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Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Manish Tewari on Emergency: Internal siege, external forces
It has often crossed my mind that in the wake of the infamy of the internal Emergency imposed by the then Congress government five decades ago, the history of the period from December 16, 1971, to June 25, 1975, has never perhaps been properly documented. Was there a context to that decision that has never been clinically explored? This is by no means a defence of the Emergency. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, speaking at a public meeting on January 24, 1978 in Yavatmal, Maharashtra admitted to a lapse of judgement and said that she was taking the 'entire responsibility for the same'. She added that even if others responsible for mistakes and excesses were not willing to own up, she would own the responsibility for those mistakes. She, however, reminded the audience that the situation just before the imposition of the Emergency was grave, and the survival of the nation was threatened. If things were allowed to continue, the situation that had developed in Bangladesh would have been repeated in India. What was this situation the late PM was referring to? December 1971 had been India's finest hour. The map of South Asia was redrawn after 1947 with the force of Indian arms, leading to the creation of Bangladesh. Pakistan, a nation created in the name of faith, had been dismembered because it could not keep people of the same faith, who were linguistically distinct, within its fold. With that, the two-nation theory was consigned to the dustbin of history. A genocide being perpetrated by the Pakistan army on its hapless citizens in the eastern part of the country under the aegis of Operation Searchlight, which commenced on March 26, 1971, was halted after the Pakistan army was bludgeoned into a historic surrender of over 90,000 officers and soldiers. This event sent shockwaves in influential capitals around the world that believed that only they had the monopoly to shape the global order. The world then was divided into two power blocs — the West, led by the US, and the Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union. India was 'officially' non-aligned but with a perceived tilt towards the Eastern bloc. However, within the Eastern bloc, there were deep cleavages, with China trying to outcompete the Soviet Union for ideological leadership. The seven-month-long Sino-Soviet border war had ended just two years earlier, to the detriment of China. Two things happened in the monsoon of 1971. In July, Henry Kissinger visited Peking, as it was then known — a trip arranged by the then Pakistani dictator, Field Marshal Yahya Khan. A month later, India signed a treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the situation in East Pakistan continued to deteriorate, and millions of refugees crossed the border into India. Archer Blood, the US consul general in Dhaka, sent a series of telegrams and memos to the State Department in Washington documenting the genocide and urging Washington to act. However, such entreaties fell on deaf ears as the Richard Nixon-Kissinger duo, grateful for Pakistani help in opening the doors to China, refused to intervene to stop the atrocities in East Pakistan. Things came to a head in mid-December 1971 when the US government dispatched Task Force 74, comprising ships from the Seventh Fleet and led by the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, to sail at battle speed to the Bay of Bengal from the Gulf of Tonkin, where it was deployed for operations in the Vietnam War. The British navy also dispatched a naval group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle towards India's west coast. The objective was to stop Dhaka from falling into Indian hands. Invoking Article Nine of the Indo-Soviet Treaty, India requested the Soviet Union's help. The Soviets responded with alacrity. The 10th Operative Battle Group (Pacific Fleet) reached the Bay of Bengal and stared down the Anglo-American flotilla. By the time the war ended in December 1971, India was facing a hostile and dismembered Pakistan, a humiliated US and a burgeoning US-Pakistan-China alliance inimical to both the Soviet Union and India. Around the world, CIA-KGB covert wars were raging. The CIA's complicity in the overthrow of Chilean president Salvador Allende is now well documented. The Indian success in creating Bangladesh animated anti-neo-imperialist solidarity around the world, especially the struggle of the Vietnamese against the US. India did two more things. It audaciously gatecrashed the exclusive club of nuclear weapon states by carrying out a nuclear test on May 18, 1974. Though classified as a peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE), the implications of Smiling Buddha were lost on nobody. On May 16, 1975, Delhi again redrew the political map of South Asia by merging Sikkim into India, taking advantage of Mao Zedong's weakening grip on China. Meanwhile, the cost of war had started impacting the Indian economy. Inflation and food shortages were creating disaffection among people. It gave the Opposition a chance to mobilise public opinion against Mrs Gandhi. Every successful wartime leader has to pay a price for leading a nation during a crisis. Winston Churchill also lost a general election within two months of winning World War II in Europe. Was there a ubiquitous 'foreign hand' in the internal disturbances that India experienced in 1974-1975, as Mrs Gandhi repeatedly emphasised? There has been no in-depth scholarship that has examined the three-and-a-half years between December 1971 and June 1975. Mrs Gandhi referred to Bangladesh in the Yavatmal speech. