---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: DR AWATAR SINGH SEKHON <assekhon@shaw.ca>
Date: Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 12:18 AM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Watch out the 'Brahmins-Hindus' democracy! Dr Awatar Singh Sekhon (Machaki) Comments
Why did India help in 1971?
By Shah Mohammed Saifuddin
Unlike our other neighbours India has a special place in our history because of its help in our liberation war. When the Pakistani military was murdering hundreds of thousands of unarmed people and raping the women of the then East Pakistan, India came forward with its helping hand and contributed to arming and training the mukti bahini. Almost 10 million people took shelter in India, especially in the states adjacent to East Pakistan border. Nobody in Bangladesh questions the fact that we got help from India but many question the nature of the help. Was it selfless help or India had a strategic interest in helping Bangladesh?
With a view to find out the truth we have to analyze what India gained from our freedom struggle and its attitude toward Bangladesh after our liberation war. Let us examine the entire thing from strategic, economic, and political point of views.
Strategic point of view
India's peculiar geographic position constituted a major threat to its national security. Due to the geographic location of then East Pakistan, the seven sisters were completely isolated from the mainland. A small corridor, popularly known as chicken neck, was the only passage that could be used for traffic movement. Militarily, India was pretty vulnerable especially due to Chinese presence along the border. The war that was fought between India and China taught India the lesson that faster troops mobility is the only way to win a war. So, India needed transit facility through East Pakistan to transport troops and logistics faster to defend its vulnerable North Eastern states. Besides that,Pakistan was playing a vital role in instigating the insurgents in Assam and elsewhere to break up the entire region. The Indian military strategists were out of options and didn't know how the North Eastern region would be saved. The Hawkish politicians in India came to the conclusion that breaking up Pakistan is the only way to save the militarily insecure North Eastern region. By doing so,
•They could weaken Pakistan and reduce the threat level.
•Recapture the Pakistani portion of Kashmir
•Create a new state that would be militarily and economically weak and provide the much needed transit for troops and logistics transportation
•Project India as a regional superpower and warn all elements inimical to India's security that India had the power to defend itself.
Economic point of view
India also had an economic objective to dismember Pakistan. India was a country with huge population and needed additional resources to uplift its economy. The economic cooperation with Pakistan was all but encouraging. Besides that, the water resources of the Himalayas were needed for India for irrigation and power generation. Due to Pakistan's strong military, India was unable to use the resources unilaterally. Despite being a third world nation,Pakistan was a huge economic market that was able to absorb millions of dollars worth of Indian commodities.But the hostility between the two nations retarded the possibility of a robust economic cooperation between the two nations.
Indian policymakers thought that if they could break Pakistan and create a new and weaker Bangladesh then they would be able to gain unrestricted access to its economic market. India knew that as a new nation, Bangladesh would need cheap industrial products to revive its economy. So, there was a tremendous potential for economic cooperation between the two nations. India also wanted to get transit through Bangladesh to transport raw materials for its North Eastern states. The economically backward North Eastern region needed more investment and various products to energize its economy. So, the Indians thought Bangladesh would be much more beneficial for Indian economy than East Pakistan. The economic calculation was very accurate because India managed to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cheap products to Bangladesh both legally and illegally. They destroyed the thriving jute industry of Bangladesh to build their own right after our independence.
India flooded the local Bangladeshi market with its products and offered millions of dollars more as loans to buy Indian commodities. We were reduced to a trading nation and almost destroyed the very basis of our own industry. India encouraged smuggling along the Indo-Bangla border so the government of Bangladesh had to close the border to stop the rampant smuggling to save the local traders. India never wanted an economically prosperous Bangladesh rather it wanted to use us as a market for its own products and in the process make us dependent on them.
If we look at the present situation, the lopsided trade relation between the two nations speaks volume of the Indian intention to help us in 1971. Bangladesh is an open market economy and allows duty free access for Indian products to our market. But India follows a restricted policy when it comes to importing Bangladeshi products and imposed numerous tariffs and para-tariffs on the Bangladeshi goods. The yawning trade imbalance is a testament to the fact thatIndia never wanted an economically self-sufficient Bangladesh [and now PUNJAB and PAKISTAN].
