এই পোস্টে যা লিখেছি সেটা বা সেটার মতো আরেকটি পোস্ট বাংলা ভাষায় ইনশাআল্লাহ দিব, আগামী কোরবানী ঈদের ৭/৮ দিন পরে। ততদিনের জন্য সকলের প্রতি ঈদের শুভেচ্ছা। A post/Status about the book written by AVM Khandokar and allied matters 1. This short post is about the situation arising out of recent publication of a book written by Air Vice Marshal A K Khandokar. Many brothers have given their feelings. I had committed that, I also give out my comments or feelings. Since my comments or expression or feelings will be slightly long, therefore it is better to give it as a separate post rather than a comment below one of the posts by face book friends or brother-officers. 2. I harbor number of different sentiment or feelings within myself simultaneously. (First): I am a Muslim by faith and I try to practice Islam. Therefore, I respect and cherish the values of my religion (in Bangla language CHETONA). (Two): I am a Bengali (in Bangla language BANGALEE). I am a part and parcel of the culture-traditions of the community of people called Bangalee. I cherish the values of being a Bangalee. (Three): I have taken part in the war of liberation of Bangladesh actively and had been in the battle field for the entire duration of nine months. We wanted to liberate our country from the occupation forces and we did so. I therefore, harbor the values of being a freedom fighter (in Bangla language MUKTIJUDDHER CHETONA). (Four): We have all created the country called Bangladesh through a blood-soaked nine months of liberation war. Our country is Bangladesh. We are all Bangladeshi, by choice. I cherish the values of being a citizen of independent Bangladesh. (Five): In Bangladesh, I am now member of a political party called Bangladesh Kallyan Party. So I harbor the values of being a political activist. 3. While writing this short post, I have tried to balance my identity that is balance between five different identities outlined in the preceding paragraph. 4. AVM Khondakar is senior to me by 19 or 20 years in age as well as service. When he was the Deputy Chief of Staff Bangladesh Forces in Kolkata during the war of liberation in the rank of Group Captain, I was just a subaltern. He had the opportunity and privilege to contribute towards: (1) planning for the war of liberation (2) monitoring the progress in the battle field (3) taking part in supervision of overall preparation of the war and arranging the logistics (4) developing liaison between Bangladesh Forces and the Indian Forces. On the other hand, I did not have the opportunity and privilege like him. I was an infantry soldier right on the ground, doing all that an infantry officer does. All that I say now, in this column or for that matter in others columns or books or speeches, I do so with the benefit of hindsight as well as the benefit of experience of service in the Army. So while I make comments on AVM Khondakar or his book, I would like to be careful, as well as be as polite as possible. 5. The organogram of BDF or the command structure of BDF did not evolve in one single day. It evolved over a period. After the war began on 26 March 1971, let us take one time frame only as an example for discussion. For example, in first week of April 1971, nobody was sure of the following: (1) how many military persons and civilians had crossed the border and joined the war (2) how many will cross the border in future and join the war (3) how many officers will be there to lead the war (4) what will be pattern of interaction between fighters in the battle field and the political leaders (5) what will be the structure of political leadership of the war (6) what will be the role of India (7) The intentions of the occupation forces that is Pakistani Military Forces (8) Likely change in the deployment of Pakistani Military Forces from what was existing on 26 March 1971. 6. It is in this back drop (reference paragraph above) that the first ad hock meeting of senior military officers who had joined the war of liberation till then, was held on the 4th of April in the residence-bungalow of the manager of Teliapara tea garden. Teliapara is located absolutely on the border, now in the upozila called Madhabpur and district of Hobigonj. Senior officers of First, Second and Eighth East Bengal Regiment like Major Ziaur Rahman, Major KM Safiullah, Major Khaled Mosharraf, Major Shafaat Zamil, Major Moinul Hossain Chowdhury and few more attended the meeting. Colonel Osmani presided over the meeting. I was present in that meeting, ONLY as an aide to Major Safiullah. 