that Forman requested him (N) to send him (F) back to Pakistan, for, ” Mukti Bahini would kill him of his alleged massacre of the Bangalees and intellectuals on the night of 15-16 December. It was a pathetic sight to see him pale and almost on the verge of break down”.

Presently Forman is writing books in order to convince the world about his ignorance of independence war of Bangladesh and to clear his name off the  massacre, loot, rape and arson during the war. In his book Forman, through his subtle language and ostensibly innocent representation, pleads his innocence during the war and his ignorance of the war situation (although he was in charge of the civil administration and the chief adviser to the chief martial law administrator of Pakistan !).

Evidences against Forman’s involvement in the massacre of the Bangalees and the killings of the intellectuals:

1. When asked about Forman’s refusal to admit his involvement in the killing of the intellectuals Brigader Sidddiqui, another senior military officer during the war, said:……” He (Forman) was the major general in charge of civil administration. As such nothing would happen which he would not know. Forman is the man who should about the killing of the intellectuals. I never trusted him. He always wore a mask…”.

2. In The Separation of East Pakistan, Mr Hasan Zahir, a Pakistani civil servant wrote: ” Major General Forman Ali was the executioner of Dhaka part of ” Operation Searchlight”. He succedded in ‘shock action’ by concentrated and indiscriminate firing on target areas…….”

3.  Siddiq Salik in his book,  Witness to Surrender ( p.71), wrote: ….”The plan for operation Searchlight-1 visualized the setting up of two headquarters. Major General Forman with 57 Brigade under Brigadier Arbab, was responsible for operations in Dacca city and its suburbs while Major General Khadim was to look after the rest of the province. In addition lieutenant General Tikka Khan and his staff were to spend the night at the Martial Law Headquarters in the Second Capital to watch the progress of action in and outside Dacca……”

4. According to Mr Altaf Gaohar, a leading Pakistani journalist, Forman was the mastermind behind the killing of the intellectuals. In this connection Mr Gaohar recounted an incident from his memory. One of Gaohar’s  friends told him that a hit list had been drawn up for elimination of certain Bangalees. A friend of his was also in the list and he requested Gaohar if he could do something to save his friend. Gaohar then took the matter to one of his friends who was also common friend of Forman. Gaohar’s friend then saw Forman and requested him to drop the name from his hit list. ” Forman brought, said Gaohar’s friend, a diary out of his drawer and crossed the name out. The name was of Mr Sanaul Huq and he was spared.” After independence Forman’s diary was recovered from the ruins of the Governor’s house. The copy of a page from the diary shows the list of intellectuals from Dhaka University. 14 of them were killed on 14 December, 1971:

5. A close reading of Forman’s book in self defense, How Pakistan Got Divided, shows that Forman had deeply ingrained prejudice against the Bangalees. Like Hitler, Forman the ignorant fool, suffers from the purity complex. He believes that due to the Hindu influence Bangalees are not pure Muslims. But the rascal forgot that it was due to the Bangalee majority that made for Pakistan. It was people, not bloody military, who made Pakistan. Forman firmly believed that the impurities of the Bangalees can be  mended if they are absolved of the Hindu influence. This was the conviction that motivated Forman to ruthlessly eliminate the Bangalee intellectuals. Behind all elements of Bangalee nationalism Forman discovered Hindu phantasm. He was less critical of Sheikh Mujib but an arch enemy of Tajuddin Ahmed. If arrested Forman, as his comment on Tajuddin testifies, would not have spared Tajuddin: …..” Tajuddin, the die hard pro Indian Awami leaguer, came in and sat down. He hated West Pakistan and perhaps Pakistan itself. He was reputed to have been a Hindu up to the age of 8. I do not think this story was correct but it revealed his mental make up”.

6. The group photo with Golam Azam and puppet governor Malek below shows that Forman is discussing the plan for elimination of the Bangalee intellectuals. Golam Azamm and Forman is alleged to have jointly prepared the list of names of Bangalee intellectuals for elimination to absolve Bangalees  of Hindu influences.

7. Excerpt from the report on the excavation of Jalladkhan mass grave carried out by Bangladesh Liberation War Museum (LWM). The excerpt underscores the extreme brutalities showed by Forman’s special forces in torturing and killing the Bangalees:

..”The Jalladkhan (slaughter house) located also in Mirpur (Section 10 Block D)…….. selected for immediate excavation and exhuming of remains of the martyrs of 1971. ……….The excavation began on  November 15 1999 and the exhuming ended on  23 November with the recovery of 70 skulls and 5392 various human bones. Most of the skulls revealed sign of being severed from the shoulder with a sharp weapon and some bore marks of being struck by heavy weapon and one had a bullet hole shot from a close range. Other bones also showed signs of being hit by a heavy weapon…..”

The old fox (Rao Forman Ali) in 2000

Please also visit Collaborators and Martyred Intellectuals page for details of Rao Forman Ali’s war crimes

Maj Gen Khadim Hussain Raja 
Major General Ansari (PA-4404)
Brig Manzoor Hussain Atif (PA-3547)
Colonel Yakub Malik (PA-3837)
Lt Colonel Shams-uz-Zaman (PA-4745)
Major Mohd Abdullah Khan (PTC-5911)
Major Khurshid Omar (PA-4553)
Captain Abdul Wahid (PSS-8464)
Click here for  War Criminals II: Razakars
Shame: Salman Rushdie

“….about the issue of Time magazine (or was in Newsweek?) which never got into the country because it carried an article about President Ayub Khan’s alleged Swiss bank account; or about the bandits on the trunk roads who are condemned for doing, as private enterprise, what the govt does as public policy; or about genocide in Baluchistan; or about the recent preferential awards of State Scholarships, to pay for postgraduate studies abroad, to members of the fanatical Jamaat party; or about the extra hangings-the first for twenty years- that were ordered purely to legitimize the execution of Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto; or about why Bhutto’s hangman has vanished into thin air, just like many street-urchins who are being stolen every day in broad daylight; or abut anti-Semitism, an interesting phenomenon, under whose influence people who have never met a Jew vilify all Jews for the sake of maintaining solidarity with the Arab states which offer Pakistan workers, these days, employment and much-needed foreign exchange; or about smuggling, the boom in heroin exports, military dictators, venal civilians, corrupt civil servants, bought judges, newspapers of whose stories the only thing can confidently be said is that they are lies; or about the apportioning of the national budged, with special reference to the percentage set aside for defense (huge) and for education (not huge).

List of top 200 Pakistani War Criminals

POW No. PA No. Rank Name Unit Remarks
1. 1 PA-477 Lt./Gen Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi East Comd. They planned and/or executed the plan to commit genocide, war crimes and crime against humanity in Bangladesh during the war of liberaiton.
2. 2 PA-1170 Maj/Gen Nazar Hussain Shah 16 Div. -do-
3. 3 PA-4404 Maj/Gen Mohammad Hussain Ansari 9 Div. -do-
4. 4 PA-882 Maj/Gen Mhammad Jamshed DGEPCAF -do-
5. 5 PA-1734 Maj/Gen Qazi Abdul Majid Khan 14 Div -do-
6. 6 PA-1364 Maj/Gen Rao Farman Ali Khan Maj. Gen. Civil Affairs & Adviser to Governor, E.P. -do-
7. 7 PA-1674 Brig. Abdul Qadir Khan 93 BDE -do-
8. 8 PA-2235 Brig. Arif Raja HQ SIG -do-
9. 9 PA-1109 Brig. Atta Muhammad Khan Malik 7 BDE -do-
10. 11 PA-1897 Brig. Bashir Ahmed CAF -do-
11. 12 PA-100088 Brig. Fahim Ahmed Khan HQ EC -do-
12. 13 PA-1738 Brig. Iftikhar Ahmed Rana 313 BDE -do-
13. 16 PA-3414 Brig. Manzoor Ahmed 57 HQ BDE -do-
14. 17 PA-3547 Brig. Manzoor Hussain Atif 117 BDE -do-
15. 18 PA-2111 Brig. Mian Mansoor Muhammad 39 Div -do-
16. 19 PA-1148 Brig. Mian Taskin Uddin 91 BDE -do-
17. 20 PA-2729 Brig. Mir Abdul Nayeem 34 HQ BDE -do-
18. 22 PA-1999 Brig. Mohd. Aslam 53 BDE -do-
19. 23 PA-2103 Brig. Mohd. Hayat 107/407 BDE -do-
20. 24 PA-1044 Brig. Mohd. Shafi 23 HQ BDE -do-
21. 25. PA-1702 Brig. N. A. Ashraf CMD Natore GRN -do-
22. 26 PA-3430 Brig. S. A. Ansari Rangpur GRN -do-
23. 27 PA-3548 Brig. Saad Ullah Khan S. J. 27 BDE -do-
24. 28 PA-1880 Brig. Syed Asghar Hasan Sylhet force -do-
25. 29 PA-2110 Brig. Syed Shah Abul Qasim C.C.ATY ECO -do-
26. 30 PA-2130 Brig. Tajmmal Hussain Malik 205 HQ BDE -do-
27. 35 PA-1817 Col. Fazle Hamid 314 HQ BDE -do-
28. 37 PA-3799 Col. K. K. Afridi 9 Div -do-
29. 44 PA-1963 Col. Mohd. Khan ISI -do-
30. 45 PA-100115 Col. Mohammad Musharaf Ali 14 ADMS Div -do-
31. 58 PA-2200 Lt/Col. Abdul Ghaffor HQ SIGEA -do-
32. 67 PA-4489 Lt/Col. Aftab H. Quereshi 33 Baluch -do-
33. 57 PA-3568 Lt/Col. Abdul Rehman Awan CAF -do-
34. 60 PA-3347 Lt/Col. Abdul Hamid Khan ML HQ -do-
35. 65 PA-4087 Lt/Col. Abdullah Khan EPCAF -do-
36. 68 PTC-4318 Lt/Col. Ahmed Mukhtar Khan 30 FF -do-
37. 72 PA-4062 Lt/Col. Amir Mohd. Khan 7 SEC ML -do-
38. 74 PTC-4329 Lt/Col. Amir Nawaz Khan 13 FF -do-
39. 73 PA-5027 Lt/Col. Amir Mohd. Khan 34 Punjab -do-
40. 55 PA-4745 Lt/Col. A. Shams ul Zaman 22 FF -do-
41. 78 PA-4608 Lt/Col. Ashiq Hussain 24 FF -do-
42. 81 PA-3248 Lt/Col. Aziz Khan 32 Baluch -do-
43. 202 PTC-3239 Lt/Col. Ghulam Yasin Siddiqi ST HQ Dacca AA & QMG -do-
44. 97 PTC-3711 Lt/Col. Isharat Ali Alavi 14 HQ Inf. Div -do-
45. 167 PA-4441 Lt/Col. Mukhtar Alam Hijazi EPCAF -do-
46. 170 PA-3600 Lt/Col. Mustafa Anwar 15 Baluch -do-
47. 116 PA-4100 Lt/Col. M.R.K. Mirza 33 Punjab -do-
48. 128 PA-4301 Lt/Col. Matloob Hussain 18 Punjab -do-
49. 140 PA-2700 Lt/Col. Mohammad Akram Tochi Scout -do-
50. 152 PSS-2590 Lt/Col. Mohd. Akbar EPCAF -do-
51. 147 PTC-3645 Lt/Col. Mohammad Nawaz 15 Baluch -do-
52. 169 PA-4766 Lt/Col. Mumtaz Malik HQ East Comd -do-
53. 138 PA-4416 Lt/Col. M.M.M. Baiz 8 Baluch -do-
54. 48 PA-100207 Col. Mohd. Matin 72 ADMS MED BN -do-
55. 129 PA-2917 Lt/Col. Mazhar Hussain Chauhan ISSC -do-
56. 168 PA-3610 Lt/Col. Mukhtar Ahmed Sayed HQ MLA Cav -do-
57. 171 PSS-2899 Lt/Col. Mustafajan HQ MLA Zone -do-
58. 175 PA-2821 Lt/Col. Oman Ali Khan Survey Sec -do-
59. 180 PA-5074 Lt/Col. Reaz Hussain Javed 31 Punjab -do-
60. 178 PA-4550 Lt/Col. Rashid Ahmed HQ EPCAF -do-
61. 196 PA-4817 Lt/Col. Seikh Mohd. Naeem 39 Baluch -do-
62. 192 PA-3932 Lt/Col. Sarfraz Khan Malik 31 Punjab -do-
63. 181 PA-4920 Lt/Col. S.F.H. Rizvi 32 Punjab -do-
64. 182 PA-4560 Lt/Col. S.H. Bokhari 29 CAV. -do-
65. 205 PA-4368 Lt/Col. Syed Hamid Shafi DEF Purchase -do-
66. 201 PA-3817 Lt/Col. Sultan Badshah 8 EPCAF -do-
67. 200 PA-5178 Lt/Col. Sultan Ahmed 31 Baluch -do-
68. 199 PA-4518 Lt/Col. S.R.H.S. Jaffari HQ SIG EA -do-
69. 216 PSS-3743 Lt/Col. Zaid Agha Khan HQ EF LOG They committed genocide, war crimes and crime against humanity in Bangladesh during the War of Liberation in violation of laws of War, customs and usages.
70. 122 PA-3837 Lt/Col. M.Y. Malik 14 HQ Div -do-
71. 231 PA-7059 Major Abdul Ghafran East Comd. -do-
72. 284 PA-5640 Major Anis Ahmed 205 HQ Inf. BDE -do-
73. 290 PA-7214 Major Arif Javed 22 CAV -do-
74. 304 PA-6736 Major Atta Mohd. 29 Baluch -do-
75. 233 PSS-8394 Major Abdul Hamid 31 Punjab -do-
76. 301 PA-7299 Major A.S.P. Quereshi 25 Punjab -do-
77. 294 PA-7530 Major Ashfaq Ahmed Cheema 39 Baluch -do-
78. 241 PSS-8547 Major Abdul Khaleq Kayani 6 Punjab -do-
79. 256 PTC-4664 Major Abdul Waheed Mughal 22 Baluch -do-
80. 235 PA-3838 Major Abdul Hamid Khattak ML HQ -do-
81. 262 PA-7251 Major Ahmed Hassan Khan EPCAF -do-
82. 283 PRR-4438 Major Anees Ahmed Khan 15 Baluch -do-
83. 255 PA-4990 Major Abdul Waheed Khan 31 Baluch -do-
84. 320 PA-5868 Major Ch. Mohd. Jahangir HQ MLA ZB -do-
85. 348 PA-4122 Major Ghulam Mohd. 2 Baluch -do-
86. 358 PTC-4390 Major Gulam Ahmed EPCAF -do-
87. 344 PA-7439 Major Ghazanfar Ali Nasir EPCAF -do-
88. 363 PA-6959 Major Hadi Hussain 24 FF -do-
89. 367 PA-6646 Major Hasan Mujtaba 8 Baluch -do-
90. 376 PTC-5733 Major Iftikhar Uddin Ahmed 33 Baluch -do-
91. 374 PA-6729 Major Iftikhar Ahmed 8 Punjab -do-
92. 712 PA-5250 Major Shah Muhamad Osman Faruqi 7 Sig. BN -do-
93. 419 PA-4553 Major Khursheed Oman 814 FIU -do-
94. 423 PTC-3947 Major Khurshid Ali Survey Sec. -do-
95. 414 PA-7576 Major Khizar Hayat 4 FF -do-
96. 485 PA-7657 Major Mehr Mohd Khan 31 Baluch -do-
97. 431 PTC-5911 Major M. Abdullah Khan 27 BDE -do-
98. 533 PA-7253 Major Mohd. Afzal 8 Baluch -do-
99. 441 PA-7405 Major M. Ishaq EPCAF -do-
100. 553 PTC-3246 Major Mohd. Hafiz Raja 34 Punjab -do-
101. 595 PA-6870 Major Mohd. Younas 32 Punjab -do-
102. 504 PA-6793 Major Mohd. Amin 107 HQ BDE -do-
103. 481 PS-3935?