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated on August 15, 1975. Could the Emergency have been avoided, and was there a smarter way of handling things? Only a cold, dispassionate and clinical analysis of the global and domestic events leading up to it can perhaps provide an answer. The writer is a lawyer, third-term MP and former minister
Economic Times
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
Housekeeping time for Bangladesh
Live Events Even as an illegitimate Yunus is being pressured to announce legitimate elections in Bangladesh it is not clear whether it would be either inclusive or fair. India has, as have the Bangladesh army and sundry political formations in the country, rightfully called for the return of a people's mandate for the country at an early reluctance to hold elections by December 2025 seems to be goaded only by a misplaced appetite to hold on to power. Although the narrative that is being peddled is 'reforms before elections' such an argument does not hold water as the correct manner for reforms to be both introduced and enforced should actually rest on a popularly elected government that has the people's mandate. Yunus has no such mandate. He was foisted on a Bangladesh by a foreign power for extra-regional considerations including the creation of 'corridor' to the Rakhine province of Myanmar to facilitate war equipment for the Arakan Army to shore up its war against the Myanmar Army. The fact that even the Bangladesh armed forces have publicised their opposition to such a move showcases Yunus' partisanship and willingness to allow Bangladesh to be used by external any event, fair play necessitates that an inclusive election (as India has called for) cannot be without the Awami League contesting it. Although the secular party's leaders are in exile, hiding or in a state of disarray, the fact of the matter is that 55% of Bangladesh are Awami Leaguers and passionately loyal to Bangladesh's founding principles when it overthrew a malevolent Pakistan in 1971. Today, if they have been coerced into silence it is because of the muzzle of radical Islamism and street terror led by a few mercenaries cloaked in student's attire. The banning of the Awami League is not must make it clear to the world and, of course, to Bangladesh what it means by inclusive elections. By any stretch of imagination, it cannot be without the inclusion of the Awami League, the political party that gave birth to ban on the radical Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) has been revoked by Bangladesh's judiciary, paving the way for its participation in elections. It is a recorded fact that Gholam Azam's JeI had collaborated with the rampaging Pakistan army after the onset of Operation Searchlight on 26 March 1971 which resulted in the genocide of the Bengali people in the erstwhile East Pakistan. It is not immediately understood as to how the people who adjudicate in Bangladesh can permit the 'Return of the Razakars' even as it sits mute to the banning of the Awami League, a formation which, as aforesaid, was the prime pronouncement for the formation of a new nation. It has to be admitted that free agency is being feloniously denied in present day manner in which a legitimately elected Sheikh Hasina was ousted, it is now beginning to be understood, had no popular endorsement in Bangladesh. It was nothing but swift overthrow of power, the mechanics of which were engineered by an extraneous power and summarily transported to the streets of other incidental reasons, one of the explanations for Sheikh Hasina's fleeing her homeland was because she resisted pressure from the extra-regional power to use her country as a launching detachment against the Myanmarese junta which the Chinese are was caught in the cross-currents of big power play. The overseas power wants a satellite state in the region and Yunus willingly played into the plot. Even the Chinese who were trying to elbow into the erstwhile East Pakistan were caught off guards. The Chinese do not play chequers in the manner that it has been put out in popular Indian media, but very cautiously and in a calibrated manner even if it means waiting for the turn of a generation. In fact, very little is known about the truth of Lalmonirhat. It is a strong possibility that the plan for a Chinese airbase in Lalmonirhat is yet another propaganda attempt by the West to dupe Op Sindoor brought back some legitimacy to the shores of India it is because of Modi-Shah's high Indian political acumen and ability to rise, rally