(Cabinet Division)
Rawalpindi,
the
25th May, 1974
No. 107/19/74-Min - Whereas the Commission of Inquiry appointed under
the late
Ministry of Presidential Affairs Notification No. 632 (1)/71, dated the
26th
December, 1971, had, in its report of 8th July, 1972, submitted, inter
alia,
that the Commission's findings with regard to the courses of events in
East
Pakistan were only tentative and recommended that "as and when the
Commander
Eastern Command and other senior officers now prisoners of war in India
are
available, a further Inquiry should be held into the circumstances
which led to
the surrender in East Pakistan";
AND WHEREAS all the prisoners of war and civil internees have now
returned to Pakistan;
AND WHEREAS the Federal Government is of the opinion that it is
necessary in
the light of the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry to
finalise the
said inquiry as to the circumstances which led to the surrender in East
Pakistan,
after examining any of the said prisoners of war and civil internees
whose
examination is considered necessary by the Commission;
Now, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (I)
of
Section 3 o the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1956 (VI of 1956)
the
federal government is pleased to direct that the commission shall start
inquiry
at a place and on a date to be fixed by it and complete the inquiry and
submit
its report to the President of Pakistan, with its findings as to the
matter
aforesaid, within a period of two months commencing from the date the
Commission starts functioning.
Sd/
VAQAR
AHMED
Cabinet
Secretary
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Introduction
Reasons for Supplementary Report
This commission of
Inquiry was appointed by the President of
Pakistan in December, 1971 to inquire into and find out "the
circumstances
in which the Commander, Eastern command, surrendered and the members of
the
Armed Forces of Pakistan under his command laid down their arms and a
cease-fire was ordered along the borders of West Pakistan and India and
along
the cease-fire line in the State of Jammu and Kashmir." After having
examined 213 witnesses the Commission submitted its report in July
1972.
2. Before we submitted that report of necessity we did not have the
evidence of
most of the persons taken as prisoners of war, including the major
personalities, who played a part in the final events culminating in the
surrender in East Pakistan with the
exception
only of Major General Rahim. Although we did our best to reconstruct
the East Pakistan story with the help
of such material, as
was then available, inevitably our conclusions had to be of a tentative
character. We also felt that since we had found reasons adversely to
comment
upon the performance of some of the major figures involved it would
have been
unfair to pass any final judgment upon them without giving them an
opportunity
of explaining their own view point. For this reason we said that "our
observations and conclusions regarding the surrender in East Pakistan
and other
allied matters should be regarded as provisional and subject to
modification in
the light of the evidence of the Commander, Eastern Command, and his
senior
officers as and when such evidence becomes available." (Page 242 of the
Main Report).
3. Accordingly, after the prisoners of war and the civil personnel who
had also
been interned with the military personnel in India returned to
Pakistan, the
Federal government issued a notification directing "that the Commission
shall start inquiry at a place and on a date to be fixed by it and
complete the
inquiry and submit its report to the President of Pakistan, with its
findings
as to the matters aforesaid, within a period of two months commencing
from the
date the commission starts functioning." A copy of this notification is
annexed as Annexure A to this Chapter. Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Altaf Qadir,
who had
also previously acted as Military Adviser to the Commission, was
re-appointed
as such as also was Mr. M.A Latif as Secretary to the Commission. At
the request
of the commission the government also appointed Col. M.A Hassan as
Legal
Advisor.
4. The commission issued a Press Release on the 1st June, 1974 offering
an
opportunity to the prisoners of War and others repatriated from East
Pakistan
to furnish such information as might be within their knowledge and
relevant to
the purposes of the Commission. A copy of this Press Release is in
Annexure B
to this Chapter.
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Alleged atrocities by the Pakistan Army
As
is well-known, the conduct of the Pakistani army, while engaged in
counter-insurgency measures is East Pakistan
since March 1971, has come in for a lot of criticism from several
quarters. We
had occasion to deal with the subject in Paragraphs 5-8 of Chapter II
of Part V
of the main report. We have examined this question further in the light
of
fresh evidence recorded by us.
Misdeeds of the Awami League Militants:
2. It is necessary that
this painful chapter of the events in East
Pakistan be looked at in its proper perspective. Let it not
be
forgotten that the initiative in resorting to violence and cruelty was
taken by
the militants of the Awami League, during the month of March, 1971,
following
General Yahya Khan's announcement of the 1st of March regarding the
postponement of the session of the National Assembly scheduled for the
3rd of
March 1971. It will be recalled that from the 1st of March to the 3rd
of March
1971, the Awami League had taken complete control of East Pakistan, paralysing the authority of the
federal government.
There is reliable evidence to show that during this period the miscreants indulged in large scale
massacres and rape against pro-Pakistan elements, in the towns of
Dacca,
Narayanganj, Chittagong, Chandraghona, Rangamati, Khulna, Dinajpur,
Ghafargaoa,
Kushtia, Ishurdi, Noakhali, Sylhet, Maulvi Bazaar, Rangpur, Saidpur,
Jessore,
Barisal, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Pabna, Sirajgonj, Comilla, Brahman
Baria, Bogra,
Naugaon, Santahar, and several other smaller places.
