Thread by @PoliticalPrism_

The oft-repeated #EastPakistan's history largely needs self-correction, introspection and detailed-research by all concerned parties.

📌 This thread underlines some well-researched and credible facts to rebut partisan commentaries and fabricated facts concerning 1971 Debacle:

1. Richard Sisson & Leo Rose in the book 'War and Secession: Pakistan, India, and the Creation of Bangladesh', highlighted discrepancies in figures quoted pertaining to alleged killings by Pak Army from 300,000 to 500,000. The huge variation was only meant to malign #PakArmy.

2. M Abdul Mu'min Chowdhury, a Bengali nationalist who had participated in the separatist cause, left Bangladesh in 1973 for London. In the preface of his book, ‘Behind the Myth of Three Million’ (cont)

he shed light on how history was turned in favor of liberated Bangladesh & people including the ones skeptic of the negative rhetoric were compelled to join the chorus of their masters in singing the saga of 3 million martyrs and 300,000 heroines.

3. Serajur Rahman - a journalist and broadcaster with BBC Bangla Service at the time, wrote an article for The Guardian in 2011 in which he highlighted Sheikh Mijibur Rahman's confused state of mind with respect to unrealistic figures, where he got confused btw Lakh and millions.

4. After the fall of Dhaka, Sheikh Mujib formally instituted a 12-member inquiry committee to prove the validity of his claims. However, the draft report came with a casualty figure of 56,743, which brought to light the mass killings of Biharis by Mukti Bahinis.

5. Sarmila Bose, in her book ‘Dead Reckoning’, referred to Hamoodur Rehman Commission, noting that the claim of 3 million dead has been repeated in South Asian and Western academia without any verification. (cont)

The authors who have added this figure in their books have not provided a single reference. How can one trust or believe in such superficially exaggerated figures?

6. The gory accounts of crimes committed by Mukti Bahini remain underreported. Mukti Bahini had killed 100,000 Biharis (according to the ‘Chronology for Biharis in Bangladesh’) to 150,000 Biharis ('Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict').

7. Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, Commander in Chief of Eastern Command of Indian army during the 1971 war rejected the three million figure. He noted that Mujib's figure was absolutely impossible because Pakistan army had simultaneously fought within the country and at the borders.

8. Dr. Junaid Ahmad, author of the book “Creation of Bangladesh: Myths Exploded, has brilliantly debunked the claims of exaggerated figures. Acc to him, if 3M Bengalis were killed over a period of time, from the start of the Op Searchlight, (March 26th till Dec 16 1971) (cont)

These make 262 days. 3 million divided by 262 gives a figure of 11,480, which means that Pak Army had to get hold of 11,500 plus Bengalis - bring them together, kill them, bury them, and do this again and keep doing it day after day for 262 days. (cont)

Pak Army had 34,000 combatant soldiers, who were deployed on the borders of about 1500 Km long, facing 15 divisions of Indian army.

These 34,000 soldiers were from only three divisions. This implies that three divisions of the Pakistan Army had to face 15 divisions of Indian army outside the borders plus 150,000 plus Mukti Bahini inside, including 50,000 Indian soldiers.

Even a logical person by these calculations can easily conclude that killing these many people and raping 200,000 women is impossible. It is physically and arithmetically impossible. Kindly use logic before proposing such fabricated figures and lies.

The rampant propagation of biased propaganda concerning separation of #EastPakistan fails to give due consideration to factors incl major role of #India, Mukti Bahini and @albd1971, and wrong decisions at political level.
@albd1971 @BDMOFA @ProthomAlo @DailyJugantor @zapalak