It's been forty nine years but I can't forget the tragedy which resulted in the disintegration of the country, a tragedy that could have been avoided if our rulers had not been so intransigent.
On the face of it, there should have been no problem making Mujeeb the prime minister. In fact, the then president (Yahya Khan) himself called Mujeebur Rehman the next prime minister of the country (a smiling Mujeeb was standing by his side at the time). Yet the army brass was persuaded by Bhutto to postpone the meeting of the National Assembly and thus alienated Mujeeb. In hindsight, it's incredible that the generals and politicians of the time didn't realize that India would simply march into East Pakistan and defeat our army.
In fact, just a day before General Niazi surrendered, he was seen boasting to foreign media that he had plenty of men and weapons to fight for a long time. In West Pakistan, the people were told that nothing was wrong, our heroic armed forces were in full control and there was no reason to despair. Of course, those few who listened to the BBC knew that the end was imminent. So it was a huge shock to the majority when they were told that "according to an agreement, Indian troops have taken control of Dacca". Crowds of infuriated people burnt down Yahya's house in Peshawer. Bhutto (one of the villains responsible for the tragedy) was called back from New York to form a government).
The real tragedy of course is that no one has been held accountable for the humiliation and shame the country had to go through after the surrender.
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