Gen. A. A. Khan Niazi

[shehla_malik]

On February 2, 2004, Lt. General Amir Abdullah Khan "Tiger" Niazi, one of the masterminds of Bangladesh Genocide had died in Lahore, Pakistan of diabetic complications. The disgraced Pakistani army General died at the age of 89 making him one of the oldest senior army officers who participated in 1971 to squash our legitimate fight for freedom to have survive that long! One by one, Pakistan's vile military leaders who wittingly participated in genocide during Bangalees 1971 freedom struggle are passing from this mortal world. Not too long ago, on March 28, 2002, another rogue army General of Pakistan, General Tikka Khan, who terrorized Bangalee civilians in erstwhile East Pakistan, also had departed from this world. The one who is still surviving to our knowledge is retired major General Rao Farman Ali Khan, the head of the then Pakistani military intelligence in Dhaka. Bangladesh's Jamaat-i-Islam leaders who are now partner in Khaleda Zia government should have no qualms recognizing these rogue army leaders who were ably assisted by them to carry out killings of the intellectuals.
One of the Jamaati executioners, M. Ashrafuzzaman Khan now in his late 50s lives in the borough of Queens in New York City doing thriving business as tour guides to Hajj performers from America. The reason I am bringing the nasty episode of Jamaat's involvement with marauding Pakistani military while remembering Gen. Abdullah "Tiger" Niazi's misdeeds is the following: Niazi's men were able to kill quite a few Bangalee intellectuals in the fag end of the war for independence in December 1971 because of the involvement of the likes of Ashrafuzzaman Khan, Delwar Hossain Saidee, Prof. Golam Azam, Motiur Rahman Nizami, Maulana Ali H.M. Mujahid, Maulana Mannan of daily Inquilab, and few more. Some of these men have now become legislators in Bangladesh and are now serving as cabinet ministers under Khaleda Zia. What a shame! Gen. Tikka Khan, Gen. Yahya Khan, Gen. Abdullah Niazi, and Mr. Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto must be rolling in their graves. Such is the irony of life.
General Niazi became famous for the picture in which he was shown signing a document of surrender on December 16, 1971 in Ramna Green while seating next to a turban-clad Indian General by the name Jagjit Singh Aurora. That infamous picture had graced the front page of newspapers all over the world. The same picture was shown in many network news in America and Europe too. It brought shame to Pakistanis because General Niazi and his ninety thousand men in uniform were taken prisoner of war (POW) by the Indian army and interned in India for months. Niazi became an instant escape goat and characterized being a coward by Pakistani military in post-war days.
When the interned Pakistani soldiers were handed over to Z. A. Bhutto's government, Niazi was arrested immediately and he languished in jail without a trial. Neither Niazi nor Pakistani military leadership had shown any remorse for their wrong doings in the dark days of 1971 in occupied Bangladesh. Years later, Niazi wrote his experiences in occupied Bangladesh entitled "Betrayal of Bangladesh" as his army participated in gratuitous mass killing, which contradicts with many scholarly writings on the subject. In his memoir, Niazi essentially blamed Pakistani Generals such as Gen. Yahya Khan, the military president of Pakistan and General Hamid Khan, the military chief of Pakistan for the fall of Dhaka on December 16, 1971.
But his description of war atrocities pales to what others had written on the subject. A case in point is the writings of Mr. R.J. Rummel, a well-recognized expert of genocide. Here is just an excerpt from Mr. Rummel's book "Death by Government":
The human death toll over only 267 days was incredible. Just to give for five out of the eighteen districts some incomplete statistics published in Bangladesh newspapers or by an Inquiry Committee, the Pakistani army killed 100,000 Bengalis in Dacca, 150,000 in Khulna, 75,000 in Jessore, 95,000 in Comilla, and 100,000 in Chittagong. For eighteen districts the total is 1,247,000 killed. This was an incomplete toll, and to this day no one really knows the final toll. Some estimates of the democide [Rummel's "death by government"] are much lower—one is of 300,000 dead—but most range from 1 million to 3 million. ...
The Pakistani army and allied paramilitary groups killed about one out of every sixty-one people in Pakistan overall; one out of every twenty-five Bengalis, Hindus, and others in East Pakistan. If the rate of killing for all of Pakistan is annualized over the years the Yahya martial law regime was in power (March 1969 to December 1971), then this one regime was more lethal than that of the Soviet Union, China under the communists, or Japan under the military (even through World War II). (Rummel, Death By Government, p. 331.)
Years later, Niazi's fellow army officers had recognized him as both a fighter and womanizer. He also got involved in lucrative pan (betel leave) trading in Dhaka while he was the military chief and administrator in the waning days Pakistani rule in 1971.
Niazi in his memoir wrote that he was very optimistic about both the Nixon Administration and Mao Tse-tung regime bailing out Pakistani soldiers trapped in the quagmire of erstwhile East Pakistan in early December 1971. But since no help came from world super power, he had to surrender to Pakistan's archenemy, India with the blessings of his superiors from Rawalpindi. Pakistan's military establishment however never did forgive him for that. He was immediately labeled as coward and whatnot. His retirement fund was frozen and Pakistani government mistreated him. Niazi saw with his own eyes that while Gen. Tikka Khan's post-military career flourished as the General was appointed as the governor of Punjab, he career just withered in the vine.
This bitterness led Niazi to write his memoir in which he blamed every living army Generals of Pakistan. Many Pakistanis had opined at the time that it would have been better for Niazi and his men to fight Bangalee freedom fighter, Mukti Bahini, and Indian army rather than to surrender. General Niazi had to live with shame for 33 long years. His countrymen never did understand the difficulty his men were in while fighting a very unpopular war. The world opinion was against Pakistani army as the news army atrocities against Bangalee civilians were filtering out in world press.
Sadly, Niazi and his marauding soldiers had received impunity against the crime they had committed in occupied Bangladesh. The nonchalant Pakistani army never did apologize for all the killings the army had done all through our struggle for independence in 1971. In all probability, they will not ask for apology from Bangladeshi folks for the war crime, which is so well documented. From time to time, Bangladesh Genocide becomes a burning topic in myriad discussion forums in the Internet. The issue has divided Pakistanis and Bangladeshis into two camps.
The two nations that share a common history for the period 1947 through 1971 remain divided because of war atrocities done in the nine-month period. General Niazi being the big boss representing the brutal Yahya regime in the waning days of 1971 shared the ignominy until his passing away from this mortal world. We Bangladeshis sadly remember the ruthless repression of Pakistani army on unarmed civilians. General Niazi's name will go down in the history of Bangladesh as a vile military leader who committed crime against humanity. With that kind of crime, could his soul rest in peace?
While the Pakistani military gave a heroic last rite to Tikka Khan when he was buried in March 2002, no such rite will take place for General Niazi. His fellow officers wrote him off as a sore loser. Even the much-touted Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report, which was leaked out in 2001, had recommended to court martial Gen. Niazi for the misdeeds Pakistani army had perpetrated against the civilians in the eastern wing under his leadership.
Nonetheless, Niazi was never court-martialled. He simply ate the bitter bread of banishment in his homeland until the day he died.

