News reports from 1971

I’m researching a story at the moment on 1971, pegged to the start of the war crime trials of alleged Pakistani collaborators and the upcoming anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence 40 years ago. In so doing, I’ve come across the following videos on YouTube. Various people have found and posted up some of the original TV news reports. Here are some of the ones I found most interesting:

Pakistani troops launch Operation Searchlight and attack Dhaka Uni (An expelled BBC reporter gives his account of what he saw from the Sheraton’s windows)

Amateur footage that seems to show Pakistani troops executing people at the university (shown on NBC) This is of historical importance, because of course 40 years ago very few people had cameras and very little of the war and the atrocities committed by both sides were actually filmed. There’s a reference to this footage in Sharmila’s Bose’s controversial (and bitter) new book, “Dead Reckoning”, but typically she complains that no-one in Dhaka has a copy of it.

She writes that it was filmed by Professor Nural Ula, who’s apartment overlooked the killing field, and who had, in his opinion, the only amateur, portable camera in the country at the time.

Pakistan’s locally recruited militia (The Razakars) (I think this was Mike Nicholson of ITN)

Rape victims of the Pakistani troops (NBC)

Post-victory violence by Mukti Bahini and the surrender of Pakistani forces (ITN)

The arrest and harsh treatment of alleged collaborators (NBC reporting on the debate still going on today – is the treatment of the alleged war criminals justice or revenge?)

 

The best cup of coffee in Bangladesh

You can get a cup of chai by the side of pretty much every road in Bangladesh, but finding decent coffee has been a struggle  - until now.

I was back in Dhaka over the weekend, for the first time in a year and a half, and one of my first visits was to the city’s newest and finest coffee shop, North End: http://www.northendcoffee.com

Located on the first floor of what used to be a garments sweat shop, the place is a credit to its American owners, Chris and Rick Hubbard, who I’ve known since our sons were at the same school.

They both worked as teachers (I think) in Chittagong some years ago, but then lived in the US where Rick worked for Starbucks and Chris trained as a chef.

About two years ago, they returned to Bangladesh with the twin goals of creating much needed employment, and introducing to its citizens the pleasures of locally roasted coffee.

Most of the beans that Rick roasts are imported, but he is also buying from farmers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which is the only place in the country where coffee can grow.

He says that years ago one of the aid agencies handed out lots of coffee plants to farmers, but then forgot about the project. Happily the plants survived and Rick is now trying to find out where they all are. He says the beans aren’t great, but he can work with the famers to improve them.

In the meantime he can blend them with finer beans to make a tasty brew.

We had cappuccinos and Chris’ cinnamon rolls, and it was delicious.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

One of the great things about Bangladesh is that there are so many people (both Bangladeshis and Bideshis) with so much positive energy, trying to help the country out. Chris and Rick are one couple, our other friends Andrew and Jan Jenkins are another.

They kindly took us out on their boat for an afternoon, which was a real treat for us and the kids. They used to moor it on the outskirts of Dhaka, but the city is growing so fast and the water is so polluted they now have to leave it at Savar, 30 Kms away.

But what that meant was that we were in the countryside in no time. We saw black and white Pied Kingfishers, and what I think were green Bee Eaters swooping low over the water. There were fishing boats with coloured sails drifting slowly downstream and children playing by the banks.

Best of all we passed very close to two (or three) Ganges River Dolphins, known locally as Shushuks, an endangered species.

Close by, fishermen were stringing a net across the river as dusk fell, but Andrew thought the dolphins, which have poor eyesight, would be treated well if caught by mistake.

“Sushuk sounds very much like the Bangla word for child, shishu,” he told us, “and that’s the fishermen sometimes call them as well.”

Andrew and Jan have been working, on and off, in Bangladesh since the mid-Seventies. Their experience gives them some very interesting insights.

The big gripes of everyone I met this weekend were the worsening traffic and high rents in Dhaka. They are definitely awful, but as Andrew reminded me, in the Seventies Bangladeshis were actually starving to death. The population has more than doubled since then, but the country can now feed itself.

Andrew reckons that if the economy continues to grow by about 6% a year, foreign aid may start to be reduced in 15 years time.

