Empire's Last Casualty: March 2021

Virtual Conference on

"1971 Bangladesh Genocide and International Recognition”

Organized by Bangladesh High Commission, London

In collaboration with the Centre for Genocide Studies, University of Dhaka

Thursday, 25 March 2021 at 1330-1500 hrs. (GMT)

Dr. Sachi G. Dastidar
Distinguished Professor, State University of New York, Old Westbury
Chair, Indian Subcontinent Partition Documentation Project, New York

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksJq5onEnJA

· Dear Organizers:

Let me first wish two Shuvo Janmadins or Happy Birthdays to Bangladesh and pronam as well to Bangabandhu. Our Partition Center celebrated his centennial at our Annual Conference and the nation’s triumph rising from the genocide.

· I thank Bangladesh Embassy called High Commission of U.K. and Ireland, Her Excellency Tasneem, the Ambassador or High Commissioner for organizing this very important event. Thank you first secretary Hoque. It is great to see Dr. Momen and Dr. Jahan after a long time. I like the word Embassy and Ambassador than the colonial words as my didima-dadu, grandma-grandpa, two mama uncles, spent years and years in British prison for their activism for India’s independence from Faridpur and Dhaka now in Bangladesh and Kolkata now in West Bengal. It brings to my memory how Bangabandhu and other freedom lovers spent time in Pakistani prison for Bangladesh independence, and not accept Pakistani symbolism.

· I feel passionately about this issue of non-recognition of Bengali genocide. It feels like Bengali lives don’t matter! I know people who lost lives and cleansed in 1971. For me there are layers within this genocide. Within Bengali genocide I believe there was a Hindu extermination campaign by Pakistan Military and their Bengali allies. There was an extermination campaign for Bengali Muslim intelligentsia. Then there was an attempt for extermination of secular Muslims and non-Muslims, and there was an attempt to destroy the pro-independence Awami League. This is not that different from Nazism when not only the Jews, but also Gypsies, disabled, socialists, homosexuals were exterminated, and all fought to recognize that.

· At this 50^th Anniversary let me thank India, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, peoples of Indian states of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura for supporting Bangladesh Liberation War and giving shelter to ten million genocide-surviving oppressed Bangladeshis seeking shelter there. I cannot express enough my gratitude to Indian armed forces, including my friend Swapna’s older brother an Indian Army officer for liberating Bangladesh. I offer my pronam to those who gave their lives for Bangla freedom. We should create a memorial for them in Dhaka.

· I also believe that unless we are able to prosecute the genocide, and bring murderers to justice, instability in Bangladesh and attack on Hindu minority and secular Muslims like Bangabandhu and his family, and later Mrs. Wazed, may continue. Thus, I fully support the trial of war criminals by Prime Minister Wazed’s government. Dhanyabad! Thanks! Pronam Janai! And Bravo!

· The genocide in Bangladesh is unparalleled in human history. Whenever I get chance, I express my feelings openly. When an American politician protected a mass murderer, I protested. I understand he called a civil rights group to say that he won’t support killers any more. When a noted Washington D.C. think-tank invited a Hindu-named woman to promote Pakistani mass murder’s innocence, I protested by phone and in writing. They wrote back apologizing, but didn’t invite secularists yet. Twice I reminded this during Congressional Hearing. I am pleased to say that after the second hearing, a few days before the current administration came to power in Bangladesh, they followed most of my recommendations.

· I still can’t believe three million killed and quarter million girls and mothers abused and the world can’t call it a genocide? This is sad! This is bad! This is unacceptable.

· After the Jagannath Hall massacre on the first day, 3 million more were killed in only 9 months, a very high per day killing rate. Yet, no Pakistani was tried. Pakistan, Muslim-majority nations, U.K., Canada and the U.S. gave asylum to mass murderers. China supported the genocide.

· Why non-Bangladeshis complain? Why Bangladeshi-Indian-Hindus who ran two states in India didn’t mobilize? Why American activists are not protesting? I wonder.

· On a related issue let me thank the first Awami government when they replied to my request in 1996 to repair the 350-year old Mahilara Mott in Barisal where we later built a school in 2001 named after my mother and mother-in-law. Killers wouldn’t have allowed that. And Just this month we repaired our 15^th Century Sri Bishnu murti in Barisal. I am trying to recover my wife’s family’s Bishnu Murti of Mahilara that is now kept in Barisal.

· I understand that a Hindu civil rights group in America has asked U.S. President to recognize the genocide. Hindu America Foundation memorialized the genocide two days ago. I learned that many U.S. representatives have wrote statements for Congressional Record.

· After waiting 50 years, I strongly believe that we need a coalition of Bangladeshis, Americans, Europeans, Indians, Muslims and Hindus, Buddhists and Christians, refugees in India and asylum-seekers in America, secularists and devotees to join hands to defeat the pro-genocide camp. For me, if any of these groups push for genocide recognition alone, it will be fine. We shouldn’t wait for another 50 years. Indian Subcontinent Partition Documentation Project supports this cause as our own.