7. In the meeting of Teliapara, they generally agreed on the strategy of the war and allocated areas of responsibility for the three of the battalions. In that meeting they also discussed possible repeat possible redeployment or regrouping if and when more officers are available as well as when more trained people are available. Accordingly 8 East Bengal, 4 East Bengal and 2 East Bengal regrouped their forces on the ground. This was the beginning of the process of making SECTORS. The troops of 8 East Bengal helped develop number 1 sector. The troops of 4 East Bengal helped develop number 2 sector. The troops of 2 East Bengal helped develop number 3 sector. Bengali persons of the-then EPR, East Pakistan Police, Ansars, Mujahids, as well as hundreds or thousands of students and youth of various profession were joining these battalions. So these sectors were simultaneously also training volunteer youths as freedom fighters. The process or responsibility of training was modified later on. Gradually the fighters as a body became officially known as Bangladesh Forces (BDF). BDF consisted of two types of freedom fighters namely NIOMITO BAHINI and GUERRILLA BAHINI. 8. About C in C vs COS. In those days we were following the appointment-style of the British or the British-Indian Army or Pakistan Army. Government of Bangladesh had appointed retired Colonel MAG Osmani as the Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Forces (BDF). From Teliapara, Colonel Osmani went to Kolkata. Colonel Osmani was also an elected member of the national assembly of Pakistan in the election of December 1970. In Kolkata, the political leaders were carrying out their own exercises and mutual interaction with the Indians, to create a political leadership for the new country called Bangladesh which was also fighting for liberating the country. In the calendar of April 1971, two dates are important and historic namely 10th April and 17th April 1971. It is in this time frame that the provisional government of Bangladesh was formed. The provision government decided to appoint Colonel Osmani as the Commander-in-Chief. In the mean time, one retired Lieutenant Colonel M A Rob formerly of ASC (Pakistan Army) also joined the war of liberation. He was also an elected Member of the national assembly of Pakistan in the election of December 1970. The provisional government decided to appoint Lt Colonel MA Rob as the CHIEF OF STAFF, Echelon Headquarters, Bangladesh Forces, located at Agartala the capital of the Indian state of Tripura. Meanwhile, Group Captain Khondakar also joined the war in middle or late May 1971. The provisional government appointed him as the Deputy Chief of Staff Headquarter Bangladesh Forces. He was the second senior most appointment holder in the headquarter of BDF immediately after Colonel Osmani. De facto, he was the Deputy Commander in Chief. Last 43 years of Bangladesh, we have known as such. 9. All Sectors did not get organized at the same time. The sectors became organized and activated slowly and gradually. Sometime in June-July 1971, there was a conference of all sector commanders. There the strategy of the war was reevaluated. It was decided to reorganize the old battalions of the East Bengal Regiment and raise two or three more. As a result of this decision, 1 East Bengal, 2 East Bengal, 3 East Bengal, 4 East Bengal and 8 East Bengal were reorganized or re raised (because these battalions had got lost into sectors). New 9 East Bengal, 10 East Bengal and 11 East Bengal were raised by sharing or skimming manpower from the older battalions. Major Abdul Salek Chowdhury, Major Zafor Imam and Major Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim were appointed commanding officers of the newly raised infantry battalions respectively. These battalions were grouped into Z Force, S Force and K Force. Majors Ziaur Rahman, Safiullah and Khaled Mosharraf were promoted Lt Colonel and appointed as force commander of Z, S and K force respectively. The forces were equivalent of an infantry brigade. The brigades were deployed in different areas. 