The challenge now seems to be managing wealth (i.e. too many cars) rather than managing poverty (i.e. too little food).

Not bad for a place condemned by Kissinger as a basket case. He should drop by for a coffee one day to see how it has changed.

Closure

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that I haven’t put anything up on the blog for ages. I did actually leave Dhaka last July after three fascinating years, and then moved back to Delhi. I’m weighing up whether or not to start a D is for Delhi blog next, but the fact is that it feels like there are more than enough people writing about India, whereas for Bangladesh that is clearly not the case.

With that in mind I’m also going to keep the blog open. It is still receiving a few hundred hits every month so no reason to shut it down.

I’m also thinking about writing something longer on the Liberation War so might use the blog as way of posting up material.

Meanwhile if you want to follow what I do write on India and the rest of the region you can follow me at www.twitter.com/Mark_Dummett

Bitter legacy of Mujib killing

In the end, in the dead of night, it all happened very quickly.

Five former soldiers, convicted of the killing of Bangladesh’s independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, were hanged just after midnight, hours after the Supreme Court had rejected their final appeal.

Their relatives were called in to Dhaka Central Jail for a last, rushed visit before the executions.

Later, they were allowed to collect the corpses and take them home in ambulances.

As the vehicles drove through the crowds, they were pelted with shoes, and some shouted that the bodies should not be buried on Bangladeshi soil.

A bit too close for comfort

Sorry I haven’t been keeping the blog up to date recently. I do have a good excuse – I’ve been back in Kabul for the past few weeks. A wonderful time to visit . Lovely, clear, crisp, blue skies, log fires in the evenings, interesting work as always, but not particularly busy.

But then – I was in the hotel packing up my laptop and about to go downstairs to the car. BANG!

Helping Bangladesh

Two organisations which have helped thousands of the neediest people in Bangladesh are celebrating important milestones.

Both were set up by British women, who have dedicated their lives to helping this nation which, beset by poverty, natural disasters and corruption, is one of the poorest in the world.

The Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) was founded 30 years ago by Valerie Taylor, a physiotherapist.

Sreepur Village, a shelter for abandoned women and children, established by a former British Airways stewardess Pat Kerr, has just celebrated its 20th birthday.

In the beginning of course, neither woman had any idea that they would be so successful, nor that they would still be here after so many years.

war crimes debate

A fellow member of Dhaka’s tiny (and dwindling) band of foreign reporters, Misha Hussain, has written this interesting blog for the Pakistani newspaper/website Dawn. It tackles the highly sensitive  issue of war crimes committed during Bangladesh’s independence war by Pakistani forces/pro-Pakistan militia. This week of course has seen the 38th anniversary of Bangladesh’s birth, and renewed calls here for war crime trials. Take a look at the comments. I’ve encountered similar denials when I’ve discussed the war with Pakistanis.

But it is true that atrocities were committed by the freedom fighters against Urdu speakers. I have seen no suggestion anywhere that these too should be investigated and punished by the tribunal the government hopes to set up next year (after the likely execution of Mujib’s killers). This would certainly be highly controversial, (and unpopular with the governing Awami League’s supporters, who presumably include some of these people) but it would surely give the process extra credibility and weaken the argument of those who will, no doubt, accuse the trials of being an overtly political sham.

One of the men who has led the campaign for war crime trials told me that any atrocity (i.e. the rape and killing of civilians who were opposed to the break up of Pakistan) allegedly committed by the freedom fighters should not be equated to the crimes committed by the Pakistan army and its allies. This amounted to genocide, he argued, so should be tried separately. Any war crimes committed by the freedom fighters, he said, only came as a reaction to the unprovoked onslaught of the Pakistani forces; an onslaught, which in many instances, was actually aided by some of the Urdu speakers, and left between one and three million dead.

In other words one crime was much bigger, and was planned, the second was tiny by comparison, unplanned and in fact actually only occurred because of the first.

But other tribunals have made the uncomfortable decision to try people from all sides of a conflict. I can think of Sierra Leone in particular, where men hailed by many as heroes for helping defeat the murderous RUF rebels were themselves convicted of war crimes. It won’t happen here for some good, but also maybe for some bad reasons as well.

And here is a link to Misha’s own blog, Bangladesh Unplugged