Today, Dec. 16, we commemorate the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 — a war that ultimately transformed what was originally known as East Pakistan into the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan, ruled at the time by its dictatorial president Gen. Yahya Khan, reacted to a growing movement for autonomy in Bengali-dominated East Pakistan by sending in the troops. That prompted intervention by India, which ultimately helped the increasingly rebellious Bengalis to break away from rule by Islamabad.
The human cost of the war was huge. But perhaps no survivors have suffered a sadder fate than the children who were born as the result of sexual violence committed by members of the Pakistani military: the so-called war babies, whose existence has been long ignored or suppressed by both Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“Who am I? I do not exist because I was never born.” These are the words of Monwara Clarke, a war baby who was adopted by a Canadian couple in 1972. Her biological mother abandoned the baby after the birth. Clarke’s anger was directed not at her mother — who was, after all, a victim herself — but at Bangladesh, which to this day refuses to issue her a birth certificate.
I first became aware of Clarke a few years ago from a documentary film called “Born Together,” which examines the fates of the war babies. The burden of illegitimacy made her life unbearable even when she became an adult. “My husband left me when he knew who I really was,” she told Bangladeshi filmmaker Shabnam Ferdousi. “Am I responsible for being born? Is my country not liable to look after me when everything happens there?”
Clarke’s mother was raped in 1971. In March of that year, the Pakistan Army moved to crack down on the Awami League, which advocated greater autonomy for what was then known as East Pakistan. The Awami League had won an absolute parliamentary majority in Pakistan’s 1970 general election, but Khan refused to concede power and soon launched an effort to destroy the Bengali nationalist movement. India seized the chance to intervene by attacking Pakistan in December 1971. The Pakistan Army surrendered to the Indian Army on Dec. 16, and a new nation emerged with the name of Bangladesh.
But in the months leading up to the Indian intervention, Pakistani soldiers and collaborationist militias raped thousands of Bengali women in the East. Many of the survivors gave birth to “unwanted children.” Some of them were adopted by couples living in the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Norway and other Western countries. Some of the mothers were even given shelter by Mother Teresa in India. Many of the war babies lived on in Bangladesh, suffering discrimination and abuse due to the social stigma attached to their origins.
I got to know some of them personally. It is very difficult for me to write about them because I am a Pakistani. Most Pakistanis are not aware what happened to Bengalis in 1971 because the military dictatorship in power at the time suppressed the information.
Very few in Pakistan know about Shamsun Nahar. She is the daughter of a woman who was raped during the conflict. In 2014, both mother and daughter gave statements to the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh against a Pakistani collaborationist militia and its leader. He handed over Shamsun Nahar’s mother to army officials, and she was raped. The tribunal convicted the militia leader and sentenced him to death, observing in its judgment that war babies such as Shamsun Nahar had been deprived of normal lives and rights. The judges instructed the government to identify war babies and establish a program of social services for them. Unfortunately, however, the Bangladesh government appears to be more interested in using war crimes tribunals against its political opponents than looking after war babies.
There are some, like former Pakistani Army Major General Khadim Hussain Raja, who have revealed the truth. In his book “A Stranger in My Own Country,” Raja revealed that his commander, Gen. Ameer Abdullah Khan Niazi, had encouraged his soldiers to use rape as a weapon. Thankfully, not all of Pakistan’s generals obeyed. Niazi had replaced Lt. Gen. Sahibzada Yaqoob Ali Khan, who was dismissed by Yahya for refusing to to lead a military operation against the Bengalis. Yet to a certain extent, history has taken its revenge on Niazi, who is today a reviled figure among Pakistanis, though mostly for his corruption and his ignominious surrender to the Indians.
Indian author Sarmila Bose has also done some good research on the tragedy of 1971. In her book “Dead Reckoning,” she exposed atrocities committed by all sides in the war. While acknowledging many of the crimes committed by Pakistan, she also challenged the numbers of deaths and raped women claimed by the Bangladeshi government and accused the majority Bengalis of committing genocide against non-Bengalis who sided with Pakistan during the conflict.
Nations should remember their moments of tragedy more than their moments of glory. Only by so doing can they learn the painful lessons they need to avoid blunders in the future. It is time for Pakistan to bring an end to the years of denial. On the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, it is time to say sorry to the people of Bangladesh. Both countries can start by offering respect and honor to the war babies who will turn 50 in 2022.
