Pakistan and its atrocities on the innocent Hindu populace is a historical fact that is haunting India and the Hindu civilisation for decades. From the attack on Kashmir post partition in 1947 and the illegal annexation of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir to the recent Pahalgam terror attack, Islamabad and its draconian Army is illicitly, but deliberately targeting the innocent Hindu population. One such darkest chapter etched by Pakistan on the civilizational memory of Hindus, is the Operation Searchlight of 1971. Thousands of Hindus were irrationally targeted and brutally attacked by the Pakistan Army in an operation apparently aimed to curb Bengali nationalism that was spiralling in East Pakistan(Bangladesh).
It was a clear genocide on the Bengali Hindus. Under Operation Searchlight from March 25 to May 25, 1971, the Pakistan Army under the dictatorship of General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan launched a massive operation to curb spiking Bengali nationalism in East Pakistan against the atrocities of Islamabad. Pakistan arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was the epicentre of Bangladesh independence and massively suppressed the anti-Pakistan voices erupting in the neglected region. Not just that, in the wave of curbing Bengali nationalism, Pakistan mercilessly and brutally killed Bengali Hindus.
Islamabad massacred the innocent population, the Pakistan Army men gangraped Hindu women, did forcible conversions & expulsion, attempted to eradicate the entire Bengali Hindu lineage with the sole goal of curbing Bengali nationalism and etching its authoritarian rule. This is clearly a genocide escalated by Pakistan against innocent Hindu population. Estimates suggest that more than 25,000 Hindus were killed across Dhaka and in the Hindu neighbourhood by Pakistan under Operation Searchlight. Pakistani security forces breached into Rayerbazar, Ramna Kali temple & other Hindu dominated regions and destroyed homes and temples.
Reports also suggest that local radical Islamist groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami, Al Badr, Al Shams militias collaborated with the Pakistani Army and were involved in selective and targeted eradication of the Hindu community. They gave auxiliary assistance to Pakistan in identifying and espousing targeted killing of Bengali intellectuals. This was a clear effort aimed at ethnic cleansing. Beyond Operation Searchlight, during the Bangladesh Independence Movement and Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, the Pakistan Army deliberately targeted, attacked and massacred thousands of Hindus, in the name of curbing Bengal nationalism and retaining the sovereignty of Pakistan. Thus, May 25 is remembered as one of the darkest chapters in Hindu civilisational memory.
Pakistan atrocity on Bengali Hindus is a crime against humanity & selective genocide
Recently, the United States Democratic Congressman from the Ohio state Greg Landsman introduced a formal resolution in the US House of Representatives and reiterated the US government to declare the atrocities of Pakistan and its Islamist allies on Bengali Hindu population in 1971 as a genocide, war crime and crime against humanity. The resolution by the US lawmaker particularly focused on the night of March 25, 1971, when Pakistan imprisoned Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and curbed Bengali self-determination across East Pakistan in a violent campaign code-named Operation Searchlight.
The resolution by the US representative further states that Pakistan aimed to completely eradicate and uproot the Bengali ethnic identity and cultural presence. “Pakistani forces specifically targeted the religious minority Hindus for extermination through mass slaughtering, gangrape, conversion and forcible expulsion”, the resolution further added. Bengali political leaders, journalists and intellectuals were killed, students were murdered and thousands of Bengali women served as sex slaves to the men of the draconian Pakistani Army. The oldest Hindu Hindu hubs such as Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Jessore of Bangladesh that had civilisational relevance were burnt down and innocent minority community was inhumanely massacred. Thus, unable to bear the atrocities of Pakistan, more than 10 million Bangladeshi refugees, particularly the Bengali Hindu population fled East Pakistan and settled in India.
The ethnic cleansing of the Bengali Hindus was so intense that, unable to bear the Pakistan atrocities, the US Consular General in Dhaka Archer Blood in1971 sent a telegram to Washington DC demanding immediate action. It was titled as “Selective Genocide”. “Moreover, with support of Pak military, non-Bengali Muslims are systematically attacking poor people’s quarters and murdering Bengalis and Hindus”, wrote US Consular General in 1971. This telegram is a testament to the ruthlessness of Pakistan against Bengali Hindus.
British journalist exposes the Hindu genocide intention of Pakistan during Operation Searchlight
In the December 1970 Pakistan national elections, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his Awami League political party sealed a landslide victory across Bengali provinces, thus reinvigorating the Bengali identity, nationalism and independence against the autocratic and Islamic rule of Pakistan. Irked by this and with the fear of losing power, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight. Anthony Mascarenhas, a British journalist based in Pakistan was the first to break the news of the Bengali genocide by Pakistan. He reported that a Pakistani army major told him: “This is a war between the pure and the impure. The people here may have Muslim names and call themselves Muslims. But they are Hindu at heart. We are now sorting them out. Those who are left will be real Muslims. We will even teach them Urdu”.
This is a historical record and solid evidence exposing the anti-Hindu, inhuman and radical Islmaist mindset of Pakistan during Operation Searchlight. During the military operation and all across the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, Pakistan launched massive attacks in East Pakistan. It particularly killed thousands of students, journalists, professionals and others from the intellectual forum, as they were the lifeblood who were fueling Bengali identity and nationalism among the masses. Islamabad also censored the press, killed innocent Hindus, arrested leaders to retain its illicit hegemony over the Hindu civilisation.
Despite such repeated and failed ruthless efforts, it was India that won the war. Unable to bear Pakistan’s atrocities, a massive wave of Bengalis infiltrated into India. The violence, war and illegal infiltration from India’s backyard was deemed as a national security threat in New Delhi. Thus, India entered the Bangladesh Liberation War, gained independence for Bangladesh, reinforced Bengali identity and Pakistan kneeled down against India and surrendered, accepting its defeat and the separation of East Pakistan as Bangladesh. From 1947, 1971 to 2025, thus, every illicit act and attempt of Pakistan to eradicate Indian sovereignty, national security and Hindu civilisational heritage is successfully debunked by India with the same grit and valour.
