Home ›› 25 Feb 2023 ›› Opinion
During my first reading, I fell in love with the book “. That love deepened during my second reading.
I was a participant in and a witness to the tumultuous events described in Nabi’s book. Nabi and I both belonged to the Faculty of Science, Dhaka University, batch of 1971, during the protests led by the students of Dhaka University which ultimately led to the freedom fight and the birth of Bangladesh.
This book brought back memories. Eyewitness narratives of milestones of the Bangladesh Revolution are presented in unadulterated fashion. Nabi participated actively in the distinctive episodes of the revolutionary uprising of 1969, and fought gallantly in the Independence War of 1971. This book shows those turbulent times through the eyes of a revolutionary freedom fighter.
Nabi was a gifted student in biochemistry, but not a bookworm. He was a keen observer of the immense suffering of Bengalis, unleashed by the Pakistani ruling class--suffering which pained Nabi so much so that he plunged, as a vanguard, into revolutionary activities. Nabi evolved as an activist and leader in two distinctive phases of the Bangladesh Revolution: the Six Point Autonomy Movement (1966 -1969), and the Liberation War (1971). This book is an insider account of those transitional periods that altered the political landscape of the Indian subcontinent and will remain as a great document for eternity.
Nabi’s awakening as a conscious political thinker and discovery of his savior in Sheikh Mujib dates back to his teenage years, as he explains on page 14 of his book: “While studying at Ananda Mohan College in Mymensingh, I came to know more about the political and economic disparities between East and West Pakistan through newspapers. I also witnessed the misery seen in rural life in national life. West Pakistan is moving forward, and we Bengalis are lagging behind. I was looking for a leader to overcome this situation. At that time Sheikh Mujibur Rahman rose on the horizon.”
Since December 2007, Nabi has been involved in public service as a Councilman of Plainsboro Township in New Jersey. The development of his affinity for public service can be traced to the aftermath of the deadliest tropical cyclone in the history of the world on November 12, 1970, in which more than three hundred thousand Bengalis lost their lives in southern Bengal (pages 37-38). Nabi organized Dhaka University’s biochemistry students and went door-to-door in Azimpur Residential Colony for donations for the survivors whose homes and properties were washed away.
His book is a precise chronicle of the 1969 movement which toppled Ayub Khan, the decade-long military dictator of Pakistan, and the independence war of Bangladesh. As a chronicler, Nabi presents in lucid language how an autonomy movement chartered by the six-point demand of Bangabandhu Sheik Mujibur Rahman transformed into a full-fledged independence war. Many books have been published on this subject, but this book stands out as a unique narrative because Nabi is both the signifier and signified, in the context of semiotics.
The haranguing description on page 58 about the midnight of March 25, 1971, is electrifying. Nabi and other student activists were putting up barricades at the intersection of Mymensingh Road and Elephant Road, an important gateway to the Dhaka University Campus which the Pakistan Armed Forces used to unleash one of the most heinous genocides of the human history. The army opened fire later at night. Some of Nabi’s compatriots were killed and injured. Luckily, Nabi survived.
The carnage of the Pakistani Army continued through the early morning hours of March 26. That day, curfew was lifted for two hours. Nabi joined the frightened caravan of baffled humanity and saw body parts scattered around the Dhaka University Campus. He found many graphic scenes of the Pakistani genocide, including a line of human corpses on the pavement of Iqbal Hall. He identified, with horror, the bullet-ridden body of Chisti Helalur Rahman, who was a close friend of mine and Nabi’s. We three belonged to the 1967 Dhaka University batch. Nabi’s narrative is so vivid that I could not control my tears. Chisti was a great revolutionary, and was one of the visionary student leaders who advocated for the independence of Bangladesh and sacrificed his life for that.
Nabi describes his personal experiences witnessing the Pakistani Genocide together with news reports, media comments, and analysis of reputable sources. This elevates Nabi’s book to the repertoire of top intellectual contributions on the Bangladesh Liberation War.
The comparison of the Pakistani Genocide in former East Pakistan to those of Mai Lais (March 16, 1968) and Lidices (June 10, 1942) establishes that the Pakistani Genocide is as heinous as any other in modern history. Nabi’s reference to Newsweek’s Tony Clifton is appropriate and well placed (pages 86 – 87).
The massacre committed by the Pakistani Army in Mirjapur village in Tangail, Nabi’s home district, is worth noting. Five hundred civilians, mainly Hindus, including women and children, were murdered. Nabi writes, “[T]hese innocent villagers were buried alive along with dead bodies of their families and neighbors. The bodies were barbarically cast into a nearby construction ditch to rot and be scavenged by rodents.” Nabi gives another graphic description of the murder of ten thousand civilians in Chuknagar on May 10, 1971, by the Pakistani Army.
Nabi aptly presents the statements of Hendrik van der Heijden of the World Bank, U Thant of the United Nations, Isabella Blum of the World Peace Commission, Senators Adlai Stevenson and Edward Kennedy of the United States, and Andre Malreaux of France (pages 92 – 93). He also refers to The New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, and The Daily Azad.
The gang-raping of Bengali women by Pakistani Army was particularly despicable. Nabi presents a well-documented narrative of these heinous acts by the Pakistani Army (pages 93 – 108).
The atrocities of the Pakistani Army was so disgusting and oppressive that ten million Bengalis escaped to India and lived several months in refugee camps. India tried to help refugees with food and shelter. But the enormity of the challenge was so stupendous that life in refugee camps remained miserable. Nabi provides a heart-wrenching description, and mentions the eyewitness account given by Senator Edward Kennedy. On page 120-121), we can find a few lines of Kennedy’s Report to the US Senate. Nabi quotes the phrase, coined by Kennedy, “Reign of Terror Which Grips East Bengal.”
The most interesting part of the book is Nabi’s interpretation of the role of Nixon and Kissinger in the context of the famous Blood Telegram, sent by Archer Blood, the American Consul General to Dhaka, East Pakistan during that time.
During the war of liberation, Nabi was barely twenty-one. He was a gallant freedom fighter, and, according to the Far Eastern Economic Review, he was “the Brain” of the Tangail Freedom Fighter Forces, the largest non-government guerrilla force of the Bangladesh Independence War. Through the eyes of a freedom fighter, who cherished the binary option of either freedom or death, the acts perpetuated by foreign powers that caused immense harm to the life and liberty of millions of suffering Bengalis were absolutely unacceptable. Nabi’s language is thus very critical and pointed in condemnation of Nixon and Kissinger, whose main interest at that time was rapprochement with the People’s Republic of China via the help of Pakistan. It is an unfortunate coincidence that the Bangladesh Liberation War and American rapprochement with China were taking place in the same time period.
For domestic political gain and diplomatic points with China, Nixon and Kissinger both showed blind eyes to the terrible plight of the people of former East Pakistan. In the Blood Telegram, Archer Blood mentioned the commission of “Selective Genocide” by the Pakistani Army. Unfortunately, Blood endured punishment from Nixon and Kissinger, damaging his diplomatic career. Nabi interprets the role of the Republican-led US Government with caustic language and showers praise on the American people and on Senators from the Democratic Party who helped the Bangladesh Independence War.
Dr. Nuran Nabi’s perspective--that of a gallant freedom fighter and a great scholar--is valuable to read, as he does a wonderful job chronicling the earth-shattering historical events that changed the geopolitical status of the Indian Subcontinent.
The reviewer is Professor Emeritus of Geophysics, former Associate Provost and Director of the University Honours Programme at the University of New Orleans