2935

Major Mohd. Lodhi Natore Gar. -do-
104. 493 PA-6554 Major Mirza Anwar Beg 88 ORD COY -do-
105. 428 PTC-4157 Major M.A. K. Lodhi 16 HQ Div -do-
106. 459 PSS-4245 Major Madad Hussain Shah 18 Punjab -do-
107. 544 PTC-3007 Major Mohd. Ayub Khan 97 BDE -do-
108. 586 PSS-6110 Major Mohd. Sharif Arain 33 Punjab -do-
109. 555 PA-5964 Major Mohd. Iftikhar Khan 202 HQ BDE -do-
110. 455 PA-2818 Major M. Yahiya Hamid Khan 6 Punjab -do-
111. 592 PSS-6150 Major Mohd. Yamin ASC -do-
112. 527 PA-5141 Major Mohd. Ghazanfar ISSC -do-
113. 583 PA-7231 Major Mohd. Sarwar 33 Punjab -do-
114. 579 PTC-3016 Major Mohd. Siddique 205 HQ Inf BDE -do-
115. 543 PSS-6092 Major Mohd. Ashraf HQ EPCAF -do-
116. 506 PSS-4634 Major Mohd. Ashraf Khan 53 HQ BDE -do-
117. 604 PA-5312 Major Mohammad Safdar ISSC -do-
118. 496 PA-6067 Major M.M. Ispahani HQ Eastern Cmd -do-
119. 562 PA-6440 Major Mohd. Jamil EPCAF -do-
120. 580 PA-7559 Major Mohd. Safi 32 Punjab -do-
121. 547 PSS-4320 Major Mohd. Azim Qureshi Qures ISSC -do-
122. 525 PA-6460 Major Mohd. Zulficar Rathore 13 Engr. BN -do-
123. 615 PA-5962 Major Mushtaq Ahmed Det 630 ASC -do-
124. 634 PSS-7996 Major Nasira Khan 26 FF -do-
125. 632 PA-4748 Major Nasir Ahmed 409 GHQ FIU -do-
126. 654 PTC-4632 Major Rana Zahoor Mohyydin Khan 18 Punjab -do-
127. 666 PA-8655 Major Rifat Mahmood 31 FD Regt. -do-
128. 667 PSS-6148 Major Rustam Ali 314 HQ Bde -do-
129. 651 ACO-390 Major R. M. Mumtaz Khan 31 Baluch -do-
130. 702 PA-6063 Major Sardar Khan HQ MLA -do-
131. 510 ACO-2099 Major Mohammad Azam Khan 12 A.K. -do-
132. 686 PRR-3389 Major Saif Ullah Khan ISSC -do-
133. 674 PA-6893 Major S.T. Hussain 734 FIC -do-
134. 730 PSS-4224 Major S.M.H.S. Bokhari 24 FF -do-
135. 689 PSS-8015 Major Sajid Mahmud 32 Punjab -do-
136. 723 PA-7415 Major Sher ur Rehman 29 CAV -do-
137. 695 PTC-5930 Major Salamat Ali EPCAF -do-
138. 690 PA-6858 Major Sajjad Akhtar Malik ISI -do-
139. 698 PA-5684 Major Saleem Inayet Khan 57 HQ MLZB -do-
140. 735 PA-7289 Major Sultan Saud EPCAF -do-
141. 705 PA-6542 Major Sarfraz Uddin ISI -do-
142. 720 PA-5080 Major Shaukatullah Khattak 36 Sig. BN -do-
143. 737 PA-7428 Major Sultan Surkhro Awan 33 Punjab -do-
144. 704 PA-7076 Major Sarfraz Alam EPCAF -do-
145. 706 PA-6851 Major Sarwar Khan Tochi Scout -do-
146. 756 PA-6272 Major Tafair ul Islam HQ Natore -do-
147. 785 PSS-8124 Major Zaumul Maluk 18 Punjab -do-
148. 806 PSS-8464 Captain Abdul Waheed 30 FF -do-
149. 817 PA-10202 Captain Aftab Ahmad 31 Baluch -do-
150. 858 PSS-8836 Captain Arif Hussain Shah ARTY EIZI EMD -do-
151. 815 PSS-9634 Captain Abrar Hussain 30 FF -do-
152. 853 PSS-9959 Captain Amjad Shabbir Bukhari 31 FD Regt. ARTY -do-
153. 876 PA-10129 Captain Ausaf Ahmed 53 Fd. Regt. -do-
154. 75089 PA-10185 Captain Abdul Qahar EPCAF -do-
155. 869 PA-10985 Captain Ashraf Mirza 12 AK INF BN -do-
156. 802 PSS-9904 Captain Abdul Rashid Nayyar 19 Sig BN -do-
157. 849 PSS-8005 Captain Aman Ullah HQ Natore GR -do-
158. 882 PSS-9363 Captain Aziz Ahmed 31 FD Regt. -do-
159. 221 PSS-9440 Captain Gulfraz Khan Abbasi 22 FF -do-
160. 951 PSS-8144 Captain Ikramul Haq 20 CAV -do-
161. 947 PA-10241 Captain Ijaz Ahmed Cheema ISI -do-
162. 941 8867 Captain Iftikhar Ahmed Gondal 31 Punjab -do-
163. 964 PSS-8821 Captain Ishaq Parvez 24 FF -do-
164. 960 PSS-9614 Captain Iqbal Shah 29 CAV -do-
165. 976 PSS-6910 Captain Javed Iqbal 33 Baluch -do-
166. 972 PSS-9765 Captain Jahangir Koyani RFT CAMP -do-
167. 985 PA-7838 Captain Karam Khan 315 HQ BDE -do-
168. 1047 PA-11554 Captain Manzar Amin 25 FF -do-
169. 1255 PSS-9387 Captain Muzaffar Hussain Naqvi 18 Punjab -do-
170. 1178 PA-11551 Captain Mohd. Sajjad 80 Fd. Regt. -do-
171. 1201 PSS-8820 Captain Mohd. Zakir Raja

(Muhammad Zakar Khan, Arty)

ISSC -do-
172. 1126 PA-7862 Captain Mohd. Arif 14 HQ Div -do-
173. 1131 PSS-9018 Captain Mohd. Ashraf 12 Punjab -do-
174. 1149 PSS-8977 Captain Mohd. Iqbal 12 Punjab -do-
175. 1096 PSS-9927 Captain Mohd. Rafi Munir 18 Punjab -do-
176. 1159 PSS-10287 Captain Mohd. Jamill 6 Punjab -do-
177. 1238 PSS-9077 Captain Naeem Sadiq 409 HQ FIU -do-
178. 1351 PSS-9454 Captain Sher Ali 39 Baluch -do-
179. 1322 PSS-8093 Captain Salman Mahmood 26 FF -do-
180. 1325 PA-11009 Captain Samshed Sarwar RFN CAMP -do-
181. 1343 PSS-7745 Captain Shahid Rehman 29 CAV -do-
182. 1321 PSS-10431 Captain Saleh Hussain 18 Punjab -do-
183. 1350 PSS-9508 Captain Shaukat Nawaz Khan 6 Punjab -do-
184. 1396 PA-7898 Captain Zahid Zaman 53 HQ BDE -do-
185. 1505 PSS-11843 Lieutenant Munir Ahmed Butt 31 Baluch Regt. -do-
186. 15532 PSS-12191 Lieutenant Zafar Jang 38 FF -do-
187. 641 PSS-6127 Major Nisar Ahmad Khan Sherwani 32 Punjab Responsible for man killing, loot, arson
188. 338 PSS-8534 Major Fayaz Muhammad 29 Baluch -do-
189. 487 PA-4992 Major Mian Fakhruddin 91 HQ Inf. Bde. -do-
190. 924 PSS-8880 Captain Hidayat Ullah Khan 29 Baluch -do-
191. 1102 PSS-10828 Captain Md. Siddique 27 Sig. BN -do-
192. 993 10147 Captain Khalil ur Rahman COD, Dacca -do-
193. 628 PA-6726 Major Nadir Parvaiz Khan 6 Punjab -do-
194. 934 PSS-10384 Captain Hassan Idris EPCAF -do-

Pakistan Air Force

195. 65483 P-953 Air Cdre Inam ul Hoque Khan PF Dacca -do-
196. 65484 PAF-1069 Gr. Cpt. M.A. Majid Baig PF Dacca -do-
197. 65510 PAK-5332 Ft/Lt. Khalil Ahmed PAF -do-

Pakistan Navy

198. 71755 P-138 Rear Adm Mohamed Shariff   -do-
199. 71756 PN-108 Cmdre Ikramul Haq Malik Port Trust -do-
200. 71757 219 Cmdre Khatib Masud Hussain Base Comd. -do-

 

