Ex commodores share opinion about 1971

Air Commodore (retd) Jamal Hussain says developing nations with self respect always learn from the bitter lessons.

KARACHI:

“Wars are fought on two fronts, political and military” said the director of Centre for Aerospace Power Studies, Air Commodore (retd) Jamal Hussain. “Unfortunately, we lost both in 1971.”

He said that developing nations with self respect always learn from the bitter lessons of history and never repeat them. He was addressing students at the auditorium of Sir Adamjee College of Science and Commerce Hussainabad on the war of 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh.

He said, “Historians say that a country with huge distances in between can’t survive for long but I disagree.”

Commodore (retd) Najeeb Anjum said that history is fabricated and the truth is kept under wraps.

“For the last 40 years, lies have been fed to the young generation,” said Anjum. “We should teach original history.”

According to Anjum, facts about the war of 197 are mostly fabricated by Bengali and Indian writers who criticise the army without research. “The Hamoodur-Rahman Commission was constituted by the government,” he said. “But the government interfered. The army also set up a four-member General Aftab Committee in 1974 and its recommendations were also addressed.  But people know little about it.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2011.