Recently I have completed manuscript on the emergence of Bangladesh in relation to various activities of the government of Canada (the Trudeau administration), the public, the media and the NGOs. You might recall, the initial reaction of the Trudeau administration which was one of “wait and see.” Unlike the Nixon administration which was openly in favour of the Pakistani military regime, the Trudeau administration procrastinated in assessing the situation since Canada’s foreign policy was under review.  Seeing the continued military repression which had resulted in the exodus of millions of refugees into Indian Territory, the Canadian public began to pressure the government to express its position on the issue in clearer terms. With assistance from the Canadian High Commissioners to Pakistan and India, Mitchell Sharp, then Minister of External Affairs, with a coterie of senior mandarins, began to focus on the events as they were unfolding in the sub-continent. More and more Members of Parliament (MPs) also began to challenge the government demanding it to be more transparent in its public position to represent the wishes of the people of Canada. 

 

As well, though apolitical, Canadian NGOs too, continued to demand more resources to respond to the needs of the refugees in India. In the Commons the government was barraged with unending questions: Was it an armed uprising? Or, a surreptitious military attack upon the unarmed civilians? Was it a separation movement? Should not the process of democracy be upheld under all circumstances?  What role should Canada play as a senior member of the Commonwealth for the two commonwealth sisters who had been at war since the partition of India?  Such questions were raised at a time when the Trudeau administration was trying to cope with its home-grown problem in its own backyard – the October Crisis of 1970. As a result, it was doubly careful in condemning the intervention of the military government in the “internal affair” of Pakistan. Naturally officials in Ottawa were faced with numerous behind-the-scene questions that had no apparent answers: At what point “domestic affair” becomes an issue of “international affair”? How many millions of Bengalis have to flee their homeland to take refuge in India before the international community may get their act together? 

 

The Bengali people of East Pakistani origin took to the streets across Canada as soon as they heard about the sudden and furtive military crackdown. There were reports of clashes between groups condemning the military atrocities perpetrated by the Pakistani Army personnel and groups interpreting the military intervention as a necessary evil to restore law and order. As the gory details of the news of massacre and wanton destruction began to filter in, the Canadian media also continued to play a greater role. Within weeks, the news media raised awareness that had helped mould the public opinion in favour of an independent Bangladesh.

 

It is my objective to document Canada’s role in the war of liberation through an examination of government and non-government records available in Canadian depositories. My research work has also been complemented by interviewing those who had a role to play especially, former diplomats, government officials, members of the public and NGO officials who worked with local, national and international NGOs in the field.

 

Specifically, the period under this investigative study is the crisis period, beginning with the military crackdown of March 25, 1971 and ending with the surrender of the Pakistani Army on December 16, 1971. I have attempted to focus on the activities of the government of Canada, the Canadian NGOs, and the people of Canada including their support for providing assistance to the victims of military crackdown and Canada’s mediatory role; and finally, the demonstration of their respective positions with regard to the conflict which eventually involved the military government of President Aga Muhammed Yahya Khan (Yahya), the provisional government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the government of India.

 

I have written this book in the hope that the events discussed in the book would allow the reader to gain an understanding of the activities of the government of Canada and the Canadian public during the various stages of the crisis between the majority speaking Bengalis and the non-Bengali military regime which ruled Pakistan during the period under study.  It will be seen that Canada was inextricably bound up with her own collective historical experiences. The initial reaction of the Canadian government is difficult to characterize in any specific terms. Unlike the Nixon administration which was openly in favour of the Pakistani military government of President Yahya, the government headed by Pierre Elliott Trudeau procrastinated in assessing the situation in terms of Canada’s own foreign policy which was then under review. As the continued military reprisals resulted in the exodus of millions of Bengalis, the people of Canada began to pressure the government to express its position in clearer terms. With assistance from the Canadian High Commissioners to Pakistan and India, the External Affairs Minister Mitchell Sharp and his team members, began to focus on the events as they unfolded in the Indian sub-continent. More and more Members of Parliament (MP) began to challenge the government demanding it to be more transparent in its public position and to represent the wishes of Canadians.

 

As well, it will also be seen how, in the House of Commons, the government was barraged with a series of questions: Was the military take-over and crackdown a violation of the democratic rights of the people of Pakistan? Should the process of democracy be upheld under all circumstances? Should President Yahya continue his military reprisals in East Pakistan since the integrity of Pakistan was at stake? Should power be transferred to the elected leader of East Pakistan regardless of what the military government thought of the leader of the majority party? There were no clear answers to these questions since the declaration of the independence of Bangladesh by the provisional government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh by then had already created yet another new twist in the complex issue of the transfer of power to the leader of East Pakistan. In the midst of the domestic crisis, what was India’s role?  Was India dragged into the crisis due to the influx of the refugees? What role should Canada play as a senior member of the Commonwealth for the two commonwealth sisters who had been at war since the partition of India back in 1947? 