Sources:
1. Liberation Museum
2. Killers and Collaborators of 1971: An Account of Their Whereabouts, compiled and published by the Center for the Development of the Spirit of the Liberation War
Commission on War Criminals of Bangladesh
3. Saiduzzaman Raushan: Speeches and Statements of Killers & Collaborators of 1971
4. Air Marshal M Asghar Khan: Generals in Politics
5. Maj Gen Tozammal Hussain Malik: The Story of My Struggle
6. Maj Gen Rao Forman Ali Khan: How Pakistan Got Divided
7. Maj Gen Fazal Muqueem Khan: Pakistan’s Crisis in Leadership
8. AAK Niazi: The Betrayal of East Pakistan
9. The Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report
10.Muntassir Mamoon: Liberation War: In the Eyes of the Defeated Generals of Pakistan
11. Shahriar Kabir: Tormenting 71

Martyred Intellectuals

” ………..It is now known that on Sunday December 12, as the Indian columns were closing on Dacca….a group of senior Pak army officers and their civilian counterparts met in the city’s Presidential residence. They put together the names of 250 peoples to be arrested and killed, including the cream of Dacca’s professional circles not already liquidated during the civil war. Their arrests were made on Monday and Tuesday by marked bands of extreme right-wing Muslims belonging to an organization called the Al-Badar Razakar…Only hours before the official surrender was signed (on 16th), the victims were taken in groups to the outskirts of the city……where they were summarily executed…….. The Times, December 23, 1971

Dhaka University

Munier Chowdhury (Bengali)

Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurata (English)

Rashidiul Hasan (English)

Dr. GC Dev (Philosophy)

Anwar Pasha (Bengali)

Humayun Kabir (Bengali)

Dr Abul Khair (History)
Ghiasuddin Ahmed (History)

Dr. Faizul Mahi (IER) Dr. Mohd. Murtaza (Medical Officer)
Mufazzal Haider Chowdhury

Modhu da (Modhur canteen)
Artists/Journalists/Professionals

Zahir Rayhan

Shahidulla Kaiser

Altaf Mahmood

Dr. Alim Chowdhury

Dr. Fazle Rabbi Dr MA Khair
Zahirul Huq Selina Parveen
ANMG Mostafa Giasuddin Ahmed
Syed Nazmul Huq
Syed A Mannan

Nizamuddin Ahmed Dr Abul Kalam Azad
Dr. Santosh Bhattacharya Dr. Faizul Huq Mahi
Muniruzzaman Sirajuddin Hussain,
Dr Serajul Huq Khan Dr Fazlur Rahman
Mohammad Sadeq Abdul Muktadir
Sabed Ali Anudeppayan Bhattacharya
Abul Bashar Saidul Hasan

Dead body of Dr Fazle Rabbi

Jahangirnagar University

Rajshahi University

Dr Shamsuz Zoha Meer Abdul Quaiyum (Psychology)
Habibur Rahman (Math)
Shukharanjan Samddar (Sanskrit)

15 Staff Members

Bangladesh Agricultural University

Nazmul Ahsan (Agri Engr) Shamsul Huq Talikdar

Photos of some martyred intellectuals

Click here for profiles of martyred intellectuals OF 1971

Murdered Students of Jagannath Hall, DU

Upendra Nath Ray: Final Year MS Physics (Village: Guliara, Dinajpur

Kartik Sheel: Final Year MA English (Kalakhali, Barisal)

Kishori Mohan Sarkar: First Part MA English (Paragram, Dhaka)

Keshab Chandra Haoladar: First Part MS Mathematics (Kachabalia, Barisal)

Gano Pati Haldar: First Second Third Year, Chemistry (Ghatichora, Barisal)

Ziban Krishna Sarkar: Final Part MS Chemistry (Kulpotak, Mymensingh)

Noni Gopal Bhaumik: Second Year Student (Shyam Gram, Comilla)

Nirmal Kumar Ray: First Part MCom Student

Niranjan Prosad Saha: First Part MS Physics

Niranjan Haldar: Final Part MS Physics (Shikarpur, Barisal)

Prodip Narayan Ray Chaudhury: First Part MA student

Barda Kanto Tarafdar: Second Year Student (Khepamol, Mymensingh)

Bidhan Chandra Ghose: Third Year, English (Kacharipara, Pabna)

Bimol Chandra Ray: Third Year Statistics (Balirtek, Manikganj)

Murari Mohan Biswas: M Ed (Ektarpur, Kustia)

Mrinal Kanti Bose: Final Part Economics (Muriagora, Faridpur)

Manoranjan Biswas: Second Year, Mathematics (Satpar, Faridpur)

Ronoda Prosad Ray: Second Year, Mathematics (Kosba, Faridpur)

Ramoni Mohan Bhattacharya: First Part MA, Philosophy (Asta gram, Mymnsingh)

Rakhal Ray: Third Year Mathematics (Chandidwar, Comilla)

Shib Kumar Das: Second Year, Soil Science (Patuary, Faridpur)

Rupendra Nath Sen: Second Year, Chemistry (Bhanga, Faridpur)

Santos Chandra Ray: Final Part MS, Botany (Boribari, Dhaka)

Shishutosh Datta Chaudhury: Second Year, English (Ambor, Sylhet)

Satya Ranjan Das: Third Year, Chemistry (Bajonba, Dhaka)

Sujit Datta: Third Year Student (Palash, Dhaka)

Subhash Chandra Chakrobarty: Second Year, Statistics (Mymensingh)

Susil Chandra Das: Third Year, Soil Science (Barail, Comilla)

Swapan Chaudhury: Third Year, Statistics (Dhemla, Chittagong)

Hari Narayan Das: Third Year, Sociology (Narsingdi, Dhaka)

Ajit Ray Chaudhury: No information

Niranjan Chanda: No info

Prabir Pal: First Part, MS (Amlapara, Mymensingh)

Bhabotosh Bhaumik

Satya Ranjan Nag:

Subrata Saha:

Murdered University Staff and Guests

Modhu Sudan Dey (Modhu Da)

Khogendra Chandra Dey: staff philosophy dept

Sushil Chandra Dey: Pump workman, Engineering dept Dhaka University

Moti Lal Dey:

Dasu Ram: Gardener, VC Resident

Man Bharan Ray: Staff NIPA

Raj Bhar: Electrician, Engineering Dept, DU

Priyo Nath Ray: Gatekeeper

Sunil Chandra Das (Janitor)

Dukhi Ram Mandal: (Janitor)

Shib Pada Kuri (janitor)

Rajen Brahmachari: The spiritual guru of Shib bari

Zahar Lal Rajbhar: Gardener, Botany dept

Saroja Brahmachari: Spiritual guru of Shib bari

Madhab Chandra Das Brahmachari: Spiritual guru of Shib bari

Ram Dhoni Brahmachari: Spiritual guru of Shib bari

Shankar Kuri: Brother of Shibpada Kuri

Swami Mukundo Nando Saraswati: Spiritual guru of Shib bari

Bheer Ray

Bodhi Ram

Mani Ram

Source: Genocide at Dhaka University: 1971 Jaannath Hall, Ratan Lal Chakrobaorty

http://muktadhara.net/page07.html

Taj Uddin Ahmad: A Profile

Tajuddin Ahmed (L) along with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Tajuddin Ahmed (L) along with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Tajuddin Ahmad (July 23, 1925 – November 3, 1975) was a Bangladeshi statesman and freedom fighter. He served as the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh and lead the wartime Provisional Government during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

A close confidante of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Ahmad was the General Secretary of the Awami League in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He coordinated the League’s election campaign for the Pakistani general election, 1970, in which the League gained a historic parliamentary majority to form government. Ahmad, along with Mujib and Dr. Kamal Hossain, led negotiations with President Yahya Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for the transfer of power to the elected National Assembly.

As the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh, he led people of Bangladesh to victory during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. He was a gifted organizer and administrator, characteristics which were surpassed only by his integrity, love for humanity, deep-seated patriotism, and unflinching stand for fairness and justice. A seeker of truth, he rose with purpose and commitment to the rank of statesman.

Tajuddin Ahmad was assassinated along with three other national leaders in Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, 1975 by a wayward section of the Bangladesh Army.

Check his website tajuddinahmad.com for more.

Documentary: Tajuddin Ahmad – An Unsung Hero

Timeline: The life and works of Tajuddin Ahmad

Tajuddin Ahmed - Addressing the nation after the liberation. Image courtesy Tajuddinahmed.com

Tajuddin Ahmed – Addressing the nation after the liberation. Image courtesy Tajuddinahmed.com

Date Event
23 July 1925 Born of Maulabhi Mohd Yasin Khan and Meher-un-Nesa Khan in the village Daradia of Kapasia PS in Gazipur district.