· Let me quickly go through 24 slides covering such a vast world-neglected issue, but more importantly, censored by Pakistan, Islamists, China, World Press, Muslim-majority nations and democratic West. Joi Bangla. Namaskar.

The conference started with a song dedicated to Bangladesh Liberation, followed by Welcome Remarks of H. E. Saida Muna Tasneem, Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK and Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, Director, Centre for Genocide Studies, University of Dhaka and moderator of the event. Some of the speakers at the conference included, Keynote Speaker Dr. Rounaq Jahan, Distinguished Fellow & Visiting fellow, Columbia University, New York, who spoke on “1971 Bangladesh Genocide and International Recognition”, followed by this writer, Dr Nuzhat Chowdhury, Daughter of martyred intellectual of 1971 Genocide Dr Alim Chowdhury, Professor Joann Digeorgio-Lutz, Department Head, Department of Liberal Studies, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Author of “Women and Genocide: Gendered Experiences of Violence, Survival, and Resistance”, Professor Yasmin Saikia, Professor of History, Hardt-Nickachos Chair in Peace Studies, School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, Arizona State University, Prof Dr. Mizanur Rahman, Research Director, Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs and Former Chairman, National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh, attorney Sultan Shaiff, and others. This was followed by a brief question and answer. Shockingly, one Indian-American professor defended the mass murderers which brought uproar from Dr. Rahman and Mr. Shaiff who followed the speaker, and from others on tweet. The speaker also gave false data on Assam, India that was pointed out by this writer. Attendees sought ways to bring to justice all the mass murderers and prosecution by Pakistan. Issue of reparation wasn’t discussed.The conference ended with vote of thanks from Her Excellency Tasneem.

Here is a report from a daily: https://www.observerbd.com/news.php?id=305356

PowerPoint Slides

“1971 Bangladesh Genocide and International Recognition”

Jagannath Hall, Dhaka University, 26 March 1971
46 Hindu Students Killed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUD9sNkt2RI
(Pakistani Genocide Started with this killing at Jagannath [Hindu Student] Hall)

Dead Bodies of Muslim Intellectuals Killed by Pakistan Army on December 14, 1971

400 Bengali-Marwaris Hacked to Death in 1971 in North Bengal

100 Hindu Priests, Nuns, Devotees Burned Alive in 1971 at the 9th Century Ramna Kali Mandir Temple and Ma Anandamoyee Ashram, Dhaka City, Desecrated and Destroyed by the Genocidal Army

Prabartak Ashram, Chittagong
15 Killed: 13 Hindu Men, 1 Hindu Woman, 1 Muslim Man

Those Who Have Sacrificed Their Lives for Independence War

Bankim Chandra Sen, President

Birendra Lal Chowdhury, Secretary

Hari Ranjan Rakshit, Treasurer

Adwita Charan Rai (Roy), Member

Nanda Lal Pandit, Member

Jogesh Chandra Chakraborty

Tara Prasanna Kar, Teacher

Susanta Chowdhury, Teacher

Swapan Sarkar, Teacher

Nurul Abchar *

Durga Charan Dey

Debabrata Das

Mridul Nandi

Santosh Datta

Anuprova Pal**

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March 27/28 1971 Massacre at Comilla Cantonment; 915 Killed

“He (Lt. Gen. A. A. K. Niazi) Denied the Allegation that he ever ordered his Subordinates to Exterminate the Hindu Minority”– Pakistan Government’s Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report “…915 men were just slain by a flick of one Officer’s fingers should suffice as an example….There were verbal instructions to eliminate Hindus."

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Faridpur 10,000 Hindus Killed;
300 Hindus Killed in Bodaiganj, NY Times, 4 July 1971

“An Undetermined Number of Faridpur’s 10,000 Hindus have been Killed:” In 1971 The New York Times reported on the Hindu extermination campaign on July 4, 1971 that in the Faridpur area the local residents have “painted ‘H’ for Hindu shops still standing in this part of this town to identify the property of the minority eighth of the population…… Christians, mostly Baptists have put crosses on their doors and stitched crosses in red thread on their clothes…..An undetermined number of Faridpur’s 10,000 Hindus have been killed and others have fled across the border….(In) Bodaiganj, about three miles away, next day army killed as many as 300 Hindus.”

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6 Pabna killings by Bangla Minister, 5 Hindu, 1 Muslim

Mr. Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, a minister from 2001-2006, reportedly “…himself bayoneted to death one Bateswar Shaha (a Hindu) in Madhabpur village, situated under Sathia Police Station… Dablu told the Commission that his father M. Sohrab Ali (a Muslim) was killed on the orders of Nizami. Dablu further said other people of the area, including Profulla Pramanik, Bhadu Pramanik, Manu Pramanik and Shasthi Pramanik (all Hindus) were killed on Nizam’s orders.’