Such questions were raised at a time when the Trudeau government was trying to assess the impact of the proclamation of the War Measures Act following the FLQ (Front de liberation du Quebec) crisis of 1970.  As a result, it was doubly careful in condemning the intervention of the central government of Pakistan in its “internal affair.”  Naturally, officials at External were faced with many behind-the-scene questions that had no apparent answers for the Ottawa mandarins: How long could the government maintain its notion of “neutrality?” At what point does a “domestic affair” become an “international affair?” How many millions of Bengalis have to flee their homeland to take refuge in India so that the international community may get their act together? These were difficult questions for the Trudeau administration throughout the liberation war.  It was thus natural on the part of Ottawa to remain cautious right from the beginning of the conflict although at a later stage, Canada condemned the action of the military government.

 

No doubt, Canada was placed between the devil and the deep blue sea, especially when she saw how debates around the world were continuing immediately following the exodus of the millions of Bengalis to India within a span of few months. Whether or not the conflict in Pakistan still remained an “internal affair” of Pakistan appeared as a tough question to the Trudeau administration to address.  It will be found that, at times, Canada was convinced that the expanding dimension of the human tragedy was much deeper than it had appeared. At another time, the Trudeau administration believed that when one would look at the issue from a humanitarian aspect, any intervention under the circumstances would perhaps have been regarded as a legitimate intervention.

 

While assessing the situation, Canada came to recognize that the Pakistan-Bangladesh conflict that challenged the territorial integrity of Pakistan and the inevitability of the emergence of Bangladesh had posed substantial threats to international peace and human life; and superpowers, other governments and international organizations were called upon to influence, intervene, or broker solution to it. In the final analysis, seeing the situation of the Bengalis as a gripping story of human suffering and a story of denial of the democratic rights of the people of Pakistan, Canada chose to be a direct player to do her best having adhered to her foreign policy of “non-intervention.”

 

Unfortunately, Canada’s condemnation of the war of aggression and her assistance to the victims of military oppression (and her indirect support for the liberation of Bangladesh) have neither been well documented nor studied by any historian or scholar. The Bengali people of East Pakistani origin across Canada took to the streets as soon as they heard about the military crackdown. There were reports of clashes between the groups condemning the atrocities perpetrated by the West Pakistani Army and the groups interpreting the military crackdown as a necessary evil to establish law and order. As the gory details of the news of massacre and wanton destruction began to filter in, the Canadian media continued to play a greater role both in raising awareness and molding opinion in favor of an independent Bangladesh.

 

Throughout the nine long months of the struggle for independence of Bangladesh, Canada continued to maintain her position of “neutrality” although clearly there had been occasions when she became involved both actively as well as passively. Again, there were occasions when Canada’s actions, or lack thereof, cannot be explained in a linear manner as one needs to find answers to a host of related questions in order to understand Canadian perspective vis-à-vis the Pakistan-Bangladesh Conflict. It is my objective to document Canada’s role in the war of liberation through an examination of government and non-government documents available in Canadian depositories.

 

 

This book advances the view that Canada, having no strong ties of strategic interests in Pakistan or India, Canada attempted to gain a sympathetic understanding of the two main parties involved - the military government of President Yahya and the provisional government of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh. Relying on both pro-Pakistani and pro-Bangladeshi sources of information, the cumulative effect of the factual information gathered from overseas had allowed Canada to appreciate the psychological and emotional dimension of the conflict stemming from economic disparity and political discrimination in Pakistan. Canada saw how two key concepts, “freedom” and “future” had remained in the minds of both military administrators and politicians in Pakistan. With quite a bit of discomfort, Ottawa opted to follow the drama ever since it started to play with the destiny of the Bengalis. Ottawa watched how the people of East Pakistani origin had taken to the streets across Canada as soon as they heard about the sudden and surreptitious military crackdown. This book has ten interrelated chapters.

 

In Conclusion, the book draws some broad observations based on my examination of Canada’s role all through the period Bangladesh was fighting for independence. It reiterates Canada’s friendship with the newly born country. It ends with the 2016 visit of the present Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheik Hasina who hand-delivered a plaque to the present Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for Canada’s support for democracy and friendship with the people of Bangladesh dating back to the time of Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

 

The target date for the publication in fall 2017 by a publisher in the United States. If everything goes well, there will be a Bengali version of the same book. If you have any question or query, please feel free to contact me at: Mustafa.chowdhury49@gmail.com   I would be very happy to have a conversation with you regarding my research outcome.  

 

 

Mustafa Chowdhury

Freelance Researcher

Author of:

 

’71-er Judhoshishu: Obidito Itihash was published by Academic Press and Publishers Library, Bangladesh, in 2015.

 

Picking Up the Pieces: 1971 War Babies’ Odyssey from Bangladesh to Canada was published by Xlibris, Bloomington, Indiana, USA in 2015.

 

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE: Story of Adoption of 1971 War Babies was published in Bangladesh by Academic Press and Publishers Library in 2016.