The Pakistan Army in 1971 East Pakistan Crisis
Major Agha H Amin (Retired), Pak Army
No less a person than Brigadier Tajammul Hussain Malik admitted that atrocities were committed in 1971.But then most occurred in Dacca (Major General Khadim Hussain Raja) , Chittagong and Khulna (south west).16 Division under Major General Nazar Hussain Shah by and large had the best record and this explains why Nazar Hussain Shahs life was saved by a Bengali .
This scribes father was the GSO 2 Operations with Major General Nazar Hussain Shah (the GSO 1 an outstanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Ghulam Dastagir had been left behind at Quetta as he was a Bengali) and narrates that by a coincidence General nazar , the Bengali Session Judge and the DC were all old boys of Aligarh University and had an excellent understanding and rapport.
My father who was his GSO 2 Operations and closely associated with the 16 Division operations from move from Quetta to East Bengal in a record time of 5 days describes Nazar as a fine officer and a great human being !Major General Nazar Hussain Shah was a genuine down to earth soldier , bulky by build but genuine at heart and full of humanity ! This went a long way in civilising conduct of 16 Division ! Ironically typical of Tikka Khan Nazar Hussain Shah was retired while Rahim khan guilty of being ruthless in the crackdown was elevated to be secretary defence !
Brigadier Nisar of 25 Cavalry who was praised by Indian historians as outstanding in delaying battle in Shakargarh as commander of changez Force was also sidelined because he was not close to Tikka Khan and company and did not possess Zias mastery of art of sycophancy and appeasement of seniors !
It was typical of Pakistan Army that Brigadier Rahimuddin who did not join his brigade in Chamb on pretext of martial law duty was promoted to general rank while Nisar who fought both the 1965 and 1971 wars exceedingly well sidelined ! In 1965 Nisar by his singular action at Gadgor had literally saved Pakistan ! But promotion in Pakistan Army had nothing to do with war performance or real soldiering ! Pathetic !
Interestingly Brigadier Irshaad heading the military intelligence in 1965 and guilty of Pakistan Armys greatest intelligence failure of 1965 i.e disregarding a genuine report that Indian Armoured division was in kashmir , dismissing it as a deception plan , was promoted to two and three star after the war .He played hell with Pakistans 1 Corps in 1971 War !
Major General Sarfaraz whose conduct as GOC was outstanding in 1965 War was not promoted because his ability was regarded as a threat by Ayub Khan ! Brigadier Qayyum Sher who launched one of the finest brigade size counter attack of 1965 war was also not promoted !
In words of Ayub Khans closest associate Altaf Gauhar Yahya Khan was promoted as army chief because he had hit the bottle hard and was regarded as politically harmless !Brigadier Tajammul Hussain Malik was praised as an outstanding commander by a person no less than the Indian opponent of his Major General lachman Singh .
A special commission was appointed by Indian Army to study Tajammuls brigade actions ! The tragedy is that Tikka Khan and Bhutto sidelined the best officers of 1971 ! Nazar Hussain shah was sidelined because he was not a Rajput (!) and Tajammul was sidelined because he was not a pathetic sycophant with no war record like Zia ul Haq !
Mr Z.A Bhutto by selecting a man with a pathetic personality and no war record as army chief paid the price with his head !
The tragedy is that Pakistan Army has not learnt its lesson and the illegitimate usurper musharraf has created a new potential East Pakistan in Balochistan and FATA !
Tragedy par excellence !
http://strategist-7777.blogspot.com/2010/12/colonel-nadir-ali-dacca-march-1971.html
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