Political point of view
Former Indian foreign secretary Mr. Dixit said, "We helped in the liberation of Bangladesh in mutual interest, it was not a favour,"
His statement is clear evidence that India did not help Bangladesh on humanitarian ground. India had a long-term strategic plan to dismember Pakistan for its own gain. India had cultivated deep political relation with the disgruntled elements within the erstwhile East Pakistan. [1] As per a senior RAW intelligence officer, "Bangladesh was the result of a 10 year long promotion of dissatisfaction against the rulers of Pakistan".
This goes to prove that helping Bangladesh was not an instantaneous decision of India rather it was a carefully designed strategic plan that was executed in pinpoint precision.
One of the top bosses of RAW, K. Sankaran Nair, was responsible for training the erstwhile East Pakistani officers in guerrilla warfare. He also established excellent relation with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The relation was maintained via a RAW operative Mr. Banerjee. RAW even funded the 1970s election, in which Sheikh Mujib emerged as the winner [2].
But after the liberation, things did not go the way India had planned. Mujib was assassinated and Awami League was ousted from the power. General Ziaur Rahman came to power and adopted an anti India foreign and defense policy to drag Bangladesh out of Indian sphere of influence. He established good economic and political relation with America and China. He also repaired relations with the Middle Eastern countries and created a huge opportunity for the Bangladeshi workers in the Arab nations. Money started to pour in and the economy got better. He amended the constitution to give it an Islamic flavour in a country where 90% people were Muslims. The Indian policymakers observed the political development in Bangladesh and clearly understood that things were getting worse as far as Indian interest was concerned.
In the meantime, General Ziaur Rahman took various measures to upgrade the military. A close defense relation was established between Bangladesh and China. This irked the military establishment of India. They considered it a hostile act and found it hard to digest. The disgruntled elements in Delhi decided to create a rebel group in Chittagong hill tracts to keep Bangladesh under pressure and drain as much resources of this newly born poor country as possible. Shanti bahini played havock with the lives and properties of the people in CHT. General Zia quickly decided to populate CHT with Bengalees to maintain the territorial integrity of Bangladesh. In the meantime, India forcefully occupied South Talpatty disregarding Bangladesh's request for a joint survey to determine the ownership of the Island. [3] General Zia was assassinated in 1981 and many observers believe that RAW had a hand in the incident.
General Ershad came to power in 1982 and more or less followed the same foreign policy as General Zia. But Ershad knew he should not annoy India beyond a certain limit so a tendency to keep India in good humour was obvious in his India policy. During his tenure, he agreed to abolish the guarantee clause from the water sharing treaty signed by General Zia. It went against our national interest because after abolishment of the guarantee clause, India reduced the water supply even further and that affected our agriculture and ecology. But the fact of the matter is even General Ershad couldn't take a fully pro-Indian stance due to public pressure. He had to continue the military modernization and amended the constitution to declare Islam as the state religion. This drew ire from the top leaders of India. Ershad didn't even try to take any initiative to give transit to India fearing wide spread protest across the country.
Actually, the Indian leaders knew that the only party that was able to meet the Indian strategic demands was Awami League. They never stopped keeping relations with Awami League and provided all sorts of logistis support to Sheikh Hasina. According to some well-informed observers, India provided Tk. 300 crore to Awami League to win the 1996 election(Weekly Shugondha, 26th April, 1996). India's clandestine support for a particular party is a testament to the fact that India had a strategic reason to help Bangladesh in 1971.
If India's help was altruistic in nature, India would have tried to win the hearts and minds of the people of Bangladesh but they never felt the need to do that and continued with their policy to clandestinely help bring Awami League to power. Even today, India leaves no stone unturned to malign Bangladesh. The Indian foreign ministry spends millions of dollars to hire foreign journalists to make fictitious reports to portray Bangladesh as Taliban sympathizer. Fortunately, Bangladesh took quick action to hang a few mis-guided Mullahs who were creating some disturbances. Bangladesh even signed various treaties to help the international community to combat terrorism.
More can be written to prove that India's help in 1971 was not an altruistic one rather it was for gaining strategic advantages. India has an ambitious vision of becoming a world power but how can they achieve their goal if they cannot convince their neighbours that their intentions are benign? Using force to subjugate the weaker neighbours is not the way to go to establish a relation based on mutual trust and respect.
