Nov
17
Saga of PAF in East Pakistan – 1971
Filed Under China, India, PAF, Pakistan, Uncategorized | 16 Comments
An informal account by Air Marshal Inam-ul-Haque Khan (Retd), HJ, Former Air Officer Commanding East Pakistan
President Yahya Khan held fair and free elections in December, 1970 in which Awami League of Shaikh Mujibur Rahman won a majority largely due to his Six-Point manifesto. National Assembly was to hold its first session in Dacca on 2nd March, 1971. It was, however, sabotaged by vested interests of West Pakistani establishment and some leading politicians, who were not willing to accept a Bengali-led government. Postponement of National Assembly strengthened the secessionist movement in East Pakistan, duly supported by India. Violent civil disobedience ensued through out East Pakistan immediately, resulting in casualties including death of students in a Dacca hostel due to shelling. Army was forced to retreat to cantonments for avoiding bloodshed. The situation was bad demanding careful and intelligent handling. After about a week, when the disobedience had simmered down, Yahya and advisors reached Dacca and held final talks with Mujib on around 20th March for a couple of days. It was then agreed that Yahya will retain the Presidency and, honouring the outcome of election, he will transfer power to Mujib. Yahya, vacillating as ever, swayed by the ill-advice of leading politicians of West Pakistan and his own military junta, to ‘sort out these bloody Bengalis’, resorted to use force in starting on 25th March, 1971, instead of implementing political solution as reached with Awami League – a complete betrayal of trust. Read more
Oct
3
“In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate” This is my first post on a blog, ever. I am excited about the prospect of using a blog to convey my thoughts to a broader audience and hope to engage with people around the globe on things that I believe effect us all. The opening sentence implies that “I start this blog in the name of God”. This is the way most muslims start a new endeavour. These words are repeated more often in the world than any other words that I can imagine. It is interesting to observe that the two qualities God holds most important in describing Him are, Grace and Compassion. And in this lies hope and salvation for mankind. I love the word “Grace” in English language as it encompasses so many dimensions. I will cover this word by itself in some later blog. It is unclear what this journey with you all is going to entail. My hope is to cover subjects that effects us all or are not adequately covered in the other forums of news and discussion. I hope to keep the blogs short but regular.
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