‘Indian governments exaggerated details of Dhaka Fall’

After the separation of East Pakistan in 1971, it was a mere exaggeration by the then Indian government that 93,000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered, said the adviser to chief of the naval staff, Dr Junaid Ahmed, on Thursday.

He was speaking at a seminar titled ‘Bangladesh: Past, Present, and Future’ organised by the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi.

Ahmed, who lost 17 of his cousins in the 1971 war and has travelled several times to Bangladesh, began his presentation by sharing a few statements made by some politicians and officials from India and Bangladesh.

He talked about India’s serious allegations against Pakistan to shatter some of the myths regarding the split between the then East and West Pakistan, the greatest myth being the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers which, according to his research, is not true.

Condemning the India’s distortion of facts regarding the 1971 war, Ahmed said he had succeeded in exposing the distorted facts about the separation of the East-wing of Pakistan in his book “Creation of Bangladesh: Myths Exploded”. The book was published in 2016. He admitted that Bengalis were mistreated and discriminated against but he also stressed the need to re-establish friendly ties with Bangladesh, saying that both the countries have a common enemy in the form of India.

He observed that before dealing with the common enemy, there was a need to resolve some of the issues related to Pak-Bangladesh relations, including the issue of Beharis. He emphasised the need to understand the past in order to understand the present as well as the future.

Former Pakistan Study Centre, KU, director Dr Jaffer Ahmed provided a critical commentary on East and West Pakistan controversy and also shared his critical comments on Dr Junaid’s book. He considered the internal colonialism in Pakistan as a major cause of the separation of the two wings of the country.

Later, former dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, KU, Professor Dr Moonis Ahmar began his talk by lamenting the fact that people were unable to accept the truth. “Since we as Pakistanis do not learn from history, there is a danger of the history being repeated.”

Like Dr Junaid, Dr Moonis also talked about the need to resolve the tension that still exists between Pakistan and Bangladesh. “It would not be wrong to state that the tension between the two countries is like a dormant volcano that keeps erupting from time to time."

Dr Moonis Ahmar said the formation a commission consisting of jurists from both Pakistan and Bangladesh could bring about reconciliation between the two countries.

Since the two countries had lived together for several years, he said, there was a possibility of resolving all the conflicts for a better future. He believes that how Bangladesh has progressed and what role it has played in the formation of SAARC could not be undermined.

Two final year students from the Department of International Relations, KU, Zubaida Abbasi and Waleed Abdur-Rehman, also presented a review on Dr Junaid’s book. They appreciated the author’s relentless efforts to unveil the existing stereotypes against the tragic episode that led to the 1971 war.