A game of
Bangladeshi Whispers
BY
MARYAM RAHMAN,
How often have we been told that
Bangladesh came into being because of a history of unequal treatment of East
Pakistan by the western wing? In the same corollary, the demand for asking
forgiveness for the atrocities of 1971 has recently become a part of popular
discourse. Stories of selective genocide by the western wing are being shared
again on media channels nearly 40 years after the formation of Bangladesh.
While we are revisiting the skeletons of the past, we might as well set the
record straight. This is not to say that war crimes were not committed by
Pakistan, even Sarmila Bose’s widely criticized book “A Dead Reckoning”
dedicates sufficient space to a discussion of Pakistan’s mistakes. The author’s
work should be read with an appreciation of her deeply nationalistic
background—she is after all, Subhas Chandra Bose’s granddaughter. The incentive for trashing Bangladesh’s
outlandish claims of a death toll of three million is little and expressing a dissenting
view based even on factual information has brought her professional integrity
into question. Anthony Mascarenhas’ article published on 13 June 1971, in the
UK’s Sunday Times is dubbed as a game-changer, in the sense that it altered
world opinion and encouraged India to intervene. The article aimed to expose
the brutality of Pakistan’s suppression of the Bangladeshi uprising and this is
what it achieved—providing a one-sided picture of the war. Sarmila Bose’s book
however, takes on a more objective orientation by focusing on facts and
evidence. A well-reputed journalist has remarked that her “courage, disregard
for orthodoxy and meticulous research” makes her “the enfant terrible of Indian
historians”. It reveals Bangladesh’s state of denial as far as its share of war
crimes goes and provides room to the argument that Pakistan’s response may have
been reactionary in nature. It is high time that the dominant narrative in
Bangladesh be challenged as that it is the first step to closure. It must also
be understood that domestic politics is also a very important part of the
equation and Sheikh Hasina’s government has an inherent pro-India bias. Sheikh
Hasina’s illustrious father, Mujib-ur-Rehman regarded as the founding father of
the nation himself is rumored to have confused the estimate of the death toll
and mistranslated 300,000 to three million. A zero hardly does anything to
lessen the damage caused but while we find ourselves deeply engrossed in the
debate surrounding the painful separation of Bangladesh, it is only fitting
that we facilitate the process of dismantling deeply ingrained nationalist
mythologies and separate fact from fiction.
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