As we all know Bangladesh was East Pakistan which got it’s independence after a bloody battle and Indian RAW and Indian Army fought for Bangladesh to make it free from the Barbaric and Dictatorship of Yahya Khan. For the reason obvious, Pakistani books cannot teach the real history to their coming generations.
History which has lost in sands of time, what Bangladesh faced was a massive human rights violation which led to Rape of Millions of women in Bangladesh, Pakistani army not even targeted the Bengalis and they did not spared even Muslim girls who have just reached teen-age. Pakistani army put women in their barracks and many girls were raped more then 5-6 times in a day. Many of the Bengalis were killed in the blood shed and Many women later did combined suicide because they were disowned by their family members.
No wonder why the findings made by the Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission on the 1971 war, was never made public. Those rapes and genocide were done because Pakistan army wanted to make superior “Real islamic” generation of Martial Bengali Children.
Susan Brownmiller penned down some horrors of the War -Crimes ,she wrote that Rape was not restricted to beauty but also, a girl of 8 to the grand mother of 75 were raped. Some of the women were raped 80 times a day.
This was the apathy seen by people from East Pakistan .
Many of the Girls did Abortion and they were helped to rehab by Red Cross which puts estimated Rapes of 2,00,000-4,00,000 women.
Now, let us see what Pakistani books teach about 1971 war to their youth.
The state curriculum includes the part of 1971 war and it’s sad to say that they include some false stories against India. Instead of setting the record straight on the creation of Bangladesh and the reasons for the separation, students in the Metric and Intermediate levels of school (class 9th through 12th) are being taught conspiracy theories and a factually incorrect version of history.
The Pakistan Studies textbook for Class nine and ten fails to mention Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto or the role of the PPP throughout the essay on Bangladesh and the 1971 War. Following are a few of the reasons listed in the textbook for the “Fall of East Pakistan”.
“Role of Hindu teachers
A large number of Hindu teachers were teaching in the educational institutions in East Pakistan. They produced such literature which created negative thinking in the minds of Bengalis against the people of West Pakistan.
International Conspiracies-
About 10 million Hindus were living in East Pakistan. India stood at the back of these Hindus to protect their interests. India wanted to separate East Pakistan to strengthen the economic position of the Hindus. Many Hindus acted as spies for India. Russia was against Pakistan because Pakistan had allowed America to establish military bases in Pakistan. On the other hand, America also wanted separation of East Pakistan. Under the circumstances Russia openly supported India’s aggression against Pakistan.”
The Pakistan Studies textbooks of classes ten and eleven have a broader, yet still incorrect version of the story behind the creation of Bangladesh.
“Ultimately, the Martial Law authorities decided to use the armed forces. In the military operations, the armed volunteers of Jamaat-e-Islami also took part and used the occasion to settle old scores with their political opponents. As a result of military action, many workers of the Awami League fled to India and took refuge there. India trained and armed these workers and sent them back to East Pakistan to fight against the Pakistan Army. These armed volunteers of ‘Mukti Bahini’ continued their struggle and guerrilla activities.
On December 3, 1971 the war between Pakistan and India began. Due to the lack of support of the local populace and the poor arrangements of supply of men and material, Pakistani solders (sic) surrender before the Indian army on December 16, 1971 whereas the ceasefire on West Pakistan front was declared without launching a significant attack. On December 16, 1971 East Pakistan became an independent and free state of Bangladesh.”
Nowhere, in both textbooks is there a mention of the documented atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army – which includes rapes, targeted killings – against the Mukti Bahini and the genocide of the Bengali population. The textbooks also fail to mention the number of civilian deaths in East Pakistan in the period leading up to the creation of Bangladesh. Nor does it mention Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s inflexible stand on sharing power with Mujib-ur-Rehman’s Awami League. Instead, conspiracies, speculation on the role of the populace and issues like language and India’s involvement are given precedence over assigning blame to those involved in the separation of East and West Pakistan.
Although Historians and Human-Rights Activist in Pakistan think that this mind-washing curriculum can have adverse affects on the younger generation because if the basics given to them are a lie ,it would lead to Crumble of their mindset later.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, a noted academic and Professor of Physics at the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, says, “Forty years later, Bangladesh has many disputes with India but it shows not the slightest inclination to reintegrate with Pakistan. If Pakistan’s school books actually taught honest history, they would be explaining why East Pakistanis felt exploited and fought for their independence. Instead, our children are taught cock-and-bull conspiracy nonsense.”
The West Pakistanis viewed the East Pakistanis as being inferior, a fact that has been mentioned even in the biography of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. The fact remains, however, that the East Pakistanis were culturally superior to West Pakistanis in their love of art, literacy, interest in music and poetry.
The books also don’t talk about operation about governor of East Pakistan, General Tikka launched a military operation against Mukti Bahini which led to indiscriminate killing of many innocent youth. However, the present youth of Bangladesh might know about the genocide which happened in 1971 but Pakistan still looks for denial in it.
Last edited:
