MUJIB FLIES TO FREEDOM
NEWSWEEK January 17, 1972
All last week, Pakistan’s new President, the fiery Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, acted as if he were a one-man information bureau on the welfare and whereabouts of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Yes, Bhutto allowed, Mujib had been treated severely during his imprisonment! by the previous Pakistani regime. “He could do with a rest,” Bhutto said solicitously of the Bengali leader, “but I doubt that he will find much time for one.” Late in the week, after a series of private talks with Mujib, Bhutto at last made good his earlier pledge to release Mujib “unconditionally.” Amidst tight secrecy, the Pakistani President escorted Mujib to Rawalpindi Airport in the middle of the night and put him aboard a chartered plane. “The bird has flown,” reported the Pakistani President in a final, cryptic ^bulletin of a week of mysterious doings.
Part of the mystery was cleared up when Mu jib’s plane arrived at London’s Heathrow Airport, and the world got its first look at the 51-year-old Bengali leader since he was thrown in jail last spring! by Pakistan’s former President Mohammed Yahya Khan. In a brief news conference at Claridge’s, London’s most elegant hotel, a tired and drawn Mujib spoke emotionally of his prison ordeal. “I was a prisoner in the condemned cell awaiting.. . Hanging,” he said. “From the day I went into jail, I didn’t know whether I was to live or not. I was mentally ready to die. But I knew that Bangladesh would be liberated.” Asked about the possibility of some sort of association with Pakistan, Mujib said: “Unfortunately, it’s not possible for us to live together because of the way they have behaved with my people.” (On a more personal note, Mujib had his first opportunity to telephone his family during the London stopover. “Are you all alive? How is your mother?” he excitedly asked his son, Kemal. But the Begum Mujib was too choked with emotion to speak to her husband during that first call.)
Hero
Barely 24 hours after his arrival in London,. Mujib flew off for home, and he must have wondered how he would be received by his people after an absence of almost ten months. From all indications, his return would be a triumph befitting the first national hero of Bangladesh. The overwhelming majority of East Bengalis remember him as an untiring, courageous politician, a spellbinding orator and a leader whose presence inspired pride and hope. Nonetheless, by his own account, Mujib had been held prisoner “in the worst place imaginable. ..solitary confinement, no radio, no letters, no communications with the outside world.” And there were rumors that, as a result of the mistreatment he suffered while in jail, some of the old fire that once characterised Mujib was now missing.
Perhaps all that is required to fire Mujib up again, however, is for him to plunge into the drastically altered political situation of East Bengal. Certainly, there are plenty of problems waiting for him back home. Even in normal times, East Bengal is one of the most impoverished, overcrowded corners of the world. But today, after almost a year of violence, conditions there are immeasurably worse. The economy is in a shambles. Many of the 10 million Bengali refugees who fled to India during the conflict are on the way home expecting to be fed, housed and given jobs. Worse yet, thousands of Bengali intellectuals were murdered by the West Pakistan Army and by right-wing Moslem extremists,, leaving the new nation desperately short of skilled administrators.
Before Mujib tackles these problems, however, he will have to re-establish security throughout Bangladesh. During the struggle last year for Bengali nationhood, a sympathetic Indian Government supplied some 100,000 rifles to local Mukti Bahini guerrillas. And despite repeated orders from the provisional government in Dacca, most rebel soldiers have yet to turn in their arms. Many people fear that Mukti Bahini extremists might decide to turn their weapons against their former oppressors, especially the Biharis of East Bengal who- collaborated with the West Pakistan Army. It is no secret that Bangladesh’s 2 million Biharis place their trust in Mujib as the one person who might be able to prevent this kind of vengeance from becoming a bloody reality. Thus an early test of Mujib’s effectiveness will be his ability to guarantee the safety and welfare of the non-Bengali minorities in his country.
Rebuilding
At the same time, Mujib must rebuild the country’s war-shattered economy, repair its bridges and rail links, open up the ports, reorganize the civil service and armed forces and rehabilitate millions of refugees. According to Bangladesh Government estimates, this massive task may cost as much, as $4 billion all told. “Where we will get this money from remains to be seen,” Bangladesh Home Minister A.H.M. Kamaruzzaman admitted candidly. “Besides pooling our own resources, which are very little at the moment, we shall have to depend on friendly countries.” Quite clearly, the friendly country that Bangladesh will depend most heavily on for the foreseeable future is India.