3. Harrowing tales of these atrocities
were narrated by the large number of West Pakistanis and Biharis who
were able
to escape from these places and reach the safety of West Pakistan. For days on end, all through
the troubled month of
March 1971, swarms of terrorised non-Bengalis lay at the
Army-controlled Dacca airport awaiting
their turn to be taken to the
safety of West Pakistan. Families of
West
Pakistani officers and other ranks serving with East
Bengal units were subjected to inhuman treatment, and a
large
number of West Pakistani officers were butchered by the erstwhile
Bengali
colleagues.
4. These atrocities were completely blacked out at the time by the
Government
of Pakistan for fear of retaliation by the Bengalis living in West Pakistan. The Federal Government did issue
a White Paper in this
behalf in August 1971, but unfortunately it did not create much impact
for the
reason that it was highly belated, and adequate publicity was not given
to it
in the national and international press.
5. However, recently, a renowned
journalist of high-standing, Mr. Qutubuddin
Aziz, has taken pains to marshal the evidence in a publication called
"Blood and Tears." The book contains the harrowing tales of inhuman
crimes committed on the helpless Biharis, West Pakistanis and patriotic
Bengalis living in East Pakistan
during that
period. According to various estimates mentioned by Mr. Qutubuddin
Aziz,
between 100,000 and 500,000 persons were slaughtered during this period
by the
Awami League militants.
6. As far as we can judge, Mr Qutubuddin Aziz has made use of authentic
personal
accounts furnished by the repatriates whose families, have actually
suffered at
the hands of the Awami League militants. He has also extensively
referred to
the contemporary accounts of foreign correspondents then stationed in East Pakistan. The
plight of the non-Bengali elements still living in Bangladesh and the
insistence of that Government on their large-scale repatriation to
Pakistan,
are factors which appear to confirm the correctness of the allegations
made
against the Awami League in this behalf.
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Provocation
of the
Army
7. We mention these facts
not in justification of the atrocities or other
crimes alleged to have been committed by the Pakistani Army during its
operations in East Pakistan, but only
to put
the record straight and to enable the allegations to be judged in their
correct
perspective. The crimes committed by the Awami League miscreants were
bound to
arouse anger and bitterness in the minds of the troops, especially when
they
were not confined to barracks during these weeks immediately preceding
the
military action, but were also subjected to the severest of
humiliations. They
had seen their comrades insulted, deprived of food and ration, and even
killed
without rhyme or reason. Tales of wholesale slaughter of families of
West Pakistani
officers and personnel of several units had also reached the soldiers
who were
after all only human, and reacted violently in the process of restoring
the
authority of the Central Government
The Nature of Allegations
8. According to the
allegations generally made, the excesses committed by the
Pakistani Army fall into the following categories:-
- Excessive
use of force and fire power in Dacca
during the night of the 25th and 26th of March 1971 when the military
operation
was launched.
- Senseless
and wanton arson and killings in the countryside during the course of
the
"sweeping operations" following the military action.
- Killing
of intellectuals and professionals like doctors, engineers, etc., and
burying
them in mass graves not only during early phases of the military action
but
also during the critical days of the war in December 1971.
- Killing
of Bengali Officers and men of the units of the East Bengal Regiment,
East
Pakistan Rifles and the East Pakistan Police Force in the process of
disarming
them, or on pretence of quelling their rebellion.
- Killing
of East Pakistani civilian officers, businessmen and industrialists, or
their
mysterious disappearance from their homes by or at the instance of Army
Officers performing Martial Law duties.
- Raping
of a large number of East Pakistani women by the officers and men of
the Pakistan
army as a deliberate act of revenge, retaliation and torture.
- Deliberate
killing of members of the Hindu minority.
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Conclusions and
Recommendations
38. From what we have
said in the preceding Paragraphs it is clear that there
is substance in the allegations that during and after the military
action
excesses were indeed committed on the people of East Pakistan, but the
versions
and estimates put forward by the Dacca authorities are highly coloured
and
exaggerated. Some of the incidents alleged by those authorities did not
take
place at all, and on others fanciful interpretations have been
deliberately
placed for the purpose of maligning the Pakistan army and gaining
world sympathy.
We have also found that the strong provocation was offered to the army
owing to
the misdeeds of the Awami League. It has also been stated that use of
force was
undoubtedly inherent in the military action required to restore the
authority
of the Federal Government. Nevertheless, in spite of all these factors
we are
of the view that the officers charged with the task of restoring law
and order
were under an obligation to act with restraint and to employ only the
minimum
force necessary for the purpose. No amount of provocation by the
militants of
the Awami League or other miscreants could justify retaliation by a
disciplined
army against its own people. The Pakistan Army was called upon to
operate in Pakistan
territory, and could not, therefore, be permitted to behave as if it
was
dealing with external aggression or operating on enemy soil.
Irrespective,
therefore, of the magnitude of the atrocities, we are of the considered
opinion
that it's necessary for the Government of Pakistan to take effective
action to
punish those who were responsible for the commission of these alleged
excesses
and atrocities.
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