Genocide plot conceived at duck shooting trip

It was at a duck shooting trip in Larkana, the hometown of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who lost in the 1970 election to Bangabandhu, that the seed of the genocide in Bangladesh was sowed.

Bhutto and President of Pakistan Yahya Khan met there to discuss how not to hand over power to Mujib. The Larkana Conspiracy, as it is termed, was basically the root of the incidents that followed later including the nine-month genocide and destruction and the bloody War of Independence.

To the Pakistani rulers, it was unacceptable that the 'lowly' Bangalis would form the government of a 'Muslim' country.

As General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, who led the Pakistan army in Bangladesh and finally surrendered to the joint forces on December 16, 1971, wrote in his book 'The betrayal of East Pakistan': "Bhutto was not willing to sit on the opposition benches. He started behaving like a leader whose party had won the majority and was about to form the government."

But Bangabandhu was firm in his resolve that the power must come to the Bangalis.

So Yahya came to Dhaka on January 12 and held talks with Mujib. Wary of his own future, Yahya wanted to continue as president even after Mujib's ascend to power. But as Bangabandhu turned the proposal down, General Niazi writes, a "disillusioned Yahya flew into the waiting arms of Bhutto. He along with his coterie went to Larkana for a duck shoot, where the Larkana conspiracy was planned."

The plan was that power would never be handed to Awami League and the Pakistani rulers would play for time until the military could strike the Bangalis.

Accordingly, a military operation named Operation Blitz was prepared on February 22 in a meeting convened by Yahya with the military leaders in Islamabad.

Niazi writes about this military plan: "Yaqub (who commanded the Pakistan forces in then East Pakistan) was given a carte blanche to execute plan 'Blitz' in case Mujib failed to modify his stance on the Six Points. After the conference Yaqub visited General Hamid [army chief] in GHQ, who offered him an extra brigade to deal with any new development. Initially, Yaqub told that adequate troops were in East Pakistan to deal with any contingency. Yet, three battalions [usually a battalion consists of 300 to 800 soldiers and is typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel -ed] of the brigade reached Dhaka later."

About Blitz, General Khadim Hussain Raja, the man who carried out the genocide outside Dhaka, in his book 'A stranger in my own country' writes: "In January and early February Yahya visualized the possibility of a military crackdown."

"I had shown this operation instruction to my brigade commanders," Raja continues, "and directed them to have detailed plans ready for their respective areas of responsibility. In essence, Operation Blitz meant the suspension of all political activity in the country and a reversion to Martial Law rule. This meant that the armed forces of the country would be permitted to move against defiant political leaders and to take them into protective custody."

According to the plan, troops moved out to strategic towns on February 27 and on March 1 president Yahya Khan suddenly suspended the National Assembly.

As Raja writes, "the news was electrifying to the common man in East Pakistan and particularly so in Dhaka. In no time at all, there were crowds on the streets of Dhaka."

Bangabandhu called a province wide non-stop general strike that paralysed the country. The impact of this strike was so great that the Pakistani rulers were overwhelmed. They knew their limited military operation Blitz would not work. They needed a total annihilation of the Bangalis. And for this they needed more time.

They devised the plan that president Yahya would pretend to hold negotiations with Bangabandhu while the military would prepare for the strike. Their special concern was the presence of East Pakistan Rifles and East Bengal Regiment who were mainly staffed with Bangali troops.

Yahya arrived at Dhaka again on March 15 and sat with his military top brass. But not everyone agreed to the military adventure as Khadim Raja writes: "Air Commodore Masood, commander of the air force, then took the floor and spoke against military action as the solution."   His concern however was not the killing of the innocent Bangalis but the uncertainty that the Biharis would face.

But the hawkish Pakistani generals did not like such softies and so the 'doves' were quickly replaced with ruthless generals. As Khadim wrote: "He (Yahya) was replacing the 'doves' with the 'hawks' in East Pakistan."

 Air Commodore Masood was relieved of his duty. Admiral Ahsan, who had been appointed earlier as governor of East Pakistan, was replaced by Lt Gen Yaqub. General Niazi later wrote: "He resigned as Governor and Commander, Eastern Command saying that he 'could not kill his Pakistani brothers'."

Lt. Gen Tikka Khan, nicknamed the Butcher of Baluchistan, was brought into the theatre as the head of East Pakistan army. After all, he had been successful in ruthlessly putting down the rebellion previously in Baluchistan.

About Tikka, General Khadim Raja wrote: "He had landed hard on the Baloch tribes who had raised their heads in revolt, causing them to lay down their arms or flee the country."

Major General Iftekhar Janjua and Major General AO Mitha were brought in as "possible replacements for Khadim and Farman (Rao Farman Ali, who was in charge of the civil affairs in East Pakistan) in case they refused to crackdown," Raja wrote. "General Hamid had even gone to the extent of questioning Khadim's and Farman's wives to assess their husbands' views on the subject. Both the generals, however, assured Hamid that they would faithfully carry out the orders."

With all the necessary ruthless commanders in place, Yahya arrived at Dhaka on March 15 and started his sham talks with Bangabandhu.

Meanwhile the military commanders were going on with their plans. Tikka Khan sat with General Rao Farman Ali and General Khadim Raja on March 17 and told them that Yahya's talks with Mujib were not progressing well, Raja writes: "The president therefore wanted us to be ready for military action and to prepare a plan accordingly."

So Operation Searchlight was conceived in a meeting between these two generals on March 18. General Rao Farman Ali was to carry out the genocide in Dhaka and General Khadim Hussain Raja in the rest of the country.

Yahya, as planned, secretly flew out of Dhaka for Karachi via Colombo on a Pakistan International Airlines flight on the evening of March 25. A few hours later, tanks rolled out of the cantonment firing cannons and machine gunning the sleeping civilians of Dhaka.

General Niazi, who took over command from Tikka Khan in April and continued the killings, himself described the March 25 genocide as follows: "General Tikka Khan struck. Peaceful night was turned into a time of wailing, crying and burning. General Tikka let loose everything at his disposal as if raiding an enemy, not dealing with his own misguided and misled people. The military action was a display of stark cruelty more merciless than the massacres at Bukhara and Baghdad by Changis Khan and Halaku Khan or at Jallianwala Bagh by the British General Dyer."