What Was Once East Pakistan (2nd Edition)

Description

What Was Once East Pakistan – Second Edition with a New Preface

Serving at three places in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, during the critical period between 1969 and 1971, Syed Shahid Husain saw the events unfold and presents in this book an analysis of the roles that each of the principal actors—Yahya Khan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto—played. He saw history in the making, and the five decades that have passed since have not affected his conclusions. Facts are unchangeable, and it is only the opinions that differ. As Macaulay said, ‘Facts are the mere dross of history. It is from the abstract truth which interpenetrates them, and lies latent among them, like gold in the ore, that the mass derives its whole value….’ The book also contains some of his personal experiences at the time including an account of the killer cyclone that hit East Pakistan in 1970.

• Offers an insight into key political events in East Pakistan from 1969 to 1971.
• Author presents a first-hand, objective account as a witness to essential developments in 1971 East Pakistan.
• Presents an analysis of the roles that the principal actors, viz. Yahya Khan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto played.

Table of Contents

1. Preface to the 2021 Edition
2. Preface
3. Introduction
4. Part I
   1. My First Visit to the Former East Pakistan (1966)
   2. Three Years Later (19691971)
   3. Killer Cyclone (1970)
   4. Six-point Programme
   5. General Elections (1970)
   6. An Engineered Crisis
   7. Yahya Panics and Postpones National Assembly Session
   8. Military Crackdown, 25 March 1971
   9. Mujibs Arrest and Trial
   10. Military and the Constitution
   11. Inevitable Happens (April and December 1971)
   12. Sajid and his Escape
5. Part II
   1. Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission Report
   2. Anecdotal Accounts of Atrocities
   3. A Typical Generals View of the Disaster
   4. The Tragedy—A Politicians View
   5. Who is to Blame?
   6. Polish Resolution
   7. Yahya Khan—The Architect of National Shame
   8. Bhuttos Role
   9. Mujibs Role
   10. Can Ayub be Blamed?
6. Part III
   1. Last Days before the Break-up
   2. Role of the US
   3. How did the US Consul General in Dhaka View the Crisis?
   4. Nixons Malevolence towards India
   5. Was West Pakistan Threatened?
7. Epilogue
8. Index

Author Biography

Syed Shahid Husain joined the Civil Service of Pakistan in 1965 after graduating in Law and Economics from the University of Sindh. He served in various civil service jobs in all parts of Pakistan, including over a year in Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eight years in Balochistan, and in the federal government. He led two official delegations to India and one to Iran. The author may perhaps be better known for his articles published in Dawn, The News, Business Recorder, and the South Asia Journal on wide variety of subjects relating to agriculture, irrigation, resource-distribution among provinces, and politics. He wrote extensively on subjects like water distribution between provinces, Indo-Pakistan disputes under Indus Water Treaty, insane food policy pursued by the government including procurement of wheat, and on other political and economic issues. He leads a retired life in the US.