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Haider Imtiaz Profile picture
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16 Dec, 5 tweets, 3 min read
50 years have passed since the #FallofDhaka on December 16, 1971.

In the tweets below, I've shared various threads I made over the past one year covering the following:

1. 1970 Elections

2. Operation Searchlight

3. Civil War & Genocide

4. Indo-Pak War 1971

Feedback welcome.
1. 1970 Elections:



#50Years
#FallOfDhaka
2. Operation Searchlight



#50Years
#FallOfDhaka
3. Civil War & Genocide



#50Years
#FallOfDhaka
4. Indo-Pak War 1971



#50Years
#FallOfDhaka

• • •

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More from @mhaiderimtiaz

Haider Imtiaz Profile picture
3 Dec
50 years ago (on December 3, 1971), Pakistan launched Operation Chengiz Khan which marked the official beginning of all-out war between India & Pakistan, culminating in the fall of Dhaka on December 16. Indian incursions into East Pakistan had already begun in late November 1971.
Pakistan's strategy for defense of East Pakistan called for offensive in the West, therefore the PAF launched pre-emptive strikes against several air bases in western India on the evening of December 3, and soon after the Pakistan Army began offensive all along the western front.
PAF's pre-emptive strikes were inspired by the Israeli Air Force's pre-emptive strikes at the beginning of the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, which had a crippling effect on the opposing Arab air forces and had allowed Israel to maintain crucial air superiority throughout the war.
Read 34 tweets
Haider Imtiaz Profile picture
13 Jun
50 years ago (on June 13, 1971), Anthony Mascarenhas' famous newspaper report titled 'Genocide' was published in the UK's Sunday Times. It exposed the brutal nature of the military operation in E. Pakistan, which had been cut off from the world since March
bbc.com/news/world-asi…
Foreign journalists had been expelled from E. Pakistan when Op Searchlight was launched on the night of March 25, 1971 (Further info on Op Searchlight: ) Independent journalism was impossible as local Pakistani newspapers were subjected to strict censorship
In these circumstances, the military regime selected 8 West Pakistani journalists including Mascarenhas (who was based in Karachi) for a 10-day tour of E. Pakistan. The aim was to highlight the atrocities committed by Bengali separatists (necessitating continued military action).
Read 23 tweets
Haider Imtiaz Profile picture
29 Mar
Hamoodur Rahman Commission's conclusions regarding Operation Searchlight:

"Whatever might have been the reason for the breaking down of the negotiations, it does appear to us that not only the nature of the action that was taken to suppress the movement of Awami League (contd.)
...on the midnight of the 25th of March, 1971, but also the manner of its execution was extremely unwise, lacking in political foresight and one that was inevitably to seal the doom of East Pakistan... the Yahya Khan regime, in its design to maintain itself in power, (contd.)
...foolishly deluded itself into thinking that the people of East Pakistan could be cowed down by strong military action. The manner and the method in which the military action was launched not only lacked morality but also political acumen... Whoever was responsible for (contd.)
Read 8 tweets
Haider Imtiaz Profile picture
25 Mar
50 years ago (on the night of March 25, 1971), Operation Searchlight was launched in erstwhile East Pakistan by the military regime led by Gen. Yahya Khan. The operation triggered a civil war in E. Pakistan which continued for 9 months & culminated in the creation of Bangladesh.
The immediate aim of Op Searchlight was to crush the civil disobedience movement launched by the Awami League in E. Pakistan, in response to President Yahya Khan's decision to indefinitely postpone the inaugural session of the National Assembly elected through the 1970 elections.
In the December 1970 elections, the East Pakistan-based Awami League led by Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman had won the majority of the seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan. Under the LFO of 1970, the newly elected National Assembly was to frame a new Constitution for Pakistan.
Read 63 tweets
Haider Imtiaz Profile picture
27 Dec 20
Can't forget the day when #BenazirBhutto was assassinated. I was studying at LUMS & was serving as General Secretary (GS) of Law & Politics Society (LPS). LPS had invited BB to deliver a talk on the future of democracy in Pakistan, which was scheduled in first week of Jan, 2008.
The overall context of the talk was important. Pakistan had recently been subjected to emergency rule by Gen. Musharraf, the Lawyers Movement was raging and the 2008 Elections were just around the corner. BB had returned from self exile & was leading a spirited election campaign.
As GS of LPS I was busy overseeing preparations for the event along with my colleagues. Necessary permissions had been obtained, venue had been booked, emails had been sent out to the student body, banners/posters had been printed which were soon to be affixed across the campus.
Read 7 tweets
Haider Imtiaz Profile picture
7 Dec 20
50 years ago, Pakistan held its first general elections (on December 7, 1970). These were the first direct national elections to be ever held in Pakistan since its independence. These elections were conducted under the Legal Framework Order, 1970, promulgated by Gen. Yahya Khan.
Under LFO 1970, the national assembly was to consist of 300 general seats & 13 reserved seats for women (300 + 13), distributed, on population basis, as follows:

East Pakistan: 162 + 7 (169)
Punjab: 82 + 3 (85)
Sindh: 27 + 1 (28)
NWFP: 18 + 1 (19)
Balochistan: 4 + 1 (5)
FATA: 7
The Election Commission of Pakistan at that time was headed by Justice (R.) Abdus Sattar, the Chief Election Commissioner. He was a Bengali from East Pakistan and had earlier served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and before that as a judge of the Dhaka High Court.
Read 30 tweets

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