and redeem for India. Indeed, the only force that stood by the nation and steadfast for God and country was the Indian armed forces. India continues to be fortified because its warriors in land, sea and air came as one to defend and protect. India also succeeded in signalling a measured approach to countering cross-border one aspect that needs to be forcefully flagged in the midst of the 'fog of war' is the fact that the terrorist eco-system has proliferated beyond Pakistan's sponsorship. It has not only reached Bangladesh but into India's vulnerable innards. Recent reports are of the opinion that Islamist tanzeems like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in concert with radical groups in Bangladesh are planning a massive radicalisation exercise of students in Indian universities. If such sinister anti-India moves are not nipped in the bud, then the nation will careen out of control. Gratefully pre-emptive steps that are correctly being taken in Assam by a farsighted Assamese leadership and the Assam Police, are laudable and must be emulated by the rest of might be questioned as to why is India has suddenly become so protective of answers are simple. First, because it had lent valuable Indian blood during its creation in 1971. Secondly, because it wants to safeguard its backyard from the rise of radical Islamism emanating from Bangladesh that may threaten the North East and in times to come the rest of India and finally to protect the sacred eastern shores from extra-regional planning that must occupy the policy makers in Raisina Hill in the coming weeks and months should be not only to 'archive the pain' that has been endured in Dhaka and Pahalgam in the last several months, but go forward in a positive quest for immediate remedial housekeeping in a country whose socio-political character has an important bearing on India's North Gen Arun Kumar Sahni is a Former Army Commander and GOC Dimapur Corps. Jaideep Saikia is a top strategist and bestselling author.
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Housekeeping time for Bangladesh
Even as an illegitimate Yunus is being pressured to announce legitimate elections in Bangladesh it is not clear whether it would be either inclusive or fair. India has, as have the Bangladesh army and sundry political formations in the country, rightfully called for the return of a people's mandate for the country at an early date. Yunus' reluctance to hold elections by December 2025 seems to be goaded only by a misplaced appetite to hold on to power. Although the narrative that is being peddled is 'reforms before elections' such an argument does not hold water as the correct manner for reforms to be both introduced and enforced should actually rest on a popularly elected government that has the people's mandate. Yunus has no such mandate. He was foisted on a Bangladesh by a foreign power for extra-regional considerations including the creation of 'corridor' to the Rakhine province of Myanmar to facilitate war equipment for the Arakan Army to shore up its war against the Myanmar Army. The fact that even the Bangladesh armed forces have publicised their opposition to such a move showcases Yunus' partisanship and willingness to allow Bangladesh to be used by external machinations. In any event, fair play necessitates that an inclusive election (as India has called for) cannot be without the Awami League contesting it. Although the secular party's leaders are in exile, hiding or in a state of disarray, the fact of the matter is that 55% of Bangladesh are Awami Leaguers and passionately loyal to Bangladesh's founding principles when it overthrew a malevolent Pakistan in 1971. Today, if they have been coerced into silence it is because of the muzzle of radical Islamism and street terror led by a few mercenaries cloaked in student's attire. The banning of the Awami League is not acceptable. India must make it clear to the world and, of course, to Bangladesh what it means by inclusive elections. By any stretch of imagination, it cannot be without the inclusion of the Awami League, the political party that gave birth to Bangladesh. The ban on the radical Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) has been revoked by Bangladesh's judiciary, paving the way for its participation in elections. It is a recorded fact that Gholam Azam's JeI had collaborated with the rampaging Pakistan army after the onset of Operation Searchlight on 26 March 1971 which resulted in the genocide of the Bengali people in the erstwhile East Pakistan. It is not immediately understood as to how the people who adjudicate in Bangladesh can permit the 'Return of the Razakars' even as it sits mute to the banning of the Awami League, a formation which, as aforesaid, was the prime pronouncement for the formation of a new nation. It has to be admitted that free agency is being feloniously denied in present day Bangladesh. Live Events The manner in which a legitimately elected Sheikh Hasina was ousted, it is now beginning to be understood, had no popular endorsement in Bangladesh. It was nothing but swift overthrow of power, the mechanics of which were engineered