Dhaka, July 14 (bdnews24.com) – East Pakistan's military commander General Tikka Khan had wanted to 'publicly hang' Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for 'treason against Islamabad', a memoir by a former Pakistani general reveals.
Tikka Khan wanted to "publicly try Sheikh Mujib in Dhaka and hang him", retired Major General Khadim Hussain Raja said in his book, 'A Stranger in My Own Country: East Pakistan, 1969-1971', according to a report of Indian newspaper Anandabazar.
From 1969-1971 Raja was the general officer commanding of the 14 Division in East Pakistan.
The book apparently criticised many actions of Pakistani army officials in the then East Pakistan, and included eye-witness accounts of Pakistani army's torture of Bangladeshis and which officers led the genocide in ach district.
Raja also described the tortures conducted by of his friend Major General Rahim Khan.
"Rahim started to criticise the senior commanders in Dhaka, especially me, although I happened to be a friend of his. He was of the opinion that the Bengalis were timid people and should have been subdued long ago. The reader can judge for himself the ignorance and lack of understanding of the East Pakistan situation among the hawks in the armed forces," Pakistan newspaper Express Tribune quoted from page 97 of the book.
Rahim ran away from East Pakistan when things became too hot.
The author also mentioned that General Niazi had ordered his troops to attack the women of Bangladesh, Express Tribune reported.
"[Enter] Commander East Pakistan General Niazi, wearing a pistol holster on his web belt. Niazi became abusive and started raving...He threatened that he would let his soldiers loose on their womenfolk. There was pin drop silence at these remarks. The next morning, we were given the sad news. A Bengali officer Major Mushtaq went into a bathroom at the Command Headquarters and shot himself in the head," Raja wrote in his book.
Anandabazar said that the book has placed Islamabad in an awkward situation and it was attempting to withdraw the book from the market.
The Pakistani army is also pressurising the government to ban the book, Anandabazar report added.
Oxford University Press, Pakistan published the book in last April. It has not been released to Indian or Bangladeshi market.
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