Stateless in Bangladesh and Pakistan

Book Reviews

Blood and Tears by Qutubuddin Aziz

Author’s Bio:
Mr. Qutubuddin Aziz

Is a nationally known journalist, broadcaster, lecturer and Radio commentator on national and international affairs and a veteran social worker. He was Managing Editor of United Press of Pakistan, a Pakistani news service. His articles have appeared in newspapers throughout the English-speaking world. He has traveled in some 60 countries, and covered U.N. General Assembly sessions and many international conferences and interviewed a large number of world-famous personalities.

Review:
The pathetic, grisly and untold story of the massacre of more then half a million non-Bengalees and pro-Pakistan Bengalees by the Awami League led insurgents in the East Pakistan during March-April 1971 is bared in Blood and Tears. The details of the genocide waged by the rebels in those murderous

Qutubuddin Aziz author of Blood and Tears.

months were concealed from the people of West Pakistan by the then federal government to prevent reprisals against Bengalees in West Pakistan and also not to wreck prospect for a negotiated settlement with the Awami League.

The 170 eye-witnesses, whose tragic accounts of their splintered and traumatic lives are contained in this book, were picked from nearly 5,000 families repatriated to Pakistan from Bangladesh between the autumn of 1973 and the spring of 1974. Although they hail from 55 towns of the former East Pakistan, their narratives and the published dispatches of the foreign newsmen quoted in this book, cover 110 places where the slaughter of the innocents took place. The majority of eye-witnesses consist of parents who saw their children slain, the wives who were forced by the rebels to witness murder of their husbands, the girls who were ravished and the rare escapees from the rebel operated human slaughter-houses. While the focus in Blood and Tears is on the rebel atrocities it also highlights the courage and heroism of many Bengalees who saved their non-Bengalee friends from the fire and fury of the bloodthirsty insurgents. (Read excerpts) (Buy an e-book)

The East Pakistan Tragedy (Professor L. Rushbrook Williams)

Author’s Bio:
Few writers are more qualified to discuss the complex situation that ripped Pakistan apart than L Rushbrook Williams. He was a professor of modern Indian history at Allahabad University. He distinguished himself as a journalist as well as an historian and a diplomat, and was the Asian specialist on the editorial board of the Times of London.

Review:
The book opens with a survey of East Pakistan’s long history of economic exploitation and political subservience before Pakistan came in to being; it goes on to explain how the relations with the West Wing and the Central Government developed in the previous two decades. It also traced President Yahya Khan’s determined efforts to hand the power over to democratic institutions; the progress made, and the difficulties encountered; and it describes in detail the tragic intransigence of the Awami League and the anarchy and suffering which resulted there from.

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Internment Camps of Bangladesh (Loraine Mirza)

Author’s Bio:
Mrs. Mirza is a committed Muslim from North America who lived a large part of her life in the Indian sub-continent. She is intimately familiar with the culture and language. She has been a life long activist for many causes. Since 1968 she has been a freelance journalist at KPFK-Pacifica radio. She has toured and lectured in many parts of the Middle East, Saudia Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Jordan. She produced many documentaries and hosted a program “Islamic Perspectives” on the radio. In 1992

Loraine Mirza author of Internment camps of Bangladesh.

she won recognition from the Greater Los Angeles Press Club for “Outstanding Dedication for her coverage of the 1992 Riots”. She personally has been a source of inspiration for us; we wish her well and thank her, for her invaluable contribution in search of justice for this community.

Review:

If you read no other text regarding the persecution of stateless Urdu speaking minority in Bangladesh and Pakistan then this is the book to read. She investigated and observed extensively and first hand the plight of this minority in both countries. She has covered this story with a great deal of empathy and sensitivity. She has told the story of those whose voices will never be heard except in her intimate and faithful renderings. We urge you to get a copy to read yourself and then pass it on to others who care about the future of a defenseless and innocent group of human beings.

(Read excerpts) (Buy a Copy)(Buy an Audio Book)

Biharis in Bangladesh: A Community in Transition

Author’s Bio:
Dr. Mizan ur Rahman, is a professor in Faculty of Law, Dhaka University, Bangladesh.

Review:
In this book the author has presented the historical background of this population in Bangladesh. The role of Biharis in the liberation of Bangladesh. Their current condition in Bangladeshi society and recommendations for uplifting this population and adjusting their legal status. Author has devoted a great deal of effort toward collecting data with respect to the violation of the human rights of this population. Scores of real life interviews were conducted by Dr. Rahman’s students which forms the basis of much of the data and recommendations contained in the book. It is an important piece

of work which will carry a great deal of credibility with people of Bangladesh, it will help educate the public about the condition of this population and the need to adopt a more humane approach towards them. (Read excerpts)

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