ISBN : 9780190702274
The famous British philosopher and historian, R.G. Collingwood, suggested that a historian must reconstruct history by using 'historical imagination' to're-enact' the thought processes of historical persons based on information and evidence from historical sources. That is what the authors of the present book have tried to do. The events of 1971 that resulted in the breakup of Pakistan are a milestone in Pakistans history. To retrieve what happened and why it happened is an exercise that so far has been avoided or left at best incomplete. The book based on published and unpublished memories of activists of 1971 attempts to give a critical assessment of the events and spell out lessons that have to be learnt.
Preface by Bettina Robotka
Introduction by Ikram Sehgal
1. The Cultural Identity of East Bengalis
2. The Language Movement
3. Purba Pakistan: The United Bengal Plan, and the Partition of Bengal
4. Economic Disparity and Delayed Development of East Pakistan
5. Political Differences between East and West Pakistan
6. The 1965 War, the Six-Point Movement, and Agartala
7. Towards Open Confrontation
8. First General Election in Pakistan: December 1970
9. Election Aftermath
10. Outrage in March 1971
11. A Deadly Polarisation
12. The Stalemate
13. Operation Searchlight Phase-I
14. Winning the Battle but Losing the War-I
15. Accusations of Rape and Genocide
16. Winning the Battle but Losing the War-II
17. India's Role in the East Pakistan Crisis
18. Dhaka Daze
19. The Theatre of the Absurd: September and October 1971
20. The Beginning of the End
21. The Last Days of United Pakistan
22. The Aftermath of 1971: Lessons to be Learned
Annexures
1 Extracts from Ikram Sehgal's books published in 2010
2 (a). Facsimile of a Letter by General (retd.) M.A.G. Osmany, 30 June 1983
(b). Facsimile of a Letter by General (retd.) M.A.G. Osmany, 5 September 1983
3 Operation Searchlight Phase I
4 Operation Searchlight Phase II
5 Lt. Gen. Ali Kuli Khan Khattak HI (M)
6 Lt. Gen. Imtiaz Waraich HI (M), SJ
7 Brief Narrative by Col. (retd) Salman Ahmed
8 16 December 1971: Lessons not Learned by Brigadier (retd) Mujahid Alam
Index