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Organization of Islamic Countries’ Nominee, 2003, and Murder of 5 Hindus, 13 April 1971

•Father Faka Chowdhury and sons Giasuddin Kader & Salauddin Quader ordered Hindu philanthropist Notun Chandra Singha to be murdered. They instructed to “bring back malaun (a derogatory Arabic word for non-believers — SGD) Notun Chandra and his sons and daughters.” They also murdered “with their own hands” Chitta Ranjan Biswas (Hindu), his son, and a student worker Dayal Hari Biswas (Hindu).

•FIR U/S/302/129 (13)/298/BPC

•One of them almost became head of OIC

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Hindu Killing
Time; August 02, 1971

“The Hindus, who account for three-fourths of the refugees and a majority of the dead, have borne the brunt of the Moslem military's hatred. Even now, Moslem soldiers in East Pakistan will snatch away a man's lungi (sarong) to see if he is circumcised, obligatory for Moslems; if he is not, it usually means death. Others are simply rounded up and shot. Commented one high U.S. official last week: "It is the most incredible, calculated thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland."

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Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Its Allies’ Bengali and Hindu Genocide

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Bondabari in Rajshahi District, May 3, 1971; 85 Hindus Murdered

300 Hindus sought shelter at the Catholic mission in Bondabari. Mr. Archer K. Blood, the American diplomat posted in Dhaka, East Pakistan writes, “In addition, Archbishop Ganguly told me that Italian priests had informed him that the Catholic Mission at Bondabari in Rajshahi District…had been surrounded by the Army on May 3 because three hundred Hindus had sought refuge there. The Army took away some 85 boys and men between the ages 17 and 60. The mission personnel later learned that these Hindu males had been killed by the Army a few miles away from the mission.”

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Parliamentarian Dhirendra Nath Datta and His Son Murdered; 1971

Father of the Idea of Bengali as the national language Parliamentarian Dhirendra Nath Dattta first proposed in Pakistan Parliament in 1948 for Bengali to be made a national language, and that love of language eventually created Bangladesh. He and his son were dragged by Army of Islamic Republic from their Comilla home. Their remains were never found. Yet his home and homestead were confiscated, without compensation and notice, through Enemy Property Act.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkYQgeVkJRk
Genocide Army Abused Granddaughter Aroma Datta

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Roots to Partition Documentation Project

Ai Bangla Oi Bangla (This Bengal That Bengal; 1989, 1991, 2012)

A Aamar Desh (This is My Home;1998, 2013)

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Publications that Started our Journey:
Empire’s Last Casualty …… & Living Among the Believers…..
by Sachi Ghosh Dastidar

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Books

Memories of Homeland: Refugees of 1947 Bengal Partition in India

Mukti: Free to Be Born Again: Partitions of Indian Subcontinent, Islamism, Hinduism, Leftism, and Liberation of the Faithful

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Roots to ISPaD Project
Ai Aamar Desh (1998; 2013)

Bengal Studies 1994: Essays of Economics, Society & Culture (1996)

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World’s Amnesia:

Pakistani-Bengali Islamist Genocide of Bangladesh — Hindu and Muslim — in 1971

•3 Million Bengalis Murdered only in 9 Months.

•Estimates of Hindus Killed Low: 2,400,000 (80% of Casualty) High: 2,850,000 (95%)

• (Hindus constituted only 20% of population yet 80%-95% of Casualty) Difficulties in Documentation:

•Hindus cremate the dead leaving no trace.

•In the riverine nation Hindu-Muslim victims were frequently dumped into world’s largest Ganga-Brahmaputra delta to be washed away.

•Even for Muslims, at the time of flooding buried corpses were washed away.

•Surviving family members sought refuge in India, some never to return.

•After rape victims’ families often couldn’t be traced.

•The entire Hindu population was targeted--from distant villages to urban slums. Documentation of casualty from non-descript villages did not exist. Moreover most victims were poor-illiterate.

•Same with secular Muslims.

Corrupt practices of Bengali Hindu Left — mostly Bangladeshi Hindu refugee -- who governed Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura protected murderers, terrorize pluralists. In 2020 one such Islamic murderer was arrested in Kolkata holding Indian passport and deported, then hanged in Bangladesh.

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Sample Victims of 1971 Pakistani Atrocities whose Words are Saved at YouTube’s Ispad1947 Channel
Mrs. Durga Ghosh, Miraculous Surviving Daughter – then 10-Year Old – of Modhu Babu, a Hindu Tea Seller of Dhaka University, 6 family Members Killed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tMKg55nDxM

Sakkhi Gopal & Chhaya Saha of Tangail Lost 25+ Members in 1971
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_m3kC-GXrc

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Sample Victims of 1971 Pakistani Atrocities whose Words are Saved at YouTube’s Ispad1947 Channel
Prof. Dr. Swapan Gayen of Pakistani-Torched Village of Madaripur, Now of N.Y.