Education

Kapasia Minor English School, St Nicholas English school, Kaliganj, Muslim Boys’ school, Dhaka and St Gregory’s high.
1934 Secured 12th position in the combined merit list in SSC exam.
1938 Secured 4th position in the combined merit list in HSC exam.
1942 Civil Defense training
1943 BA (Honors) in Economics from Dhaka University
1946 Sat for and obtained LLB degree from the prison as a political prisoner

Political life

1943 Active supporter of the progressive faction (Abdul Hashim group) of Muslim League
1944 Elected the councilor of the Muslim League of the Eastern wing of Pakistan
6-7 September, 1947 One of the founding organizers (others being Sheikh Mujib, Mohd Toyaha, Shamsul Huq, Tasadduk Ahmed) of the secular youth forum-Democratic Youth League.
4 January 1948 Founding organizers of East Pakistan Students’ League (now BCL)
1949 One of the founding organizers of East Pakistan Awami (meaning people) Muslim League (AL)
1953-57 General Secretary, Dhaka Zilla Awami Muslim League and Awami League
1955
1954 1954: Elected MLA as a candidate of United Front by defeating the general secretary of Muslim League.
1955 1955: Elected the cultural and welfare secretary of Awami League. Staunch supporter of Mujib in his initiative to secularize Awami League by removing “Muslim” from the party’s name
1962 Played an active role in anti martial law campaign against Pakistani military dictator Ayub Khan
1964 Supported Mujib to revive Awami League severely repressed by Pakistani military dictators. Elected the Organizational Secretary of Awami League
1966 Key figure in drawing up and launching the historic Six Point Movement. Elected the General Secretary of Bangladesh Awami League. Accompanied Mujib to the Round Table Conference in Lahore. Organized and launched the Six Point Movement through out Bangladesh and due to his activism was arrested by the Pakistani rulers on 8 May 1966.
1968 Elected the GS of Awami League while being in the prison.
1969 Released from the prison following the Mass Movement of 1969
1970 Elected the GS of Awami League for the third term. Elected a member of the Pakistan Legislative Assembly
1971
1 March Sheikh Mujib called for a non-cooperation movement throughout Bangladesh as a protest against Yahyah Khan’s annulment order of the Pakistan Legislative Assembly. Awami League virtually took over the governance of east Bangla and Tajuddin as the chief administrator, designated by of Sheikh Mujib, efficiently ran all the public sectors of East Bangla.
25-26 March Massacre of Bangalees by Pakistan occupation army. Escaped the Pakistani SS forces and went underground
27-29 March Headed for Indian border on foot, by motorbike and boat
30 March Reached Meherpur near Indian border. Contacted the Indian officials
1 April Reached Delhi on special arrangement by Indian government to initiate a talk with the Indian prime minister to obtain Indian support for the independence of Bangladesh
4 April Formal meeting with Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India and negotiated unconditional Indian support for the Independence of Bangladesh.
6 April Gave the prime ministerial speech in support of the independence of Bangladesh from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro
10 April Formed the provisional government and took the office of the prime minister.
11 April Addressed the nation via the radio as the prime minister of independent Bangladesh
17 April Formal oath as the prime minister at Mujib Nagar
17 April-16 Dec Led the war of independence against the Pakistani occupation army and achieved victory on 16 December 1971
24 December Returned to Dhaka from Mujib Nagar with the members of his ministry
12 January 1972 Voluntarily quit (the first ever in the history of Bangladesh) the prime ministerial post. Took oath as the Finance and Planning minister
30 June 1972 Gave the first national budget
24 Sept 1972 Gave speech in the Commonwealth conference of the finance ministers
26 April 1973 Represented Bangladesh in the ADB conference held in Manila
14 April 1974 Second National budget
21 Nov 1973 Five Year Fiscal Plan
28 July 1973 Attended the IMF committee meeting
26 September 1973 Represented Bangladesh in the annual conference of International Monitory Fund and the World Bank held at Nairobi
16 January 1974 Ministerial speech at the IMF conference in Rome
20 January 1974 Resigned from the post of the General Secretary of Awami League
24 April 1974 Ministerial speech at the ADB conference in Kuala Lumpur
8 June 1974 Ministerial speech at the IMF conference in Washington
August 1974 Saudi Arab, Kuwait and Iraq visit
September 1974 USSR visit
26 October 1974 Quit the ministry on Mujib’s call (thanks to Mostak gang’s ascendancy over Mujib)
15 August 1975 Assassination of Mujib and Tajuddin house arrested by the coup leaders (Cols Faruk / Rashid) and Mostak
23 August 1975 Taken to the Dhaka central jail on Mostak’s order
3 November 1975 Bayoneted to death in Dhaka central jail by the troops led by Risalder Moslem and sent by the coup leaders (Cols Faruk / Rashid) on express order from Mostak, the president.

 

Stamp commemorating Tajuddin Ahmed

Stamp commemorating Tajuddin Ahmed

Tajuddin’s Appeal to the International Community in support of Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD

A statement issued by the Prime Minister of Bangla Desh Tajuddin Ahmad, on 17.04.1971

Bangla Desh is at war. It has been given no choice but to secure its right of self-determination through a national liberation struggle against the colonial oppression of West Pakistan.

In the face of positive attempts by the Government to distort the facts in a desperate attempt to cover up their war of genocide in Bangla Desh, the world must be told the circumstances under which the peace-loving people of Bangla Desh were driven to substitute armed struggle for parliamentary politics to realize the just aspirations of the people of Bangla Desh.

The Six Point Program for autonomy for Bangla Desh within Pakistan had been put forward in all sincerity by the Awami League as the last possible solution to preserve the integrity of Pakistan. Fighting the elections to the National Assembly on the issue of Six Points, the Awami League won 167 out of 169 seats from Bangla Desh out of a house of 313. Its electoral victory was so decisive that it won 80% of the popular votes cast. The decisive nature of its victory placed it in a clear majority within the National Assembly.

The post election period was a time of hope, for never had a people spoken so decisively in the history of parliamentary democracy. It was widely believed in both wings that a viable constitution based on six points could be worked out. The Pakistan Peoples party which emerged as the leading party in Sind and Punjab had avoided raising the issue of Six Points in their election campaign and had no obligation whatsoever to its electorate to resist it. In Baluchistan the dominant party, National Awami Party, was fully committed to Six Points. In NWFP, the NAP dominant in the Provincial Assembly, was also a believer in maximum autonomy. The course of the elections, which marked the defeat of the reactionary parties, therefore, gave every reason to be optimistic about the future of democracy in Pakistan. Preparatory to the convening of the National Assembly talks were expected between the main parties in the political areas. However, whilst the Awami League was always willing, preparatory to going to the Assembly, to explain its constitutional position and to discuss alternative proposals from other parties, it is believed that the spirit of true democracy demanded that the constitution be debated and finalized in the National Assembly rather tan in secret sessions. To this end, it insisted on an early summoning of the National Assembly. In anticipation of this session, the Awami League worked day and night to prepare a draft constitution based on Six Points and fully examined all the implications of formulating and implementing such a constitution.

The first major talks over Pakistan’s political future took place between General yahya and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Mid-January. In this session General proved the extent of the Awami League’s commitment to its program and was assured that they were fully aware of its implications. But contrary to expectation did not fully spell out his own ideas about the constitution. General gave the impression of not finding anything seriously objectionable in Six Points but emphasized the need for coming to an understanding with the PPP in Western Pakistan.

The next round of talks took place between the PPP and the Awami League from 27th January, 1971 in Dacca where Mr. Bhutto and his team held a number of sessions with the Awami League to discuss the constitution.

As in the case with, Mr. Bhutto did not bring any concrete proposals of his own about the nature of the constitution. He and is advisors were mainly interested in discussing the implications of Six Points. Since their responses were essentially negative and they had no prepared brief of their own it was not possible for the talks to develop into serious negotiations where attempts could be made to bridge the gap between the two parties. It was evident that as yet Mr. Bhutto had no formal position of his own from which to negotiate.

It must be made clear that when the PPP left Dacca there was no indication from their part that a deadlock had been reached with the Awami League. Rather they confirmed that all doors were open and that following a round of talks with the West Pakistani leaders the PPP would either have a second and more substantive round of talks with the Awami League or would meet in the National Assembly whose committees provided ample opportunity for detailed discussion on the constitution.