References
1.RAW: Top-Secret Failures, p: 5
2.Ibid. , p: 8
3.Limits of Diplomacy: Bangladesh, Partha. S. Ghosh
http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=173793
From: DR AWATAR SINGH SEKHON <assekhon@shaw.ca>
Date: Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 12:18 AM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Watch out the 'Brahmins-Hindus' democracy! Dr Awatar Singh Sekhon (Machaki) Comments
Dr Awatar Singh Sekhon (Machaki), Spokesperson, Dal Khalsa Alliance Comments:
Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Sikh Religion and the Islamic Faith,
Waheguru ji ka Khalsa,
Waheguru ji ki Fateh!
&
Aslaam O Alaikum!
The article below is timely posting and plenty to learn by the citizens of the Sikh Nation, PUNJAB, Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Internationally Disputed Areas of Jammu and Kashmir (IDAJK), since the occupation of the India, hereafter called the Brahmins-Hindus demoncracy/democracy, the largest progressing state of South Asia where more than 70-75% population goes hungry to sleep every night, 7-day in a week, and 365-day in a year, since 15th August, 1947.
Please note the following:
1. The Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy is an expenssionist, colonial and a hungry monster from every point. If proof is needed, please see the write of Janab Shah Mohammad Saifuddin.
2. The Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy 'swallowed' the Sikh Nation, PUNJAB, declared its Sikh Nationals the 'lawless people and dangerous to the law-abiding Hindus'.
3. Since 15th August, 1947, the Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy killed more than 3.4 million Sikhs in numerous pogroms, genocides, fake encounter killing, along with rape, sex terrorism, humiliation and dehumanization of the Sikh female folks. Additionally, an 'unelected' war on the Sikh Nation, PUNJAB, was waged in the form of a brutal military "Operation Bluestar" of June, 1984. The 'undeclared' war on PUNJAB, the Sikh Nation, took a toll of more than 260,000 innocent Sikhs (infants, children, male and female folks, elderly, etc.), using the Sikh Generals of the 'Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy. No Gurdwara and/or Sikhs' apex institution was spared from this 'undeclared' war of June, 1984.
4. The Sikhs' apex institutions are under the 'tight control' of the armed personnel to-date.
5. The 'Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy brought turbaned Hindus-Brahmins in 'The Sikh Identity'; as it is being followed in Afghanistan like a person named 'KARZAI'. Hanera (Prakash/Darkness) Sinh Badal, Brahmins-Hindus army's Gen (retired) J J Singh and likewise are no less than Hameed Karzai for the citizens of the Sikh Nation, PUNJAB (under Brahmins-Hindus occupation).
6. Turbaned Brahmins-Hindus in 'The Sikh Identity', wherever they are are 'no less' than Karzai of Afghanistan. These people have been playing the role of 'Bootlickers/Chaplianchutts', as far as the Sikh Nation, PUNJAB, is concerned.
7. The academic staff of the Sikh Nation, PUNJAB' universities have been working in anti-Sikh and anti-Sikh Nation, PUNJAB, and likewise activities. The same is the case of 99% turbaned Brahmins-Hindus in 'The Sikh Identity' lawyers; in particular, are those who go outside PUNJAB and work against the Sikhs settled outside of the Sikh Nation/PUNJAB.
8. Why the turbaned Brahmins-Hindus in 'The Sikh Identity' have been keeping their eyes closed and playing the role of 'Dumb' people, in interpreting the Constitution of India 1950 and its repeated 'REJECTION' four times by the Sikh Nation, PUNJAB's elected representatives?
9. See below in the article how the 'Sikh Nation, PUNJAB, has been 'Dismembered' into three Brahmins-Hindus' states and a Union Territory, by the Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy?
10. What is your option, the option(s) of the turbaned 'Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy, for your cildren, religious institutions, Guru Granth Sahib, the 'Sovereignty, Independence and Political Power of the Sikh Nation, PUNJAB; including your Sikh female folks and so on.
11. Have you ever thought, the turbaned Brahmins-Hindus in 'The Sikh Identity' that the 'Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy is all out to 'EXTERMINATE' you? The Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy's Sikh personnel of the armed forces are NOT immune to the 'Brahmins-Hindus' policies to the Sikhs of the 'House of Guru Baba Nanak Sahib?
For my non-Sikh Brothers
Termoils created by the 'Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy have been taking a big toll of your lives. Gross Human Rights violations, rapes, sex torture, genocide of your political, social, educational, financial life, humiliation and dehumanization, etc., is the part of the Brahmins-Hindus' policies to assimilate you and to make you the 'integral' part of the 'Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy, since 15th August, 1947. The toll of lives taken by the 'Brahmins-Hindus' demoncracy, since 15th August, 1947 is more than ONE million (500,000 Muslims in general; and more than 500,000 of the IDAJK).