by an extraneous power and summarily transported to the streets of Dhaka. Among other incidental reasons, one of the explanations for Sheikh Hasina's fleeing her homeland was because she resisted pressure from the extra-regional power to use her country as a launching detachment against the Myanmarese junta which the Chinese are supporting. Bangladesh was caught in the cross-currents of big power play. The overseas power wants a satellite state in the region and Yunus willingly played into the plot. Even the Chinese who were trying to elbow into the erstwhile East Pakistan were caught off guards. The Chinese do not play chequers in the manner that it has been put out in popular Indian media, but very cautiously and in a calibrated manner even if it means waiting for the turn of a generation. In fact, very little is known about the truth of Lalmonirhat. It is a strong possibility that the plan for a Chinese airbase in Lalmonirhat is yet another propaganda attempt by the West to dupe India. If Op Sindoor brought back some legitimacy to the shores of India it is because of Modi-Shah's high Indian political acumen and ability to rise, rally and redeem for India. Indeed, the only force that stood by the nation and steadfast for God and country was the Indian armed forces. India continues to be fortified because its warriors in land, sea and air came as one to defend and protect. India also succeeded in signalling a measured approach to countering cross-border terror. However, one aspect that needs to be forcefully flagged in the midst of the 'fog of war' is the fact that the terrorist eco-system has proliferated beyond Pakistan's sponsorship. It has not only reached Bangladesh but into India's vulnerable innards. Recent reports are of the opinion that Islamist tanzeems like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in concert with radical groups in Bangladesh are planning a massive radicalisation exercise of students in Indian universities. If such sinister anti-India moves are not nipped in the bud, then the nation will careen out of control. Gratefully pre-emptive steps that are correctly being taken in Assam by a farsighted Assamese leadership and the Assam Police, are laudable and must be emulated by the rest of India. It might be questioned as to why is India has suddenly become so protective of Bangladesh. The answers are simple. First, because it had lent valuable Indian blood during its creation in 1971. Secondly, because it wants to safeguard its backyard from the rise of radical Islamism emanating from Bangladesh that may threaten the North East and in times to come the rest of India and finally to protect the sacred eastern shores from extra-regional piracy. The planning that must occupy the policy makers in Raisina Hill in the coming weeks and months should be not only to 'archive the pain' that has been endured in Dhaka and Pahalgam in the last several months, but go forward in a positive quest for immediate remedial housekeeping in a country whose socio-political character has an important bearing on India's North East. Lt Gen Arun Kumar Sahni is a Former Army Commander and GOC Dimapur Corps. Jaideep Saikia is a top strategist and bestselling author.
India.com
20-05-2025
- Politics
- India.com
Who is Tikka Khan, was also known as the butcher of Bangladesh... he massacred 7000 people in...
Who is Tikka Khan, was also known as the butcher of Bangladesh... he massacred 7000 people in... History has many rulers whose name only sends chills down anyone's spine. This includes many names like Genghis Khan, Halaku, Taimurlang, Hitler. But today we will talk about a man who killed seven thousand people in a single night. Due to his act, he was called the 'Butcher of Bangladesh'. The name of this person is 'Tikka Khan', who has also been the General of the Pakistani Army and the first Army Chief. Tikka Khan was born on February 10, 1915 in Rawalpindi. Tikka Khan joined the British Indian Army in 1935. After partition, Tikka Khan went to Pakistan and became a Major in the Army there. After Yahya Khan became the President of Pakistan in 1969, Tikka Khan was sent to East Pakistan (Bangladesh). Tikka Khan's responsibility in East Pakistan was to suppress the demand for a separate country and the rebellion that was rising here. As soon as he arrived here, Tikka Khan started military action, which was named 'Operation Searchlight'. According to the report, Tikka Khan, while taking action to suppress the rebellion, killed 7000 people in Dhaka in one night. This included children, old people and women. After this incident, Time magazine called Tikka Khan the 'Butcher of Bangladesh'. Robert Paine has also written a book on the genocide in Bangladesh. In this book, it is told that in 1971, the state of barbarism was at its peak in Bangladesh. Here, two lakh women and girls were raped in just 9 months. Despite all the allegations and the world's condemnation of this incident, Tikka Khan's status in the Pakistani army continued to rise. He received several promotions and on March 3, 1972, Tikka Khan was made the first Army Chief of Pakistan. Tikka Khan died on March 20, 2002.
