Dilip Simeon's blog

Archer Kent Blood (March 20, 1923 – September 3, 2004) was an American diplomat in Bangladesh. He served as the last American Consul General to Dhaka, East Pakistan. The Blood telegram (April 6, 1971) was seen as one of the most strongly worded messages ever written by Foreign Service Officers to the  State Department . It was signed by 29  Americans . The telegram stated: Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy. Our government has failed to denounce atrocities. Our government has failed to take forceful measures to protect its citizens while at the same time bending over backwards to placate the West Pak[istan] dominated government and to lessen any deservedly negative international public relations impact against them. Our government has evidenced what many will consider  moral bankruptcy ,(...) But we have chosen not to intervene, even morally, on the grounds that the Awami conflict, in which unfortunately the overworked term ...

By A Dirk Moses "The happenings in East Pakistan constitute one of the most tragic episodes in human history. Of course, it is for future historians to gather facts and make their own evaluations, but it has been a very terrible blot on a page of human history" - U Thant, Secretary-General of the United Nations June 3, 1971 A significant part of the human rights regime established by the United Nations after the Second World War was the protection of group rights and the further regulation of warfare by prosecuting the violators of these new international laws. Unlike the interwar period when the League of Nations  stood by haplessly as Italy invaded Abyssinia , the protection of human rights and international law was supposed to have teeth. Thus the United Nations General Assembly passed the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide on 9 December 1948 (it came into force in 1951), one day before it adopted th...

1971:A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh ;  by  Srinath Raghavan The Blood Telegram:  India ’s Secret War in East Pakistan ;  by  Gary J Bass Reviewed by Deb Mukharji (Biblio, February 2014) On the night of March 25, 1971 , the Pakistan army commenced  its undeclared and savage war against its own citizens in East Pakistan . Over the next nine months, uncounted hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, would be killed and uncounted women violated. Where entire villages are eliminated, it is difficult to arrive at neat statistics of the number of victims, but the genocide was one of the bloodiest of the 20 th  century. Ten million refugees took shelter in India . Bengali members of the East Pakistan Rifles and the police, peasants, university students and professionals formed the mukti bahini to fight the Pakistan army and gain independence for Bangladesh . Trained and armed in India, over the months the mukti bahini inflicted...

Extracted from ‘ The Blood Telegram: India’s Secret War in East Pakistan ’  by Gary J Bass , with permission from Random House India http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/playing-at-war On December 7, Lieutenant General AAK Niazi, the commander of Pakistan’s Eastern Command, was haggard and exhausted. According to another general, he wept loudly in a meeting. After only a few days of combat, the Pakistan army was being routed in Bangladesh. Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger became sincerely convinced that ripping Pakistan in half would not be enough for India. India could next redeploy its eastern forces for a crushing assault against West Pakistan. What was India fighting for: the liberation of Bangladesh or something more? “The destruction of Pakistan, which seemed to be the ultimate war aim at the time,” answers Samuel Hoskinson, Kissinger’s aide, without hesitation. “Indeed, she was ready to do it. We had pretty good information that this was under serious consid...

NB: December 1971 is a time I remember vividly. I was in Kolkata and travelled to Purnea in North Bihar to meet my dear comrade Lalloo, ( Rabindra Ray ). We were then amongst the last remaining comrades from amongst our collegiate group who were still in what was known as 'the underground'. That story has been recounted in fictional form in my novel, Revolution Highway , and I will not recount it here.  The posts below are a small collection of materials (from among many) I have placed in the public domain which are connected to Bangladesh and the political developments of that turbulent time. They should be self-explanatory.  I offer my deepest respect and condolences to all the soldiers and activists who perished in 1971. It was in many respects the most formative year of my life. I can never forget it.  DS An Open Letter to the world on the Bangladesh crisis of 1971 Remembering Rabindra Books reviewed - Deb Mukharji: 1971, Bangladesh and the Blood Telegram Imtiaz ...

BBC, 12-05-2015:  Ananta Bijoy Das was stabbed to death in the street - in daylight, on his way to work in a bank A secular blogger has been hacked to death in north-eastern Bangladesh in the country's third such deadly attack since the start of the year. Police said Ananta Bijoy Das was attacked by a masked gang wielding machetes in the north-eastern city of Sylhet. Mr Das wrote blogs for Mukto-Mona, a website once moderated by Avijit Roy, himself hacked to death in February. Avijit Roy was known for his writings against religious fundamentalism Mr Roy's widow, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, lost a thumb in the February attack He was killed in a machete attack while he was visiting the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, as he returned with his wife from a book fair in the city. His widow suffered head injuries and lost a thumb. In March, another blogger, Washiqur Rahman, was hacked to death in Dhaka.  Police say there are similarities in the way all three blogger...