In summation, please wake up the turbaned Brahmins-Hindus in 'The Sikh Identity'; along with the innocent citizens of IDAJK and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Best wishes and warmest regards.
Your brother in Humanity
*****
By Shah Mohammed Saifuddin
Unlike our other neighbours India has a special place in our history because of its help in our liberation war. When the Pakistani military was murdering hundreds of thousands of unarmed people and raping the women of the then East Pakistan, India came forward with its helping hand and contributed to arming and training the mukti bahini. Almost 10 million people took shelter in India, especially in the states adjacent to East Pakistan border. Nobody in Bangladesh questions the fact that we got help from India but many question the nature of the help. Was it selfless help or India had a strategic interest in helping Bangladesh?
With a view to find out the truth we have to analyze what India gained from our freedom struggle and its attitude toward Bangladesh after our liberation war. Let us examine the entire thing from strategic, economic, and political point of views.
Strategic point of view
India's peculiar geographic position constituted a major threat to its national security. Due to the geographic location of then East Pakistan, the seven sisters were completely isolated from the mainland. A small corridor, popularly known as chicken neck, was the only passage that could be used for traffic movement. Militarily, India was pretty vulnerable especially due to Chinese presence along the border. The war that was fought between India and China taught India the lesson that faster troops mobility is the only way to win a war. So, India needed transit facility through East Pakistan to transport troops and logistics faster to defend its vulnerable North Eastern states. Besides that,Pakistan was playing a vital role in instigating the insurgents in Assam and elsewhere to break up the entire region. The Indian military strategists were out of options and didn't know how the North Eastern region would be saved. The Hawkish politicians in India came to the conclusion that breaking up Pakistan is the only way to save the militarily insecure North Eastern region. By doing so,
•They could weaken Pakistan and reduce the threat level.
•Recapture the Pakistani portion of Kashmir
•Create a new state that would be militarily and economically weak and provide the much needed transit for troops and logistics transportation
•Project India as a regional superpower and warn all elements inimical to India's security that India had the power to defend itself.
Economic point of view
India also had an economic objective to dismember Pakistan. India was a country with huge population and needed additional resources to uplift its economy. The economic cooperation with Pakistan was all but encouraging. Besides that, the water resources of the Himalayas were needed for India for irrigation and power generation. Due to Pakistan's strong military, India was unable to use the resources unilaterally. Despite being a third world nation,Pakistan was a huge economic market that was able to absorb millions of dollars worth of Indian commodities.But the hostility between the two nations retarded the possibility of a robust economic cooperation between the two nations.
Indian policymakers thought that if they could break Pakistan and create a new and weaker Bangladesh then they would be able to gain unrestricted access to its economic market. India knew that as a new nation, Bangladesh would need cheap industrial products to revive its economy. So, there was a tremendous potential for economic cooperation between the two nations. India also wanted to get transit through Bangladesh to transport raw materials for its North Eastern states. The economically backward North Eastern region needed more investment and various products to energize its economy. So, the Indians thought Bangladesh would be much more beneficial for Indian economy than East Pakistan. The economic calculation was very accurate because India managed to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cheap products to Bangladesh both legally and illegally. They destroyed the thriving jute industry of Bangladesh to build their own right after our independence.
India flooded the local Bangladeshi market with its products and offered millions of dollars more as loans to buy Indian commodities. We were reduced to a trading nation and almost destroyed the very basis of our own industry. India encouraged smuggling along the Indo-Bangla border so the government of Bangladesh had to close the border to stop the rampant smuggling to save the local traders. India never wanted an economically prosperous Bangladesh rather it wanted to use us as a market for its own products and in the process make us dependent on them.
If we look at the present situation, the lopsided trade relation between the two nations speaks volume of the Indian intention to help us in 1971. Bangladesh is an open market economy and allows duty free access for Indian products to our market. But India follows a restricted policy when it comes to importing Bangladeshi products and imposed numerous tariffs and para-tariffs on the Bangladeshi goods. The yawning trade imbalance is a testament to the fact thatIndia never wanted an economically self-sufficient Bangladesh [and now PUNJAB and PAKISTAN].
