Reflections on Number Game - Bangladesh War of Liberation

In the Bangladeshi discussion circles, there is a debate going on along the history of Bangladesh, esp. its emergence in 1971. Here below are my comments:

Nearly 40 years ago when my article, which discussed the topic of liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan was published in Al-Ittihad, its editor M. Tariq Quraishi had a long rebuttal posted in the same issue (vol. 18, no. 1 (1981)) in which he quoted Matiur Rahman's book - Bangladesh Today - An Indictment and a Lament - to refute many of the claims I had made - including the standard claim that Bangladeshis make on the number of genocide victims, i.e., the highly controversial '3 million' figure -  in my short article. 

He also quoted reporter William Drummond of the Guardian to suggest that when the inspector general's office of the newly independent Bangladesh (MHA) started collecting info on that subject, they were able to get only 2,000 complaints about deaths in the hands of Pakistani army (before his article was posted in June 6, 1972), thus, virtually dismissing my (officially-fed/propagated) claim of 3 million. I thought the number to be too low, and laughable! 

The projects for counting the number of deaths inside Bangladesh have always been enshrouded in mystery or are perceived to be such by many. However, number matters big in any genocidal study or claims around it. There is a parallel project within India that also likes to see that Bangladeshis are eternally indebted to India for its assistance during the 9-months of war in 1971. The larger the number of genocide victims the more that Bengali hatred towards Pakistan, which could be transformed into a permanent 'Bangladeshi mental-DNA', thus making it impossible for the former two wings to even have any amity at any level on any international issue, including the contentious Kashmir issue. 

Surely, the policy makers in India have succeeded in their plan to distancing Bangladesh and Pakistan as widely as possible. The physical distance of 1000 miles is actually several thousands of miles long; one cannot directly fly from Dhaka to any of the airports inside Pakistan requiring a visitor to fly via some of the hubs in the Middle East or Southeast Asia or Europe. That is a tragedy for many Muslims in either side of the fences with family members that are split and cannot now visit their loved ones. Even when they are allowed to visit, there is such a harassment that they are routinely forced to endure at the port of entry in Bangladesh that is very painful for those traveling and visited by! It's inexcusable and shameful!

There is no doubt that the politicians inside India never wanted an emergence of Pakistan but they had to swallow that bitter pill of partition of 1947. They planned to weaken the foundation of Bangladesh from the Day 1 and Pakistani leaders through their monumental idiocy and arrogance created the very environment for instability and regionalism in Pakistan, which created regional nationalist leaders. And the rest is history!