NDTV
11-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Explained: The Rise And Fall Of Sheikh Hasina's Bangladesh Awami League
New Delhi: The party that once led Bangladesh to liberation now finds itself outlawed on the very soil it helped set free. The Awami League, once the torchbearer of Bangladesh's independence, has been banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act by the country's interim government led by Muhammad Yunus. Citing threats to national security and an ongoing war crimes investigation, the administration has outlawed all party activities. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's party, which ruled the country for over a decade until her ouster in a mass uprising last year, has been accused of orchestrating violent crackdowns during the July-August 2024 student-led protests that killed close to 1,500 protestors. The Awami League Born out of discontent with the ruling West Pakistani elite, the Awami League was founded on June 23, 1949, in Dhaka. Then called the 'East Pakistan Awami Muslim League', it was a breakaway faction of the Muslim League. The party emerged as a secular, progressive voice for the Bengali population in then East Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a young student activist, became one of its key leaders and later its most iconic figure. The party played a major role in the 1952 Language Movement, demanding Bengali be recognised as one of Pakistan's state languages. It grew its base among students, intellectuals, and rural voters through its populist and regional identity politics. 1970 Pakistan Elections In the 1970 general elections of Pakistan, the Awami League, under Mujibur Rahman's leadership, swept the East Pakistani seats and won a majority (160 out of 162). West Pakistan refused to hand over power to Mujibur Rahman, triggering political unrest and a brutal crackdown known as 'Operation Searchlight'. 1971: Formation Of Bangladesh On March 26, 1971, after political negotiations failed, Bangladesh declared independence. Awami League led the freedom movement. Mujibur Rahman was arrested by Pakistani forces. The Awami League-led Mukti Bahini (Liberation Army), backed by India, waged a successful liberation struggle that went on from March to December. Rahman was later released after the war ended. Bangladesh gained independence on 16 December, 1971, with the help of India. Mujibur Rahman was the first President and Prime Minister of the nation. Considered the founding father of Bangladesh, he was hailed as the ' Bangabandhu ' -- Friend of Bengal. 1975: Mujibur Rahman's Assassination The Awami League government struggled with post-war reconstruction, famine, and rising discontent. In 1975, Mujibur Rahman introduced one-party rule through BAKSAL (Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League), a move that many felt betrayed the ideals of democracy. Months later, on August 15, Mujibur Rahman and most of his family were assassinated in a military coup. The Awami League lost its footing in the military-led regimes of Ziaur Rahman and later Hussain Muhammad Ershad. 1981: Return Of Sheikh Hasina In 1981, Sheikh Hasina, Mujibur Rahman's exiled daughter, returned to Bangladesh and assumed leadership of the party. Through the 1980s, she rebuilt the Awami League from the ground up, allying with student groups, civil society and pro-democracy voices. The party played a key role in the 1990 movement that ended Ershad's dictatorship. In 1996, the Awami League returned to power after 21 years when Hasina became Prime Minister. Her first term was marked by peace deals with tribal groups and infrastructure investment. 2001: Political Turbulence After losing power in 2001, the Awami League accused the BNP-Jamaat alliance of political repression. In 2007, a military-backed caretaker government took over, arresting both Hasina and BNP leader Khaleda Zia under corruption charges. 2009-2023: The Hasina Era The real shift came after 2009, when Sheikh Hasina began her uninterrupted 15-year rule -- making her the longest-serving prime minister in Bangladesh's history. Human rights groups and opposition leaders alleged that her government used authoritarian tactics to cling to power. Elections were marred by allegations of vote rigging, opposition crackdowns became common, and the media faced increasing censorship. Critics accused the Awami League of turning into what it once fought against -- a centralised force intolerant of dissent. She ruled until her ouster in 2024. 2024: Student Uprising In July and August 2024, students across the country launched mass protests triggered by fuel price hikes, youth unemployment, and corruption allegations. According to the United Nations, over 1,400 protesters died in police crackdown instructed by Hasina's Awami League. Sheikh Hasina's government collapsed in August 2024, following pressure from civil society, opposition groups, and defectors within her own party. She resigned on August 5, 2024, and fled the country. By September, an interim administration led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus was in place. Now, the Awami League has not only been removed from power, it has been criminalised and banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