Indeed, the Indians are currently in Bangladesh in force, In the last two weeks, administrative experts and economists have been flown in from Calcutta, a naval task force has set up headquarters in Dacca and, of course, the Indian Army is everywhere trying to maintain order. Yet, the Indian presence has already proved to be something of a political embarrassment, since it has been cited by some foreign governments as the reason they have not yet extended formal diplomatic recognition to Bangladesh. Accordingly, despite his long-term dependence on Indian technical, material and monetary assistance, Mujib will probably begin negotiations with New Delhi aimed at arranging a withdrawal of at least the more visible Indian elements. Last week, in fact, Indian military officials jauntily predicted that all their troops would be out of Bangladesh in three or four months, by which time the Dacca government should have organized its own national militia.
Devotion
That optimistic assessment assumes that the leaders of Bangladesh continue to work in concert. But as the euphoria of victory fades, internal bickering will almost inevitably mount. Even before Mujib’s return, the politicians were, as one Bengali put it, “growing,” and it was difficult to tell whether acting President Syed Nazrul Islam or Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed was in control. For the present, no East Bengali political leader is in a position to challenge Mujib openly, and virtually all of them have made public professions of their total devotion to Mujib. In private, however, the conversation is not always so admiring. “Mujib as politician and Mujib as administrator are two very different things,” said one discreet critic. “In a curious way, he already belongs to the past.”
Thus, Mujib may have to prove himself to his people all over again. He will have his undeniable charism and over whelming prestige working for him. Still, some Bengalis believe that those politicians who formed the Bangladesh government-in-exile during his absence will not lightly give up their power. They may try to set Mujib up as the Bangabandhu, “Friend of Bengal,” and then shuffle him off into a figurehead role. But those who know him best are convinced that, unless prison has broken the man in spirit, Mujib will not be content with anything less than a central role in the nation he was instrumental in creating.
All last week, Pakistan’s new President, the fiery Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, acted as if he were a one-man information bureau on the welfare and whereabouts of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Yes, Bhutto allowed, Mujib had been treated severely during his imprisonment! by the previous Pakistani regime. “He could do with a rest,” Bhutto said solicitously of the Bengali leader, “but I doubt that he will find much time for one.” Late in the week, after a series of private talks with Mujib, Bhutto at last made good his earlier pledge to release Mujib “unconditionally.” Amidst tight secrecy, the Pakistani President escorted Mujib to Rawalpindi Airport in the middle of the night and put him aboard a chartered plane. “The bird has flown,” reported the Pakistani President in a final, cryptic ^bulletin of a week of mysterious doings.
Part of the mystery was cleared up when Mu jib’s plane arrived at London’s Heathrow Airport, and the world got its first look at the 51-year-old Bengali leader since he was thrown in jail last spring! by Pakistan’s former President Mohammed Yahya Khan. In a brief news conference at Claridge’s, London’s most elegant hotel, a tired and drawn Mujib spoke emotionally of his prison ordeal. “I was a prisoner in the condemned cell awaiting.. . Hanging,” he said. “From the day I went into jail, I didn’t know whether I was to live or not. I was mentally ready to die. But I knew that Bangladesh would be liberated.” Asked about the possibility of some sort of association with Pakistan, Mujib said: “Unfortunately, it’s not possible for us to live together because of the way they have behaved with my people.” (On a more personal note, Mujib had his first opportunity to telephone his family during the London stopover. “Are you all alive? How is your mother?” he excitedly asked his son, Kemal. But the Begum Mujib was too choked with emotion to speak to her husband during that first call.)
Hero
Barely 24 hours after his arrival in London,. Mujib flew off for home, and he must have wondered how he would be received by his people after an absence of almost ten months. From all indications, his return would be a triumph befitting the first national hero of Bangladesh. The overwhelming majority of East Bengalis remember him as an untiring, courageous politician, a spellbinding orator and a leader whose presence inspired pride and hope. Nonetheless, by his own account, Mujib had been held prisoner “in the worst place imaginable. ..solitary confinement, no radio, no letters, no communications with the outside world.” And there were rumors that, as a result of the mistreatment he suffered while in jail, some of the old fire that once characterised Mujib was now missing.
