Dear
Mr Kashif Khan;
Many
thanks for reading my essay. The essay you read is around 5
years old. I am surprised it still attracts many readers, judging
from the comments I frequently receive.
Please accept my
apology for the delay in replying you. I was very busy writing
another essay.
You are greatly perturbed
at what I wrote in my unforgettable account of the horrendous
nights and days of March 25-26, 1971. This is nothing strange
to me. No doubt, anyone, who had had the misfortune to witness
and experience the plunder, murder, horror and terror unleashed
by the Pakistani army on the innocent, unarmed civilian population
of the then East Pakistan should be extremely disturbed. I am
not a professional writer. If I were, I would have provided
a far--- far eloquent and vivid description of those nightmarish
days and nights. Every word and every sentence I wrote in that
piece of my account is absolutely true and correct. Nothing
has been exaggerated. It was not only my hand which wrote that
essay, it was my heart, soul and spirit. I only wished I had
more vocabulary to express what I witnessed and experienced
with my own eyes.
Any way, I must appreciate
that you too are moved reading my simple essay. This is good,
and I hope when many Pakistanis realise what their army did
to us, the process of healing the deep wound will begin. But,
please note that in no way, we, the vast majority of Bangladeshis
will ever want to be in good company with the oligarch and the
Pakistan military junta. The lesson/s we learned in 1971 had
clearly unmasked the true character of Pakistan army, no obfuscation.
Now, let me address
some of the matters you raised vis-a-vis 1971 and its aftermath.
To begin with, we
have nothing against Pakistani commoners who are just as poor
and helpless as we are. More importantly, I have nothing personal
against you or any Pakistani, whether he/she is in Pakistan
army or not.
It is great that
you apologized, but please know none is in a position to apologize
for others' crimes. On previous occasions, although some Pakistani
civil and cultural societies formally apologized to BD (poet
Faiz Ahmed Faiz etc.), the institution of Pakistan Army, so
far, had not categorically apologized to BD. The vague comment
of President Musharraf in Dhaka is way too less than enough.
He just demonstrated his reticence on Pakistan Army's culpability
in carrying out the BD genocide.
To get an idea of
how your favourite army killed uncountable innocents and burnt
thousands of our villages, may I request you to go through page
91 of the famous document "Witness to Surrender" by
Pakistani Brig. Siddque Salik?
Now,
please tell me:
How can we ever forgive
and forget an army whose soldiers indiscriminately killed our
young children and old people? I can tell you for certainty
that there is probably not a single family in BD who has not
lost at least one close or distant relation in the gratuitous
murder committed by the Jawans of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
How
can we forgive and forget those soldiers who raped our
mothers, sisters, wives and daughters? They perpetrated this
Islamic rape (to use their terminology) to around 400,000 of
our women. The Islamic army of Pakistan regarded our women as
captives (ganimatter maal), and, as per Islamic law, they were
entitled to have sex with them. Please tell me how could we
tolerate and forget such calumnious, debauched rectitude of
Pakistani Jawans and Officers?
How can we forgive
an army who treated us like they were treating animals and cattle?
They believed, Allah had permitted them to kill all the unbelievers
living in BD. This, of course, included almost the entire Bengali
race, who, according to general Yahya Khan, were not true Muslims
and, so, were fair game for the genocide. I have written an
elaborate
essay on this. (Please read)
And,
how can we forgive a nation that has not, as yet, given
to us what rightfully belonged to us?
Please answer me:
If you had gone through what we Bengalis had suffered for nine
months, would you have forgiven the perpetrators of rape, loot
and arson? Do you think that by forgiving your great Muslim
army, we would be able to forget the atrocities they committed
when we were helpless and unarmed?
Are you trying to
absolve your nation of the assets it owes to us by seeking our
forgiveness?
Let the Pak-Govt
pay us back, as was on 26 March 1971 (A) half of the State-Bank
reserve (B) Half of PIA, (C) Half of Pakistan National Shipping
Corporation and all other national resources. Don't you think
this is just fair, Islamically speaking? - as you claim to be
a very good Muslim?
Only when these
are settled, could we talk of peace and reconciliation. Our
hearts and minds will burn for ever, for what Pakistan army
did to us in the name of Islam and the so-called Islamic brotherhood,
which were just the tools of exploitation and oppression for
the simple-minded and gullible Bengali people. We shall never
ever let this happen to us again.
To the Pakistan army,
India is the eternal enemy. This is not true for us. We can,
and we are, living quite amicably with India. We never forget
the help Indian government and the its common people accorded
us generously when Pakistan army was killing us. Please know
that India is not our enemy, it can never be. We shall, for
ever, remain grateful to India and its citizens to let us survive
when your Islamic brothers were slaughtering us.
Just like any neighbouring
countries, we do have regional problems but no "joint enemy
who want further break up any of the Muslim state in her neighbourhood".
The concept of "Muslim State" is anti-Islamic and
a dangerous threat to human civilization. We have experienced
this in 1971, and no sane person would want to go through the
same again.
I must let you know
that the joining back with Pakistan, like what the Jamat is
preaching now-a-days, will lead to another armed struggle/revolt.
This time, it will be a civil war, to get rid of the Jamat foisted
army elements of Bangladesh.
Therefore, establishing
an Islamic state by joining, once again, with Pakistan is just
a dim-witted idea. Jamat, and its Pakistani supporters do not,
at all, understand the minds of the Bengalis. They are simply
living in fool's paradise, hoping Allah will help them.
Your love for Pakistan
and Pakistan Army is understandable. Just like you, we also
love our Bangladesh and would not want this to become an 'Islamic
killing field' one more time, whether by 'joint Pak-Bangla'
army or by any other party.
I appreciate your
patriotism for your country and we expect you to respect our
patriotism for our beloved Bangladesh. Only through mutual respect
and non-aggression can we secure peace, prosperity and welfare
for our citizens.
Thank you again,
Abul Kasem
