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Book, film greeted with fury among Bengalis A new book and film recently released downplaying Pakistani atrocities in Bangladesh have caused outrage among Bengalis.
A recent film and book has caused outrage among Bengalis, due to their downplaying of atrocities committed by the Pakistani military during East Pakistan's struggle for independence in 1971
Two Bengali women one from India, the other from Bangladesh are now embroiled in a fierce controversy across the two countries for writing a book and producing a film that has upset Bengali nationalists and Indian officials, but given some cause of relief to the Pakistani military.
Dead Reckoning, written by Indian researcher Sarmila Bose, questions the historical narratives of the 1971 civil war that broke up Pakistan, but Bengali nationalist groups describe her as "an apologist for Pakistan's brutal military".
Meherjaan, directed by Bangladeshi film-maker Rubaiyat Hossain, is about the love of a Bengali woman for a Pakistani Baloch soldier in the backdrop of the 1971 war
Challenging narratives
Both the book and the film have hit the market at a time when Bangladesh's Awami League-led government has set up special tribunals for trying the "war criminals" of 1971.
The Awami League led Bangladesh's struggle for secession from Pakistan after the Pakistani military regime refused to hand over power to it even after it won a majority in Pakistan national assembly elections in 1970.
Shamsul Arefin, a war crimes trial official, told this writer that though Bengalis who collaborated with the Pakistan army are the ones to be actually tried, names of Pakistani soldiers and officers are likely to crop up with regard to massacres, mass rapes and arson during the trial.
"That will expose the real character of the Pakistani army which is now seen in the West as a key ally in the war against terror. So Pakistan's intelligence is desperate to scuttle the war crimes trials in Bangladesh," says Arefin, who served in the Pakistan army, then joined the Bengali Mukti Fauj (Freedom Force) during the civil war and finally served in the Bangladesh army.
"We have reasons to believe that there is a concerted campaign by Pakistani intelligence to disrupt and dilute our War Crimes Trial. I will not be surprised if they are commissioning projects to distort the realities of our liberation war," Arefin told this writer.
That's a rather strong charge but Sarmila Bose promptly dismisses.
"I am only trying to question the existing narratives of the 1971 war in view of data I have gathered while working for the book," Sarmila Bose told the audience at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in US, where the book was launched.
The entire book launch programme is available on the Internet.
Suspect data
Bose, a Bengali herself, is a grand daughter of India's independence war hero Subhas Chandra Bose, and is a senior research fellow at Oxford.
Her brothers, Sugato and Sumantra Bose, teach history and politics at Harvard and London School of Economics.
"I am only pointing to obvious exaggerations about the number of people killed or number of women raped by the Pakistan army. A war narrative is always the narrative of the victors, and 1971 was no different," Sarmila Bose said at the launch.
But some of her data is clearly suspect.
Dead Reckoning suggests there were only 20,000 Pakistani troops at the beginning of the civil war in East Pakistan, and that rose to 34,000 towards the end of the war.
"Bangladeshi narratives claim 400,000 women were raped by Pakistani troops during the civil war between March and December 1971, but how can 34,000 soldiers rape so many women in eight months," contends Sarmila Bose.
Indian historian Jayanta Ray, whose 1968 book Nationalism on Trial predicted the breakup of Pakistan, is furious at how an Oxford researcher like Bose could get basic facts wrong.
"Records indicate that just over 93,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Indian army in December 1971. They were all handed back to Pakistan. That's thrice the number Bose suggests, so is she fudging figures deliberately to prove that the number of rapes were much lower than suggested?" Professor Ray told this writer.
Bangladesh's anti-fundamentalist campaigner Shahriyar Kabir says that Red Cross officials in 1971 testified to treating nearly 200,000 rape victims.
"Many more women did not report for treatment out of shame and embarrassment," Kabir told this writer. "They bore their indignities silently."
A Calcutta-based Bengali channel, Mahua TV, ran a full hour discussion on the book, bringing together Bengalis from India and Bangladesh last Sunday.
Hundreds of listeners from both sides of the border called in to join the author-bashing.
The channel's executive editor, Subir Chakroborty, says Sarmila Bose's mother, Krishna Bose, a former member of Indian parliament, refused to join the panel.
"She told us her views on the liberation war were already known to everybody, so we put up in front of our cameras her newspaper article on the Bangladesh war. That was very sympathetic to the victims of 1971," Chakroborty said.
Allegations of bias
While Bangladeshis and Indian Bengalis are upset with Bose for "playing down the Pakistani atrocities", Indian officials are angry with her contention that "India was the only aggressor in 1971".
Book, film greeted with fury among Bengalis A new book and film recently released downplaying Pakistani atrocities in Bangladesh have caused outrage among Bengalis.
