On December 16, 1971, Lieutenant General AKA Niyazi of Pakistan Army signed the surrender document at Dhaka before Lieutenant General J S Aurora of the Indian Army. Thus was born a new nation in South Asia named Bangladesh. The `Butcher of Dhaka’, `Tiger’ and other names given to Lt Gen Niyazi all went for a toss that day and so did Pakistan Army’s reputation. By the way, Lt Gen Niyazi blamed troubles faced by him, and the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan, on General Yahya Khan.
Fast forward to February 2024 and all the troubles faced by another Niyazi, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, recently are blamed on General Asim Munir. There are enough people in Pakistan, and outside, who blame Imran’s ouster from his position of PM on Gen Munir’s predecessor, General Qamar Javed Bajwa. So? Well, Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) has got into the crosshairs of Pakistan Army as an institution.
The reason is the recent X post by Imran Khan in which a question is asked rhetorically: Was it Sheikh Mujibur Rehman or General Yahya Khan who was the real traitor? The short X post is less than four minutes and it has a video which implies that Sheikh was a winner of the 1970 parliamentary elections in Pakistan. Despite that, Sheikh Mujib Rehman was denied the honour to lead the Pakistani nation and become the Prime Minister. This was done by General Yahya Khan, the video says, and that had led to East Pakistan breaking away as Bangladesh.
So far, so good.
The point being made in the video showing visuals of Lt Gen Niyazi, Mujibur Rehman, Gen Yahya Khan, Bengali women etc is that the mandate was stolen. It also says that had democratic principles been followed, Pakistan would not have faced the ignominy of that abject surrender. Breaking up into two nations.
Then suddenly a photo of General Asim Munir (present Pakistan Army chief) pops up in the video and it is announced that the situation is no different in Pakistan now. The mandate (of the party which won the maximum seats in National Assembly) was stolen in February 8 elections. At the behest of the Pakistan Army (referred to as the Establishment) and its chief. The post was put out from Imran Khan’s official X handle on May 26 and can still be assessed at https://x.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1794790306912907381
For good measure, the post says: Every Pakistani should study the Hamood ur Rehman Commission Report and get to know who was the true traitor, General Yahya Khan or Sheikh Mujibur Rehman: Founding Chairman PTI Imran Khan. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has questioned many PTI leaders regarding the post. FIA officials also questioned Imran Khan about this post and he has admitted that he had cleared the reference to 1971 war. However, Imran has sought to distance himself from the video saying he hasn’t seen it.
This X post has now become the hottest topic in Pakistani domestic politics, with top leaders of the PTI feeling the heat. Barrister Gohar Khan, who leads the party, and party leader in National Assembly, Omar Ayub, also faced questioning from FIA officials. The issue has also gone to Islamabad High Court, where Justice Kiyani has heard it, ordering the FIA to desist from taking any coercive action against PTI leaders until next hearing.
Talking to reporters at Adiala Jail, Imran Khan said the fall of Dhaka was something that Hamood ur Rehman Commission had blamed it on General Yahya Khan. He said the same thing was being repeated in the country today and its economy has nearly collapsed as a result.
