#1971 genocide

[tomorrow-withme]

Never forget. East Bengali Hindu genocide is so overlooked. It's so upsetting.

[probirbidhan]

Nixon-Yahya cornered by own men supporting Bangladesh

Nixon-Yahya cornered by own men supporting Bangladesh

In 1971, while the Nixon-Kissinger administration had been supporting its ally West Pakistan since early March till the end, when the latter launched “Operation Searchlight” in East Pakistan, it was an American diplomat in Dhaka who came up with a version of the atrocities, causing embarrassment for the government. On March 27, the then consul general at the US Consulate in Dhaka Archer K Blood…

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[lindseydianataylor-blog]

We will be known

“It all started with Operation Searchlight, a planned military pacification carried out by the Pakistan Army started on 25 March, 1971 to curb the Bengali nationalist movement by taking control of the major cities on March 26, and then eliminating all opposition, political or military, within one month. Before the beginning of the operation, all foreign journalists were systematically deported from Bangladesh… [According to New York Times (3/28/71) 10,000 people were killed; New York Times (3/29/71) 5,000-7,000 people were killed in Dhaka; The Sydney Morning Herald (3/29/71) 10,000 – 100,000 were killed; New York Times (4/1/71) 35,000 were killed in Dhaka during operation searchlight.] The operation also began the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities. These systematic killings served only to enrage the Bengalis, which ultimately resulted in the secession of East Pakistan later in December, 1971. The international media and reference books in English have published casualty figures which vary greatly; 200,000–3,000,000 for Bangladesh as a whole. The mass killings in Bangladesh in 1971 vie with the annihilation of the Soviet POW’s, the holocaust against the Jews, and the genocide in Rwanda as the most concentrated act of genocide in the twentieth century. In an attempt to crush forces seeking independence for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), the West Pakistani military regime unleashed a systematic campaign of mass murder which aimed at killing millions of Bengalis, and likely succeeded in doing so.” It’s interesting how, as I travel everywhere and spend time in places like the Argentinean desert or the Peruvian villages or the gang-run slums in Costa Rica, etc., I still can’t help but think that there is always somewhere worse off. There must always be somewhere poorer, somewhere more dangerous, somewhere in even more desperate need. No matter how bad the setting or situation of where I am, sadly there always seems to be somewhere that is even worse off. But then I got to this place that is so badly affected by poverty and despair. A place where the fault of the poverty can’t be placed into anyones hands specifically, but rather into the circumstances of the climate and the past. The sadness of the situation comes from the fact that the people haven’t caused the poverty strictly by corruption or laziness, but instead the poverty comes from the lack of resources due to an unbalanced, “unfair” climate and a horrific past afflicted by war. Welcome to Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. It didn’t take me long to notice that here are the hardest working people I’ve seen yet. The most enduring and persevering workers. Dhaka is also filled with highly educated students, and very talented ones at that. I spent a lot of time at the University of Dhaka, which happens to be the first place the rebels hit in 1971, killing all “intellectuals”; teachers and students alike. I had the chance to build friendships with some students, and was absolutely stunned by some of their work created with their passion and incredible talent. Being a Muslim nation, it’s not easy to evangelise here, and it puts a whole new spin on that verse in John about being known as Christs’ disciples by our love. When we reflect the extraordinary love of Christ, people will recognize it and know us as his followers. Welp. Put that one into practice! Harder than one might think, especially when you are living it out to the extreme. I really don’t even know how to summarize our few weeks we spent here, it was unreal. And like usual, there was a good and bad side. It was so tough to get used to the constant chaos a country like that brings; the phsyco traffic, the complete lack of communication between us and the Bangladeshis (Bengla is dang hard to learn and speak), the climate (approx 30+ Celcius everyday, and 80+ percent humidity). I’ve never in my life been so hot and haven’t been able to do anything about it. Because of the culture of a muslim nation, I was required to wear what was called a ‘salwaar kameez’ which consisted of Aladin-style pants (salwar), a top which comes to your knees (kameez), and a long bulky scarf to cover your chest (orna). And again, getting used to the chaos that asia brings was a tough one, with a lot of life skills and interesting lessons learnt in order to live half-normally here. Because of Dhaka being a city of over 15 million people (it’s considered one of the most densely populated cities on earth), this means a heck of a lot of power outages due to overuse. And by a lot, I mean power outages every few hours. I learnt quickly how to light a candle in the shower, how to toast bread with a lighter, and sitting on the tile floor keeps your body cooler than sitting on the couch when the a/c is out. Yuppp. Also, when you’re walking in public and everyone is staring at you (because they will be- we literally almost caused a couple car wrecks because people were so shocked at seeing white skin), wearing sunnies helps you feel a little bit invisible so you can deal with the stares. Haha, adaptation? But, there really was a lot of good. I met a lot of people; long-termers who have already spent years in Bangladesh after spending years working places like in northern India or Sudan or Nepal. Hearing their stories, of enduring and persisting and overcoming, and just doing life, was incredibly encouraging; knowing that doing this sort of thing in impossible-sounding nations is actually possible and can actually be done. The countries God has put on my heart can be reached, no matter how ridiculous it seems. Yeah, sometimes it will be a struggle, with things like politics or religion or war, or just the climate alone… but if God calls for a nation to be reached, they will be reached. The Lord won’t give you instruction without grace, he won’t send you somewhere without help. Hey- I just handled 17 countried in 8 months. Every single one with a different culture, many with different climates, and most with a different language. Heck, if God got me through that then I can trust him for whatever’s next. “I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” - John 13:20 “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” - John 13:35　 [http://fcote.tumblr.com/]