Book, film greeted with fury among Bengalis - Features - Al Jazeera English
A recent film and book has caused outrage among Bengalis, due to their downplaying of atrocities committed by the Pakistani military during East Pakistan's struggle for independence in 1971
Two Bengali women one from India, the other from Bangladesh are now embroiled in a fierce controversy across the two countries for writing a book and producing a film that has upset Bengali nationalists and Indian officials, but given some cause of relief to the Pakistani military.
Dead Reckoning, written by Indian researcher Sarmila Bose, questions the historical narratives of the 1971 civil war that broke up Pakistan, but Bengali nationalist groups describe her as "an apologist for Pakistan's brutal military".
Meherjaan, directed by Bangladeshi film-maker Rubaiyat Hossain, is about the love of a Bengali woman for a Pakistani Baloch soldier in the backdrop of the 1971 war
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but feminist groups in Bangladesh allege that the film "distorts the historical context of the liberation war". Challenging narratives
Both the book and the film have hit the market at a time when Bangladesh's Awami League-led government has set up special tribunals for trying the "war criminals" of 1971.
The Awami League led Bangladesh's struggle for secession from Pakistan after the Pakistani military regime refused to hand over power to it even after it won a majority in Pakistan national assembly elections in 1970.
Shamsul Arefin, a war crimes trial official, told this writer that though Bengalis who collaborated with the Pakistan army are the ones to be actually tried, names of Pakistani soldiers and officers are likely to crop up with regard to massacres, mass rapes and arson during the trial.
"That will expose the real character of the Pakistani army which is now seen in the West as a key ally in the war against terror. So Pakistan's intelligence is desperate to scuttle the war crimes trials in Bangladesh," says Arefin, who served in the Pakistan army, then joined the Bengali Mukti Fauj (Freedom Force) during the civil war and finally served in the Bangladesh army.
"We have reasons to believe that there is a concerted campaign by Pakistani intelligence to disrupt and dilute our War Crimes Trial. I will not be surprised if they are commissioning projects to distort the realities of our liberation war," Arefin told this writer.
That's a rather strong charge but Sarmila Bose promptly dismisses.
"I am only trying to question the existing narratives of the 1971 war in view of data I have gathered while working for the book," Sarmila Bose told the audience at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in US, where the book was launched.
The entire book launch programme is available on the Internet.
Suspect data
Bose, a Bengali herself, is a grand daughter of India's independence war hero Subhas Chandra Bose, and is a senior research fellow at Oxford.
Her brothers, Sugato and Sumantra Bose, teach history and politics at Harvard and London School of Economics.
"I am only pointing to obvious exaggerations about the number of people killed or number of women raped by the Pakistan army. A war narrative is always the narrative of the victors, and 1971 was no different," Sarmila Bose said at the launch.
But some of her data is clearly suspect.
Dead Reckoning suggests there were only 20,000 Pakistani troops at the beginning of the civil war in East Pakistan, and that rose to 34,000 towards the end of the war.
"Bangladeshi narratives claim 400,000 women were raped by Pakistani troops during the civil war between March and December 1971, but how can 34,000 soldiers rape so many women in eight months," contends Sarmila Bose.
Indian historian Jayanta Ray, whose 1968 book Nationalism on Trial predicted the breakup of Pakistan, is furious at how an Oxford researcher like Bose could get basic facts wrong.
"Records indicate that just over 93,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Indian army in December 1971. They were all handed back to Pakistan. That's thrice the number Bose suggests, so is she fudging figures deliberately to prove that the number of rapes were much lower than suggested?" Professor Ray told this writer.
Bangladesh's anti-fundamentalist campaigner Shahriyar Kabir says that Red Cross officials in 1971 testified to treating nearly 200,000 rape victims.
"Many more women did not report for treatment out of shame and embarrassment," Kabir told this writer. "They bore their indignities silently."
A Calcutta-based Bengali channel, Mahua TV, ran a full hour discussion on the book, bringing together Bengalis from India and Bangladesh last Sunday.
Hundreds of listeners from both sides of the border called in to join the author-bashing.
The channel's executive editor, Subir Chakroborty, says Sarmila Bose's mother, Krishna Bose, a former member of Indian parliament, refused to join the panel.
"She told us her views on the liberation war were already known to everybody, so we put up in front of our cameras her newspaper article on the Bangladesh war. That was very sympathetic to the victims of 1971," Chakroborty said.
Allegations of bias
While Bangladeshis and Indian Bengalis are upset with Bose for "playing down the Pakistani atrocities", Indian officials are angry with her contention that "India was the only aggressor in 1971".
Book, film greeted with fury among Bengalis A new book and film recently released downplaying Pakistani atrocities in Bangladesh have caused outrage among Bengalis.
Book, film greeted with fury among Bengalis - Features - Al Jazeera English
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