Political point of view
Former Indian foreign secretary Mr. Dixit said, "We helped in the liberation of Bangladesh in mutual interest, it was not a favour,"
His statement is clear evidence that India did not help Bangladesh on humanitarian ground. India had a long-term strategic plan to dismember Pakistan for its own gain. India had cultivated deep political relation with the disgruntled elements within the erstwhile East Pakistan. [1] As per a senior RAW intelligence officer, "Bangladesh was the result of a 10 year long promotion of dissatisfaction against the rulers of Pakistan".
This goes to prove that helping Bangladesh was not an instantaneous decision of India rather it was a carefully designed strategic plan that was executed in pinpoint precision.
One of the top bosses of RAW, K. Sankaran Nair, was responsible for training the erstwhile East Pakistani officers in guerrilla warfare. He also established excellent relation with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The relation was maintained via a RAW operative Mr. Banerjee. RAW even funded the 1970s election, in which Sheikh Mujib emerged as the winner [2].
But after the liberation, things did not go the way India had planned. Mujib was assassinated and Awami League was ousted from the power. General Ziaur Rahman came to power and adopted an anti India foreign and defense policy to drag Bangladesh out of Indian sphere of influence. He established good economic and political relation with America and China. He also repaired relations with the Middle Eastern countries and created a huge opportunity for the Bangladeshi workers in the Arab nations. Money started to pour in and the economy got better. He amended the constitution to give it an Islamic flavour in a country where 90% people were Muslims. The Indian policymakers observed the political development in Bangladesh and clearly understood that things were getting worse as far as Indian interest was concerned.
In the meantime, General Ziaur Rahman took various measures to upgrade the military. A close defense relation was established between Bangladesh and China. This irked the military establishment of India. They considered it a hostile act and found it hard to digest. The disgruntled elements in Delhi decided to create a rebel group in Chittagong hill tracts to keep Bangladesh under pressure and drain as much resources of this newly born poor country as possible. Shanti bahini played havock with the lives and properties of the people in CHT. General Zia quickly decided to populate CHT with Bengalees to maintain the territorial integrity of Bangladesh. In the meantime, India forcefully occupied South Talpatty disregarding Bangladesh's request for a joint survey to determine the ownership of the Island. [3] General Zia was assassinated in 1981 and many observers believe that RAW had a hand in the incident.
General Ershad came to power in 1982 and more or less followed the same foreign policy as General Zia. But Ershad knew he should not annoy India beyond a certain limit so a tendency to keep India in good humour was obvious in his India policy. During his tenure, he agreed to abolish the guarantee clause from the water sharing treaty signed by General Zia. It went against our national interest because after abolishment of the guarantee clause, India reduced the water supply even further and that affected our agriculture and ecology. But the fact of the matter is even General Ershad couldn't take a fully pro-Indian stance due to public pressure. He had to continue the military modernization and amended the constitution to declare Islam as the state religion. This drew ire from the top leaders of India. Ershad didn't even try to take any initiative to give transit to India fearing wide spread protest across the country.
Actually, the Indian leaders knew that the only party that was able to meet the Indian strategic demands was Awami League. They never stopped keeping relations with Awami League and provided all sorts of logistis support to Sheikh Hasina. According to some well-informed observers, India provided Tk. 300 crore to Awami League to win the 1996 election(Weekly Shugondha, 26th April, 1996). India's clandestine support for a particular party is a testament to the fact that India had a strategic reason to help Bangladesh in 1971.
If India's help was altruistic in nature, India would have tried to win the hearts and minds of the people of Bangladesh but they never felt the need to do that and continued with their policy to clandestinely help bring Awami League to power. Even today, India leaves no stone unturned to malign Bangladesh. The Indian foreign ministry spends millions of dollars to hire foreign journalists to make fictitious reports to portray Bangladesh as Taliban sympathizer. Fortunately, Bangladesh took quick action to hang a few mis-guided Mullahs who were creating some disturbances. Bangladesh even signed various treaties to help the international community to combat terrorism.
More can be written to prove that India's help in 1971 was not an altruistic one rather it was for gaining strategic advantages. India has an ambitious vision of becoming a world power but how can they achieve their goal if they cannot convince their neighbours that their intentions are benign? Using force to subjugate the weaker neighbours is not the way to go to establish a relation based on mutual trust and respect.
References
1.RAW: Top-Secret Failures, p: 5
2.Ibid. , p: 8
3.Limits of Diplomacy: Bangladesh, Partha. S. Ghosh
http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=173793
*****
__._,_.___
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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