Mr. Bhutto’s announcement to boycott the National Assembly, therefore, came as a complete surprise. The boycott decision was surprising because Mr. Bhutto had already been accommodated once by the President when he refused Sheikh Mujib’s plea for an early session of the Assembly on the 15th of February and fixed it, in line with Mr. Bhutto’s preference, for 3rd March.

Following his decision to boycott the Assembly, Mr. Bhutto Launched a campaign of intimidation against all other parties in West Pakistan to prevent them from attending the session. In this task there is evidence that Lt. General Umer, Chairman of the National Security Council and close associate of, with a view to strengthening Mr. Bhutto’s hand, personally pressured various West Wing leaders not to attend the Assembly. In spite of this display of pressure tactics by Mr. Bhutto and Lt. Gen Umer, all members of the National Assembly from West Pakistan, except the PPP and the Qayyum Muslim League, had booked their seats to East Pakistan, for the session on 3rd March.

Within the QML itself, half their members had booked their seats and there were signs of revolt within the PPP where many members were wanting to come to Dacca. Faced with the breakdown of this joint front against Bangla Desh, General obliged Mr. Bhutto on 1st March by postponing the Assembly, not for any definite period, but sine die. Moreover he dismissed the Governor of East Pakistan, Admiral S. M. Ahsan, who was believed to be one of the moderates in his administration. The Cabinet with its component of Bengalis was also dismissed so that all power was concentrated in the hands of the West Wing military junta.

In these circumstances Yahya’s gesture could not be seen as anything but an attempt to frustrate the popular will by colluding with Mr. Bhutto. The National Assembly was the only forum where Bangla Desh could assert its voice and political strength, and to frustrate this was a clear indication that Parliament was not to be the real source of power in Pakistan.

The reaction to the postponement in Bangla Desh was inevitable and spontaneous and throughout the land people took to the streets to record their protest at this arbitrary act. People now felt sure that they (Pakistani authority) never really intended to transfer power, and was making a mockery of parliamentary politics. The popular mood felt that the rights of Bangla Desh could never be realized within the framework of Pakistan, where could so blatantly frustrate the summoning of an assembly proclaimed by his own writ and urged that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman must go for full independence.

Sheikh Mujib however continued to seek a political settlement. In calling for a program of non-cooperation on 3rd March he chose the weapon of peaceful confrontation against the army of occupation as an attempt to bring them to their senses. This was in itself a major gesture in the face of the cold blooded firing on unarmed demonstrators on the 2nd and 3rd March which had already led to over a thousand casualties.

The course of the non-cooperation movement is now a part of history. Never in the course of any liberation struggle has non-cooperation been carried to the limits attained within Bangla Desh between first and 25th March. Non-cooperation was total. No judge of the High Court could be found to administer the oath of office to the new Governor Lt. General Tikka Khan. The entire civilian administration including he police and the Civil Service of Pakistan, refused to attend office. The people stopped supply of food to the army. Even the civilian employees of the Defense establishment joined the boycott.

Non-cooperation did not stop at abstention from work. The civilian administration and the police positively pledged their support to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and put themselves under his orders.

In this situation the Awami League without being a formally constituted Government, was forced to take on the responsibility of keeping the economy and administration running whilst non-cooperation lasted. In this task they had the unqualified support not only of the people but the administration and the business community. The latter two subordinated themselves to the directives of the Awami League and accepted them as the sole authority to solve their various problems.

In these unique circumstances the economy and administration were kept going in spite of the formidable problems arising out of the power vacuum which has suddenly emerged in Bangla Desh. In spite of the lack of any formal authority, Awami League volunteers, in cooperation with the police, maintained a level of law and order which was a considerable improvement on normal times.

Faced with this demonstration of total support to the Awami League and this historic non-cooperation movement, General appears to have modified his tactics. On the 6th March, he still seemed determined to provoke a confrontation when he made his highly provocative speech putting the full blame on the crisis, on the Awami League and not even referring to the architect of the crisis, Mr. Bhutto. It seems that he expected a declaration of independence on 7th March. The Army in Dacca was put on full alert to crush the move and Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan was flown in to replace Lt. Gen. Yakub to signify the hardening of attitudes within the Junta.

Sheikh Mujib, however, once again opted for the path of political settlement in spite of massive public sentiment for independence. In presenting his 4-point proposal for attending the National Assembly he not only had to contain the public mood but to leave a way open for to explore this last chance of a peaceful settlement.

It is now clear that Pakistani Generals never had the slightest intention of solving Pakistan’s political crisis peacefully but were only interested in buying time to permit the reinforcement of their military machine within Bangla Desh. Yahya’s visit to Dacca was a mere cover for his plan of genocide. It now becomes clear that contingency plans for such a crisis had already begun well in advance of the crisis. Shortly before 1st March tanks which had been sent north to Rangpur to defend the borders were brought back to Dacca. From the 1st March the families of Army personnel were being sent off to West Pakistan on a priority basis as were the families of West Pakistani businessmen.

The military build-up was accelerated after 1st March and continued throughout the talks up to 25th March. Members of the armed forces dressed in civilian clothes were flown in PIA commercial flights via Ceylon. C 130s carrying arms and provisions for the garrisons flew in to Dacca. It is estimated that up to one division, with complementary support, was brought into Bangla Desh between 1st and 25th March. To ensure security, the airport was put under strict air force control and heavily guarded with artillery and machine gun nets whilst movement of passengers was strictly supervised. As SSG commando group especially trained in operations in sabotage and assassinations was distributed in key centers of Bangla Desh and were probably responsible for the attacks on Bengalis in Dacca and Saidpur in the two days before 25th march to provoke clashes between locals and non-locals so as to provide a cover for military intervention.

As part of this strategy of deception adopted the most conciliatory posture in his talks with Mujib. In the talks beginning on the 16th of march, he expressed regrets for what had happened and his sincere desire for a political settlement. In a crucial meeting with Sheikh Mujib he was asked to positively state the Juntas position on the Awami Leagues 4-point proposal. He indicated that there was no serious objection and that an interim constitution could be worked out by the respective advisors embodying the four points.

The basic points on which agreement was reached were:

  • 1.Lifting of Martial Law and transfer of power to a Civilian Government by a Presidential Proclamation.
  • 2. Transfer of power in the provinces to the majority parties
  • 3. To remain as President and in control of the Central Government
  • 4. Separate sittings of the National Assembly members from East an West Pakistan preparatory to a joint session of the house to finalize the constitution.

Contrary to the distortions now put out by both Yahya and Bhutto the proposal for separate sittings of the Assembly was suggested by to accommodate Mr. Bhutto. Hi cite the practical advantage that whilst 6-points provided a viable blueprint to regulate relations between Bangla Desh and the Center its application would raise serious difficulties in the West Wing. For this reason West Wing MNAs must be permitted to get together to work out a new pattern of relationships in the context of the Six-point constitution and the dissolution of One Unit.

Once this agreement in principle had been reached between Sheikh Mujib and there was only the question of defining the powers of Bangla Desh vis-a-vis the Center during the interim phase. Here it was again jointly agreed that the distribution of power should as far as possible approximate to the final constitution approved by the National Assembly which, it was expected, would be based on Six Points.

For working out this part of the interim settlement Mr. M. M. Ahmed, the Economic Advisor to the President was specially flown in. In his talks with the Awami League advisors he made it clear that provided the political agreement had been reached there were no insuperable problem to working out some version of Six Points even in the interim period. The final list of three amendments to the Awami League draft which he presented as suggestions, indicated that the gap between the Government and Awami League position was no longer one of principle but remained merely over the precise phrasing of the proposals. The Awami league in its sitting of 24th March had accepted the amendments with certain minor changes of language and there was nothing to prevent the holding of a final drafting session between the advisors of the President and Mujib when the interim constitution would be finalized.

It must be made clear that at no stage was there any breakdown of talks or any indication by General or his team that they had a final position which could not be abandoned.

The question of legal cover for the transfer of power is merely another belated fabrication by to cover his genocide. He and his team had agreed that, in line with the precedence of the Indian Independence Act of 1947, power could be transferred by Presidential Proclamation. The notion that there would be no legal cover to the agreement raised subsequently by Mr. Bhutto and endorsed by General (Yahya) was never a bone of contention between Sheikh Mujib and Pakistani authorities. There is not the slightest doubt that had indicated that a meeting of the National Assembly was essential to transfer power, the Awami League would not have broken the talks on such a minor legal technicality. After all as the majority party it had nothing to fear from such a meeting and its acceptance of the decision for a separate sitting was designed to accommodate Mr. Bhutto rather than a fundamental stand from the party.

