Rehman Sobhan’s contemporaneous account of the events of that momentous month in Bangladeshi history, originally written for Forum magazine. This piece was first published in Forum on March 6, 1971.
Published in Dhaka Tribune on Monday, 9 March 2015.
Too little and too late
Rehman Sobhan
The crisis long predicted in these columns and which we along with many others throughout the country had tried so hard to avoid is upon us. The future of this nation is at stake. If it survives this moment of peril it can never be the same again.
The people of Bangla Desh have had to take to the streets to re-win the right to self-government they had sought to establish three months ago at the polls. Then they did indeed speak their minds unequivocally. And today those same people are in the streets, armed with only primitive weapons but sustained by indomitable courage and faith in the justice of their cause.
The interests that have provoked this conflagration are the same as those which attempted to preserve the nation as a playground for their greed and ambition. It is however only fitting that the instrument for their design should be none other than Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, chairman of the People’s Party, pledged to emancipate the people from these same vested interests.
Less than a month ago there was hope in the air. The polls had made it sufficiently clear that Bangla Desh was solidly committed to Six-Points. The victors in West Pakistan had no campaign commitments against Six-Points which could have inhibited a settlement with the Awami League and which could prevent them from honouring their economic commitments to their electorate.
A constitution based on Six-Points, but taking care of the special problems of West Pakistan, could have been jointly framed without prejudice to the rights and interests of the common people of West Pakistan.
A peaceful transition to a democratic order, which for the first time in two decades would have put inter-wing bickering at an end and left parties free to get on with the task of engineering social revolution, was distinctly possible.
All these hopes are ashes. Mr. Bhutto’s refusal to attend the Assembly indicated that he has made common cause with the “hawks” in the power elite, and had the strength to force the postponement, sine die, of the Assembly.
The long delay between election time and the summoning of the Assembly had already generated enough tension so that March 3 was not a day too soon. Anyone with the slightest notion of the mood in Bangla Desh knew this would push the self-restraint of the people over the brink.
The reasons put forward by the great chairman for not attending the National Assembly were too puerile to be taken seriously. The notion that a National Assembly is merely a ratification chamber for clandestine agreements is part of the Byzantine politics which the chairman learnt for 8 years at the feet of his spiritual father.
If a parliament is not meant to discuss basic issues, to examine them closely in committee sessions, to seek settlement and to vote on them if positions are irreconcilable, why was so much blood shed in the cause of parliamentary democracy?
All this Mr. Bhutto knew and had made clear to him, not just on his visit to East Pakistan but by the powers-that-be, when he ignited the flames of crisis. It was therefore a cold-blooded act which could have no other end than the death of peasants, workers and students in the streets of Bangla Desh.
He has worked hand and glove with the hawks who have now come up with their proposal of a National Assembly held under the shadow of the gun. A five-hour session with the president before his provocative broadcast has proved this collusion without a shadow of doubt. His so-called progressive supporters should take note of the role of their chairman’s collaboration with the forces of oppression.
Dictatorship has been given a new lease of life and they would do well to realise that their own freedoms may be trampled in the dust along with the blood of workers and students in Bangla Desh.
Published in Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday, 10 March 2015.
Today the people of Bangla Desh have been challenged. In the eyes of their rulers their struggle to realise their rights is merely the act of a handful of people out to instigate murder and loot. This crass reaction to the struggle and sacrifice of 70 million Bengalis would put even our ex-imperial rulers to shame.
In this context even the calling of the National Assembly is being overtaken by events. Mr. Bhutto’s acceptance, buttressed by reassurances of the LFO, is a mockery of the dead who gave their lives merely to make the chairman change his mind. Now their memory demands much more than a mere debate for this has already been overshadowed by a dialogue of death in the streets. How far anything will come out of this session is uncertain, but the crisis will merely be postponed.
For the moment, the people of Bangla Desh have been reminded in no uncertain terms that power comes from the barrel of the gun. They have been reminded that sticks and rods are puny weapons when compared with the power of a mechanised force which sees itself as the sole guardian of the nation’s future. They have been told that if their expectations extend beyond the National Assembly they will have to face the consequences. In throwing down this gauntlet the authors have banked on the fact that this was an essentially middle-class dominated movement which in the moment of confrontation will act true to its salt and stand silent before the language of weapons.
But they are mistaken. This is a people’s struggle. Today the emotions and interests of 70 million people are involved. Even the cautious civil servant has cast in his lot with the struggle. The extent of non-cooperation is almost unique. Today the loyalty of no one in Bangla Desh to the regime of the oppressor is certain. It matters not if the weak waiver because the workers, students, and eventually the peasants are aware and ready to throw themselves into the final phase of the struggle.
Their lack of military preparedness may make this a long drawn-out struggle where much blood will have to fertilise the soil of Bangla Desh. The struggle has merely confirmed what had been proved in 1969 — that the people are no longer afraid of the gun.
But this is only a first step. The outcome is however never in doubt, only the time and cost in blood. Leaders may come and go but the people will carry the banner of freedom forward. The National Assembly may therefore meet and go through the motions of debate. But it is now clear that unless this ratifies the elemental urge of the people of Bangla Desh for self-rule, it will merely be a staging post in the ongoing struggle of the people.