[Londoner]

Ms.Malik,
All your discourse might be a bitter reality from a Bengali perspective,but don't forget that Pakistani forces were only fighting her arch-enemy India,who had vowing to undo Pakistan since partition at an appropriate moment.Who would deny that Sheikh Mujeeb was egged on by India to demand exxageratingly?Who would also deny that 'Mukti Bahini'was created by RAW?Had Pakistan accepted Sheikh Mujeeb's six points,it wd have been sliced by now into 5 to 6 Bangladeshes and not one we have there.

Yes,Pakistani forces did commit excessive atrocities,but if you be cool enough to just realize that how fraudulantly our 90000 soldiers were trapped into an all enemy lagoon,where very Pakistanis(now Bengalis)took arms against their very Pakistani soldiers in collusion with the arch-enemy of Pakistan.Had not Bengalis deserted to two-nation theory,all atrocities would have been avoided.But what about Sheikh marhoom,who was bent upon getting presidentship of an independent Bengal under India's asheerwaad,come what may.The poor Sheikh did'nt know that time that some very Bengali would kill him.Alas!had he been loved by all Bengalis equally.But even today,the martyrs' wife is on opposition benches.What a pity!!

Won't his soul be also restless seeing his beloved madam being on oppositions ranks despite him being founder of Bengali nation.It shows but ungratefullness & forgetfullness of Bengali bhayas to their own benefactors.Had you been with us,we would have rather created East and South Indias by now.But,We Pakistani muslims were brutally penetrated sword in our back by our very own Bengali muslims just for the whims of few selfish leaders.

Ok.History is history,and repeating it is like getting nothing outta it.You are Mashallah now independent,free country.And you got it through innumerable sacrifices.Freedom of course is fought for and not offered as a gift.Instead of now being racist and morose,better be a proud Bengali.You broke into two the world's biggest Muslim nation,but dont forget the essence of a broader Muslim Ummah and its role in the betterment of Muslim world.Common,lets stand shoulder to shoulder.We forgive your Sheikh sahib and other desserters,and you do our Niazis and Tikkas.Let them rest in peace,and lets lead our collective,Islamic identity to its desired destination.

Cursing dead,however cruel when alive,is but unislamic.Better let these dead be answerable to Almighty Allah,and not to us mortals.

bbye

[eijaz]

Yazid will be abused and remembered not due to his clan but due to his deeds which he commited ..
Why we forget history so easily and labeled ourselves as true and champion muslims ,, Here in pakistan to criticise pakistan army is some thing wrong against islam and ummah .. To criticise the wrong deeds of military is abondoned in pakistan and it is considered as against anti-pakistani . Pakistan army has killed large no: of pakistani than any other army whether it is muslim or non muslim has did in past ..They snatched this medal from nazis . Still now a days they are commiting massacres in balochistan . And the reason for kiling baloch nation is "They are demanding for their rights". Like bangladeshis did in past In 1951 In dhaka university people(students) were killed during protest for the bangla language ..I am asking readers what was wrong in declaring bangla language as national language when majority of pakistani people were speakinf bangla.. Whar was wrong in declaring bangla language as official language of east pakistan .. But un fortunately here in west pakistan people stand up and called it as "URdu ka janaza"..There is history of attrocities on bangladeshi nation from pakistani Government and pakistan army .We never gave them right in their own country .We have to accept this . Sheikh mujeeb and india come in the scene too late . What we did with our sher-e-bangal (FAzl haq) .Fazl -Haq is the man who presented pakistan resolution in lahore .He was a same guy who was very close to Mr.Jinnah. Ufortunately he was bangladeshi not punjabi .

Now a days in balochistan Pakistan army is engaged in killing baloch people .Who are baloch? are they pakistani or indian? why fighter jets are bombarding their houses?..