Evidence that agreement in principle between contending parties had been reached is provided by Mr. Bhutto’s own Press Conference on 25th March. It is not certain what passed in the separate session between General and Mr. Bhuttto but there is evidence that deliberate falsehoods about the course of the talk with the Awami League were fed to the PPP who were told that Sheikh Mujib was determined to have a showdown and was daily escalating his demands. Needless to say not the slightest indication of these misgivings have been raised in the meetings between the Awami League team and General Yahyas advisors where amicability and optimism prevailed to the end.

Whilst hope for a settlement was being raised more ominous signs of the intentions of the army were provided by their sudden decision to unload the munitions ship MV Swat berthed at Chittagong Port. Preparatory to this decision, Brigadier Mazumdar, a Bengali officer commanding the garrison in Chittagong had been suddenly removed from his command and replaced by a West Pakistani. On 24th night he was flown to Dacca under armed escort and has probably been executed. Under the new command notice was given to local authorities of the decision to unload the ship in spite of the fact that the army had abstained from doing so for the last 17 days in the face of non-cooperation from the port workers. The decision to unload was a calculated provocation which immediately brought 100,000 people on the streets of Chittagong and led to massive firing by the Army to break their way out. The issue was raised by the Awami League with General Peerzada as to why this escalation was being permitted whilst talks were still going on. He gave no answer beyond a promise to pass it on to General.

Following the final meeting between General Yahya’s and Awami League’s advisors on 24th March where Mr. M.M. Ahmed passed on his amendments, a call was awaited from General Peerzada for a final session where the draft could be finalized. No such call materialized and instead it was learnt that Mr. M. M. Ahmed, who was central to the negotiations, had suddenly left for Karachi on the 25th morning without and warning to the Awami League team.

By 11P.M. of the 25th all preparations were ready and the troops began to take up their positions in the city. In an act of treachery unparalleled in contemporary history a program of calculated genocide was unleashed on the peaceful and unsuspecting population of Dacca by midnight of 25th March. No ultimatum was given to the Awami League, no curfew order was even issued when the machine guns, artillery and canon on the tanks unleashed their reign of death and destruction. By the time the first Martial Law proclamations issued by Lt. General Tikka Kahn were broadcast the next morning some 50,000 people, most of them without offering any resistance, and many women and children, had been butchered. Dacca had been turned into an inferno with fires raging in most corners of the city. Sleeping inhabitants who have been drawn from their homes by the fires started by the military, were machine gunned as they ran to escape the flames.

Whilst the police, EPR, and armed volunteers put up a heroic resistance, the main victims remained the weak, the innocent and the unsuspecting who were killed at random in their thousands. We are compiling a first hand account of the details of genocide committed by the Pakistani Army on the orders of the President of Pakistan which we will publish shortly. The scale and brutality of the action exceeds anything perpetrated in the civilized world.

The President (Yahya) himself left Dacca on the night of 25th March after having unleashed the Pakistan Army, with an open license to commit genocide on all Bengalis. His own justification for this act of barbarism was not forthcoming till 8 P.M. the next day when the world was given its first explanation for the unleashing of this holocaust. This statement was self-contradictory and laced with positive lies. His branding of a party as traitors and outlaws, with whom he had only 48 hours ago been negotiating for a peaceful transfer of power, bore no relationship to the situation in Bangla Desh or the course of the negotiations. His promise to hand over power to the elected representatives of the people after banning the Awami League which was the sole representative of Bangla Desh and held a majority of seats in the National Assembly was a mockery of the freely recorded voice of 75 million Bengalis. The crudity of the statement was clear evidence that he was no longer interested in taking shelter behind either logic or morality and had reverted to the law of the jungle in his bid to crush the people of Bangla Desh.

Pakistan is now dead and buried under a mountain of corpses. The hundreds and thousands of people murdered by the (Pak) army in Bangla Desh will act as an impenetrable barrier between West Pakistan and the people of Bangla Desh. By resorting to pre-planned genocide must have known that he was himself digging Pakistans grave. The subsequent massacres perpetrated on his orders by his licensed killers on the people were not designed to preserve the unity of a nation. They were acts of racial hatred and sadism devoid of even the elements of humanity. professional Soldiers, on orders, violated their code of military honor and were seen as beasts of prey who indulged in an orgy of murder, rape, loot, arson and destruction unequaled in the annals of civilization. These acts indicate that the concept of two countries is already deeply rooted in the minds of his associates who would not otherwise dare commit such atrocities on their own countrymen.

Yahya’s genocide is thus without political purpose. It serves only as the last act in the tragic history of Pakistan which has chosen to write with the blood of the people of Bangla Desh. The objective is genocide and scorched-earth before his troops are either driven out or perish. In this time he hopes to liquidate our political leadership, intelligence and administration, to destroy our industries and public amenities and as a final act he intends to raze our cities to the ground. Already his occupation army has made substantial progress towards this objective. Bangla Desh will be set back 50 years as West Pakistans parting gift to a people they have exploited for 23 years for their own benefit.

This is a point of major significance to those great powers who choose to ignore this largest single act of genocide since the days of Belsen and Auschwitz. If they think they are preserving the unity of Pakistan they can forget it because the president (Yahya) himself has no illusions about the future of Pakistan. They must realize that Pakistan is dead and murdered by – and that independent Bangla Desh is a reality sustained by the indestructible will and courage of 75 million Bengalis who are daily nurturing the roots of this new nationhood with their blood. No power on earth can unmake this new nation and sooner or later both big and small powers will have to accept it into the world fraternity.

It is therefore, in the interest of politics as much as humanity for the big powers to put their full pressure on to cage his killers and bring them back to West Pakistan. We will be eternally grateful to the people of USSR and India and the freedom loving people of all countries for their full support they have already given us in this struggle. We would welcome similar support from the Peoples Republic of China, USA, France, Great Britain and all Afro Asian countries who have freed themselves from colonial rule and from all freedom loving countries. Each in their own way should exercise considerable leverage on West Pakistan; and were they to exercise this influence, could not sustain his war of aggression against Bangla Desh for a single day longer.

Bangla Desh will be the eighth most populous country in the world. Its only goal will be to rebuild the nation from the ashes and carnage left behind by Yahya’s occupation army. It will be a stupendous task because of destruction of economy by Yahya’s army in our already underdeveloped and overpopulated region. But we now have a cause and a people who have been hardened in the resistance, who have shed their blood for their nation and won their freedom in an epic struggle which pitted unarmed people against a modern army. Such a nation cannot fail in its task of securing the foundations of its nationhood.

In our struggle for survival we seek the friendship of all people, the big powers and the small. We do not aspire to join any bloc or pact but will seek assistance from those who give it in a spirit of goodwill free from any desire to control our destinies. We have struggled far too long for our self determination to permit ourselves to become anyone’s satellite.

We now appeal to the nations of the world for recognition and assistance both material and moral in our struggle for nationhood. Every day this is delayed a thousand lives are lost and more of Bangla Deshs vital assets are destroyed. In the name of Humanity act now and earn our undying friendship.

This we now present to the world as the CASE of the people of Bangla Desh. Bangla Desh has earned her right to recognition at great cost, as the people of Bangla Desh made sacrifices of unequal magnitude and fought hard in order to establish the rightful place for Bangla Desh in the community of Nations.

Mujib and Taj: The liberators of Bangladesh

Mujib and Taj: The liberators of Bangladesh

“Lilie, said Tajuddin I never made a wrong decision in my whole life. But the deadliest mistake of my life was not leaving home in the fatal night of 15 August.” – Tajuddin to his wife

“……. I had to bury a huge pain in the hearts of my heart. Mujib bhai who was embedded in my mind forever, Mujib bhai who over the years became part of my being, that Mujib bhai never asked me, even for a day, Tajuddin what did you do in 71 when I was away. Never asked Tajuddin, you tell me, I’d like to hear about 71…..” – My Childhood in 1971 and my dad Tajuddin Ahmad: Shimeen Hussain Rimi

Books on Tajuddin Ahmad
1. Muldhara 71: Muyeedul Hasan. UPL
2. Tajuddin Ahmad’s Diary (Vol I & II), Pratibhas, Dhaka, 1999
3. Tajuddin Ahmad: Endless Stream of Light: Simeedn Hossaiin Rimi, Pratibhas, Dhaka 2006
4. Shakkhi Chilo Shirostran – Suhan Rizwan, Dhaka 2015

Major General J. F. R. Jacob

 Jacob (far right) presents his books to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Three Chiefs (Army-Air Force-Navy) are also present. Image via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0

Jacob (far right) presents his books to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Three Chiefs (Army-Air Force-Navy) are also present. Image via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0

Jacob Farj Rafael “J. F. R.” Jacob (1923 – 13 January 2016) as a Major General with Indian army, served as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command during the war. During his 36-year career in the army, he also fought in World War II and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. He later served as the Governor of the Indian states of Goa and Punjab.