Perhaps all that is required to fire Mujib up again, however, is for him to plunge into the drastically altered political situation of East Bengal. Certainly, there are plenty of problems waiting for him back home. Even in normal times, East Bengal is one of the most impoverished, overcrowded corners of the world. But today, after almost a year of violence, conditions there are immeasurably worse. The economy is in a shambles. Many of the 10 million Bengali refugees who fled to India during the conflict are on the way home expecting to be fed, housed and given jobs. Worse yet, thousands of Bengali intellectuals were murdered by the West Pakistan Army and by right-wing Moslem extremists,, leaving the new nation desperately short of skilled administrators.
Before Mujib tackles these problems, however, he will have to re-establish security throughout Bangladesh. During the struggle last year for Bengali nationhood, a sympathetic Indian Government supplied some 100,000 rifles to local Mukti Bahini guerrillas. And despite repeated orders from the provisional government in Dacca, most rebel soldiers have yet to turn in their arms. Many people fear that Mukti Bahini extremists might decide to turn their weapons against their former oppressors, especially the Biharis of East Bengal who- collaborated with the West Pakistan Army. It is no secret that Bangladesh’s 2 million Biharis place their trust in Mujib as the one person who might be able to prevent this kind of vengeance from becoming a bloody reality. Thus an early test of Mujib’s effectiveness will be his ability to guarantee the safety and welfare of the non-Bengali minorities in his country.
Rebuilding
At the same time, Mujib must rebuild the country’s war-shattered economy, repair its bridges and rail links, open up the ports, reorganize the civil service and armed forces and rehabilitate millions of refugees. According to Bangladesh Government estimates, this massive task may cost as much, as $4 billion all told. “Where we will get this money from remains to be seen,” Bangladesh Home Minister A.H.M. Kamaruzzaman admitted candidly. “Besides pooling our own resources, which are very little at the moment, we shall have to depend on friendly countries.” Quite clearly, the friendly country that Bangladesh will depend most heavily on for the foreseeable future is India.
Indeed, the Indians are currently in Bangladesh in force, In the last two weeks, administrative experts and economists have been flown in from Calcutta, a naval task force has set up headquarters in Dacca and, of course, the Indian Army is everywhere trying to maintain order. Yet, the Indian presence has already proved to be something of a political embarrassment, since it has been cited by some foreign governments as the reason they have not yet extended formal diplomatic recognition to Bangladesh. Accordingly, despite his long-term dependence on Indian technical, material and monetary assistance, Mujib will probably begin negotiations with New Delhi aimed at arranging a withdrawal of at least the more visible Indian elements. Last week, in fact, Indian military officials jauntily predicted that all their troops would be out of Bangladesh in three or four months, by which time the Dacca government should have organized its own national militia.
Devotion
That optimistic assessment assumes that the leaders of Bangladesh continue to work in concert. But as the euphoria of victory fades, internal bickering will almost inevitably mount. Even before Mujib’s return, the politicians were, as one Bengali put it, “growing,” and it was difficult to tell whether acting President Syed Nazrul Islam or Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed was in control. For the present, no East Bengali political leader is in a position to challenge Mujib openly, and virtually all of them have made public professions of their total devotion to Mujib. In private, however, the conversation is not always so admiring. “Mujib as politician and Mujib as administrator are two very different things,” said one discreet critic. “In a curious way, he already belongs to the past.”
Thus, Mujib may have to prove himself to his people all over again. He will have his undeniable charism and over whelming prestige working for him. Still, some Bengalis believe that those politicians who formed the Bangladesh government-in-exile during his absence will not lightly give up their power. They may try to set Mujib up as the Bangabandhu, “Friend of Bengal,” and then shuffle him off into a figurehead role. But those who know him best are convinced that, unless prison has broken the man in spirit, Mujib will not be content with anything less than a central role in the nation he was instrumental in creating.
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