Bangladesh war of independence officially lasted for nine months from 26 March 1971 to 16 December 1971. The war ended with surrender of about 93000 Pakistani troops before Indian Army and Bangladesh Mukti Bahini on 16 December 1971.
As per different sources about 30 lakhs of Bangladeshi were killed in the hands of Pakistani Army and their local collaborators like Razakar, Al Badr and Al Shams etc. during that nine months period. This figure did not include the number of rape, arson, loot, and destruction of properties.
What people of Bangladesh and Bongs of West Bengal don’t know or don’t like to know is the fact that out of those 30 lakhs killed, 25 lakhs were Bangladeshi Hindus alone. In other words, Bangladesh was created on the dead bodies of Hindus. I have never heard any Bangladeshi leader mentioning this point. Leaders and intellectuals of West Bengal have not been any better.
Pakistani administration then and now overtly claimed that government of India had instigated the Hindus of East Pakistan to revolt against Pakistan. But covertly they thought that by diverting the political crisis of East Pakistan towards Hindu genocide there, they could inflame the passion of Islam and keep the country united.
In reality, Hindus of East Pakistan had no socio-political standing after its creation in 1947. On the contrary they were constantly been persecuted as ‘Malaun’ (meaning ‘accursed’). This derogatory term has been reserved for Hindus of East Pakistan and Bangladesh. East Pakistani Hindus were continuously leaving that country for India. Even after the independence of Bangladesh, this picture has not changed. A substantial number of Hindus in East Pakistan / Bangladesh was converted to Islam also. Nobody cared to know that figure.
In 1951, Hindus constituted little more than 22 per cent of East Pakistan’s population and now it is around 10 percent only. Professor Abul Barakat of Dhaka University, in his 2016 book, said that there will not be any Hindu in Bangladesh after 30 years. He estimated that between 1964 and 2013, about 11.3 million of Hindus had left Bangladesh due to religious persecution and discrimination.
On the contrary, Muslim population in West Bengal was little more than 19 per cent in 1951 and now it is about 33 per cent. The political clout Muslims of West Bengal is palpable, but Hindus of East Pakistan / Bangladesh always lived like Jews in Hitler’s Germany. The situation is no different now.
It is very strange to note that Hindu Bengali intellectuals of West Bengal never looked Eastward across the border to know about the plight of Hindus in East Pakistan and Bangladesh, least to talk of organizing any protest in India for the cause of those unfortunate Hindus. Hindus of East Pakistan / Bangladesh remained in their blind spot. Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay to Srijato via Satyajit Ray and Amartya Sen, the same trend has been going on.