10. The sectors had regular troops deployed in the border areas, holding ground, or carrying on regular operations. The sectors had also irregular troops or guerrilla troops who were usually groped into sections or team of 8 or 10 guerrillas, and sent into the country-side of Bangladesh with some small arms including hand grenades and explosives. These guerrillas troops would operated deep inside rural Bangladesh or in urban Bangladesh in carry out raid, ambush etc. The guerrillas had platoon commanders and ultimately responsible to the sector commander. For example, I repeat only as an example, there was a platoon called Crack platoon operating in the city of Dhaka. Few members of such Crack platoon were: Istiak Aziz Ulfat, Sadek Ahmed Khan, Mofazzel Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Habib-ul-Alam Bir Protik, Sadek Hossain Khoka, Bodiuzzaman etc. The sectors also had some trained former soldiers who were operating deep inside Bangladesh with platoon-size or company-size troops at their disposal. For example, I repeat only as an example, I am citing the case of Subedar Abul Bashar. This JCO was a member of 2 East Bengal Regiment. He was deployed in Raipura area of present Narsingdi district. He was very successful in operations there. In one of the operations he became shaheed. There is a road named after his name in the Dhaka Cantonment (right in front of the residence of CGS running east from the present B Mess or AHQ library building. 11. What is known as Mujib Bahini was actually or officially known as Bangladesh Liberation Force (BLF). This force was raised by Indian authorities, trained only by Indian authorities in locations like Dehradun, armed only by Indian authorities, tasking done by Indian authorities through BLF chain of command. The persons of BLF were chosen by a committee of 4 or 6 devoted or diehard activist or leaders of Chatro League. The provisional government of Bangladesh or headquarter BDF or Colonel Osmani or the sectors commanders did not have any role to play in selecting the persons, or tasking them or commanding them. In my own words, they were “babies of Indian authorities of 1971”. One Major General Sujan Singh Uban was the highest commander of the force called BLF. Major General Uban was regulated/guided/control by Mr. R N Kao who was the director of research and analysis wing (RAW) Major General Uban has written a book titled Phantoms of Chittagong, published sometime in the year 1985. The political objectives behind the creation of Mujib Bahini were not publicized much in 1971. Now my feelings are that, they were a hundred percent political force, as a stand by or guarantor against any mishap by normal freedom fighters or mukti bahini, either during the war or after the war. A very unpleasant deduction is that, the Indian government of 1971 did not trust the provisional Bangladesh government of 1971 nor the freedom fighters under General Osmani and other senior officers, fully. 12. About the book. AVM Khandokar has written the book as a part of his moral responsibility towards the present generation of Bangladesh. He has himself confessed that, he was relying on his own memory and memory of his very close associates for the material of the book. He as confessed that, his notes have been lost. With all the short comings, the book written by AVM Khandokar is a testimony of the year of 1971 from ‘horses mouth’. Since AVM Khandokar was not present in the Racecourse meeting of 7th March 1971, he can not vouch for what he was written about joy Bangla joy Pakistan by Bangobandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In my view, the debate over WHETHER BANGOBANDHU CONCLUDED BY SAYING JOY PAKISTAN OR NOT SAYING, has over powered or over shadowed many other very important statements, or description given in the book. 13. Gallantry awards. In my view the system adopted for awarding gallantry awards, has short comings in view of the very nature of the war of liberation. In the British or Indian or Pakistan Army there are two types of awards for soldiers in the battle field. One type of award is for the command level, for very senior officers who do not take part in direct combat. The other type of award is for middle ranking or junior ranking officers who are in command of various levels and all types of soldiers who directly take part in combat. However, in the case of Bangladesh, only one type of gallantry award was instituted for all levels of fighters or commanders. For very practical reasons, AVM Khandokar was not expected to come to the battle field, lead platoons or companies. He did, what he was best suited for at that time. Among the soldiers and officers who had taken part in combat directly, many more deserved to be decorated as BIR PROTIK or BIR BIKROM or BIR UTTOM or BIR SRESTHO. 