Jewish general led Indian army in 1971 war

By SHELDON KIRSHNER

In the annals of modern warfare, the 1971 war between India and Pakistan is regarded as a template of brilliance. Within 13 days, the Indian army routed Pakistan in one of the swiftest campaigns of the 20th century.

Occasionally compared to Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six Day War, and studied at military academies as a textbook example of efficient planning, the Indo-Pakistan war gave rise to a new state, Bangladesh, and established India as a regional superpower.

The major general who masterminded and spearheaded India’s offensive, and who accepted Pakistan’s surrender, was Jack Frederick Ralph Jacob, the scion of an old Jewish family from Calcutta. A spry bachelor of 81 who retired in 1978 as the commander of India’s eastern army, he considers that war the highlight of a long and distinguished career as a soldier. Having written a book about it, Surrender at Dacca, published in 2001 by Manohar, he claims that the war was “surely the greatest military feat in our history.”

Although historians are acquainted with his resumé, Jacob is not exactly a household name outside India. As I prepared for my trip to India late last year, I ran across his name in my research. Intrigued by the possibility of interviewing a Jewish warrior from an exotic country whose Jewish community is rooted in antiquity, I asked to meet him.

When I arrived in New Delhi on my last day in India, following relatively brief flights from Cochin and Mumbai, B.B. Mukherjee, a helpful contact from the ministry of tourism, was at the terminal to greet me with the news that Jacob had consented to an interview. I was pleased, but the timing was hardly fortuitous. I was tired, coming down with a cold and a hoarse voice, and my flight back to Toronto was just hours away. Nevertheless, I told Mukherjee I would be ready to talk to Jacob at his home in New Delhi at around five o’clock.

After a shower and change of clothes, I met Mukherjee in my hotel lobby, and off we drove to Jacob’s flat in a non-descript gray apartment building in the centre of this sprawling city and capital of India. When we arrived, one of his Nepalese houseboys opened the door and ushered us into a dimly lit room filled with French furniture and crowded with original Mogul art on the walls.

Jacob, a surprisingly small man with a café au lait complexion and a formal manner, was smartly decked out in a blue blazer, creased pants, shirt and tie. He motioned me to sit down next to him on a narrow couch.

I began by asking him about his role in the war – the 33rd anniversary of which was marked shortly before my trip to India – and his decision to become a soldier. Jacob, whose Baghdadi family settled in Calcutta more than 200 years ago and whose father – Elias Emanuel – was a businessman, was quite effusive, enunciating his words in a posh upper-class Indian accent.

A brigadier-general by 1963 and a major-general by 1967, he was appointed chief of the Eastern Command in 1969 by Gen. Sam Maneckshaw, the Parsi chief of staff. Jacob’s immediate superior was Lt. Gen. J.S. Aurora, a Sikh.

Jacob joined the British army in the summer of 1941 while at university and when India was still a British colony. He did so, he said, “to fight the Nazis.” After graduating from officers training school in 1942, he was posted to northern Iraq in anticipation of a possible German thrust to seize the Kirkuk oil fields. He trained with Glubb Pasha’s Arab Legion, which would be the backbone of Jordan’s army. In the wake of Japan’s defeat, he was assigned to Sumatra. Returning to an independent India after taking a gunnery course in Britain, Jacob commanded a mountain battery and served in an armoured division. Then, in short order, he took artillery and missile courses in the United States and was a general staff officer at Western Command headquarters.

“I didn’t plan to be a career officer,” he said. “I liked the army and stayed on. I did everything I was supposed to do.”

During the mid-1960s, when India fought a war with Pakistan, he was the commandant of the School of Artillery. Subsequently, he was in charge of an infantry division in Rajasthan, where he wrote a much-praised manual on desert warfare. Promoted to chief of staff of the Eastern Command, based in Calcutta, Jacob was soon grappling with insurgencies in Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

The Eastern Command was a sensitive one. The partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947 had led to the emergence of India and Pakistan, which was made up of two distinct and geographically disconnected areas. Although East Pakistan was more populous than West Pakistan, political power rested with the western elite, causing resentment, unrest and calls for autonomy in the other half.

By 1971, East Pakistan was in revolt, and Pakistan’s ruler, Yahya Khan, cracked down. As the violence escalated, with a massive loss of life and an exodus of millions of Hindu refugees into Indian territory, Indo-Pakistani tensions rose.

When India’s prime minister, Indira Gandhi, extended assistance to Bengali rebels who sought to break away from Pakistan and form their own country, Pakistan responded first by attacking rebel camps in India and then, on Dec. 3, by bombing nine northern Indian airfields. In a dramatic broadcast to the nation, Gandhi declared war on Pakistan.

Having watched these developments with mounting concern, Jacob realized that conflict was imminent. “We knew we would have to intervene, but we hardly had any infrastructure and had to build it up,” he recalled.

In consultation with his superiors, he refined his plan to engage Pakistan in a “war of movement” in difficult terrain with few bridges and roads, crisscrossed by rivers and broken up by swamps, mangroves and paddy fields. Jacob’s strategy was clear. Dacca – the heart of East Pakistan – would be captured and Pakistani forces bypassed. Pakistan’s communication centres would be secured and its command and control capabilities destroyed, while its forces would be drawn to the border. Some Indian commanders raised objections to the unorthodox plan, but it was finally approved.

“I planned for a three-week campaign, but it went faster than I expected,” said Jacob, who instinctively understood that speed was essential and that a protracted war would not be in India’s interests: The United Nations would apply pressure on India to halt its offensive, and the Soviet Union – India’s ally – might not be able to fend off calls for a ceasefire.

As fighting raged, Jacob flew to Dacca and wrested unconditional surrender terms from his opposite number, Gen. Amir Niazi, who would later accuse Jacob of having blackmailed him into submission.

“It was a total victory over a formidable, well-trained army,” he observed. “Had Pakistan fought on, it would have been difficult for us.” Indian casualties were 1,421 killed and 4,058 wounded. “We expected higher casualties,” he admitted. The Pakistani figures were much higher, in India’s estimation: 6,761 killed and 8,000 wounded.

Jacob, who calls Surrender at Dacca the most authoritative and objective account of the war to date, ascribed his victory to a few factors – imaginative planning, flexibility of approach, the capacity to react to shifting and perhaps unforeseen events and, of course, luck. But for Jacob, a keen student of warfare, historical context was always of crucial importance. As he put it, “I’ve learned from every campaign since Alexander the Great and Napoleon.”

Looking back, he described his 37-year career in the army as “the happiest and most enjoyable period of my life.” Never once did he feel the sting of anti-Semitism in the Indian army. “But I had some problems with the British,” he said, declining to elaborate. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

Interestingly enough, Jacob – whose Hebrew name is Yaacov Rafael and who serves as president of New Delhi’s one and only synagogue – was not the only high-ranking Jewish officer in the armed forces. “There was another Jewish general, a chap named Samson, and he was in research and development and ordnance. And there was also a Jewish vice-admiral.”

Upon leaving the army, Jacob went into business. But in 1998, he was called out of retirement to be governor of Goa, a former Portuguese colony popular with Israeli tourists. He remained there until 1999, when he assumed the governorship of Punjab, a job he held until 2003.

A three-time visitor to Israel who was once invited there by Yitzhak Rabin when he was the prime minister, Jacob was also on friendly terms with Mordechai Gur, a former Israeli chief of staff. Jacob played an indirect role in India’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, but he refused to talk about his role in that diplomatic rapprochement.

Referring to himself as “a very private person,” he was likewise reluctant to speak about his family, apart from saying that his brothers and sisters are deceased.

Today, in his twilight years, Jacob is a writer and lecturer on military and political affairs. But he wryly described his current status as “unemployed.”