14. The event of 16th December 1971 in Ramna Racecourse deserve to be perused seriously. Apparently the Pakistani Forces under Lt. General Niazi had surrendered to the Allied command. But this was neither the second world war, nor the Korien war nor the Arab-Israeli war. Bangladeshis had fought for eight and half months. India helped during this period in various ways. 3 December 1971 onwards, they came to direct battle. By all reasons, the surrender ceremony should have been to the joint commanders eg General Aurora and Colonel Osmani or General Aurora and Group Captain Khandokar. The description available about the preparation for the surrender ceremony in various books testifies that the preparation were hectic. I am bound to say, there was a communication gap between head quarter BDF and the FORT WILLIAM. The surrender ceremony will never be repeated and Bangladeshi freedom fighters have been permanently deprived the honor of either fully or jointly receiving the surrender. 15. Comments about the liberation war in my own book. Allah was very kind to enable me to write number of books or edit number of books. The eleventh book is titled “Misro Kothon” published by Ononya. It is about 500 pages long chapter-7 pages 194 to 244 talks of 1971. Page 208 talks of the secret treaty or agreement between India and Bangladesh singed in 1971. Page 213 to 217 talks of Colonel Osmani and surrender ceremony. The whole book is available in MS Word version, in my web site (generalibrahim). The book is available in various book shops of Dhaka city particularly Book Worm on the main road near the old airport and Sagor Publishers in the Baily road. 16. I am not making more comments. I am not making comments on locally grown or locally raised bahinis of freedom fighters like Kaderia Bahini or Hemayet Bahini etc. I am not making comments on courageous activities of isolated groups of freedom fighters. I am not making comments on the Naval commandos nor on the Air force of the freedom fighters. I am concluding by quoting a paragraph in Bangla language from a column written by me and published in daily news paper Kalerkantho on 01 October 2014 কলামের নাম: “ভারসাম্য প্রয়োজন”। লেখক মেজর জেনারেল ইবরাহিম বীর প্রতীক। পৃষ্ঠা-১৫ কালের কণ্ঠ ০১ অক্টোবর ২০১৪। এটা সর্বশেষ অনুচ্ছেদ। তৎকালীন পূর্ব পাকিস্তানের রাজনৈতিক নেতৃত্বের একটি অংশ স্বাধীনতা চাচ্ছিল এবং তার জন্য গোপন প্রস্তুতি শুরু করেছিল। তার জন্য কৌশলী পদক্ষেপ নিচ্ছিল। তৎকালীন পূর্ব পাকিস্তানের নিকটতম প্রতিবেশী ভারত সেই প্রস্তুতিতে গোপনে বা আধা প্রকাশ্যে সাহায্য করছিল। অন্য ভাষায়, আমাদের স্বাধীনতাকামীরা সহযোগিতা নিচ্ছিলেন ও পাচ্ছিলেন। বিস্তারিত বিবরণ সেই সময় কোনো দিনই প্রকাশিত হয়নি। না হওয়ারই কথা। এখন ক্রমেই প্রকাশিত হচ্ছে, ইচ্ছায় হোক বা ঘটনাক্রমে হোক। কিন্তু ওই আমলের সরকারি গোয়েন্দা বা ওই আমলের স্বাধীনতাকামীদের প্রতিপক্ষ রাজনৈতিক শক্তিগুলো ওইরূপ ভারতীয় সাহায্য-সহযোগিতার কথা ও ভারতীয় প্ররোচনার কথা জানত। এখন ২০১৪ সালে পেছনের দিকে তাকিয়ে আমরা প্রশ্ন করছি, ওইরূপ সাহায্য-সহযোগিতার পরিমাণ বা ব্যাপ্তি কতটুকু ছিল? যেকোনো রাজনৈতিক আন্দোলনের একটি চূড়ান্ত লক্ষ্য থাকে। যদি রাজনৈতিক আন্দোলনের লক্ষ্য হয়, তাহলে তার চূড়ান্ত ধাপ কী হবে সেটা অনেক দিন পর্যন্ত অনিশ্চিত থাকে। আমাদের ক্ষেত্রে, ষাটের দশকের শেষে, সত্তরের দশকের শুরুতে রাজনৈতিক আন্দোলনের চূড়ান্ত পরিণতি হয়েছিল সশস্ত্র স্বাধীনতাযুদ্ধ। নিরস্ত্র রাজনৈতিক আন্দোলন এবং সশস্ত্র স্বাধীনতার যুদ্ধ দুটির মধ্যে সম্পর্ক অবিচ্ছেদ্য। কিন্তু দুটির পরিচয় আলাদা। বাংলাদেশের ক্ষেত্রে সশস্ত্র যুদ্ধ হয়েছিল প্রকাশ্যে, পৃথিবীকে সাক্ষী রেখে। বাংলাদেশের সশস্ত্র স্বাধীনতাযুদ্ধে সবচেয়ে বড় সাহায্যকারী ছিল প্রতিবেশী ভারত। মিলিয়ন ডলার প্রশ্ন হচ্ছে, ভারত কি সব কিছু নিঃস্বার্থভাবে ও নির্মোহভাবে প্রতিদান-অযোগ্যভাবে করেছিল? নাকি প্রকাশিত বা অপ্রকাশিত শর্তে, স্বার্থ উদ্ধারের লক্ষ্যে এবং প্রতিদান পাওয়ার পরিকল্পনায় করেছিল? নাকি এই উভয় প্রশ্নের মিশ্রণে তৃতীয় কোনো প্রশ্ন- যথা কিছুটা স্বার্থ, কিছুটা নিঃস্বার্থভাবে করেছিল? এই প্রশ্নগুলোর আলোচনা আমাদের করা প্রয়োজন। তবে আমাদের বলতে কাকে বোঝাই, এটি একটি কঠিন প্রশ্ন। আমার বয়স ৬৫। আমি ১৯৭১ সালের রণাঙ্গনের একজন মুক্তিযোদ্ধা। ১৯৭১ সালের রাজনৈতিক মুক্তিযোদ্ধাও আছেন। তাঁদের সংখ্যা এখন কম। ১৯৪৭-এর পূর্বেকার স্বাধীনতাযোদ্ধা এখন আক্ষরিক অর্থেই হাতে গোনা যায়। যারা আজকে তরুণ, যাদের ভবিষ্যৎ নির্ভর করছে আগামী দিনের বাংলাদেশের প্রকৃতির ওপর, তারা ইতিহাসের জন্য কতটুকু সময় দেবে? এর থেকেও বড় প্রশ্ন, কতটুকু সময় আমরাই বা তাদের কাছে চাইতে পারি? কথাগুলো এ জন্য বললাম যে মাঝেমধ্যেই বাংলাদেশের বড় বড় পত্রিকার কলাম লেখার জায়গাগুলো এবং টেলিভিশন টক শোর বিষয়বস্তুগুলো এই প্রশ্নগুলোকে কেন্দ্র করেই আবর্তিত হতে থাকে। অতীত, বর্তমান এবং ভবিষ্যৎ- এই তিনটির মধ্যে একটি ভারসাম্য প্রয়োজন। ব্যবসায়িক উন্নয়ন, রাজনৈতিক উন্নয়ন এবং সামরিক উন্নয়ন- এই তিনটির মধ্যে ভারসাম্য প্রয়োজন। অতীতের বন্ধু, বর্তমানের বন্ধু এবং ভবিষ্যতের বন্ধু- এই তিনটির মধ্যে ভারসাম্য প্রয়োজন। - See more at: kalerkantho/print-edition/muktadhara/2014/10/01/135421#sthash.fuw029xM.dpuf Time of giving this post 05:03 pm Thursday 02 October, 2014
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 11:02:52 +0000
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