It was September 9, 1965, when the Indo-Pak war was at the peak. A
mysterious activity was going on in Dhaka 1500 miles away from West Pakistan. Mujib,
a steward in the Navy, secretly arrived at Dhan Mandi. He was given Rs. 4000 in
cash at a house.
This amount is
calculated in lacs today. He took this money and quietly went away. This house
belonged to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. And this conspiracy was called 'Agartala
Sazish' that is still unsolved in our history.
There is a small Indian city, Agartala four kms away from the
border East Bengal (Bangladesh). The train travel takes about one and a half
hours to reach Agartala from Dhaka and from Bangladesh's border, the journey is
a maximum of 20 minutes. In 1964, a historic secret meeting was held in the
same city. The meeting was attended by Indian intelligence officers and
allegedly by AL leader Mujibur Rahman. The meeting discussed a plan to separate
East Pakistan from Pakistan.
As per the plan, some Bengali units of the Pak Army in West
Pakistan would revolt. Then they would imprison soldiers belonging to West
Pakistan. In the next step, they would capture some areas of East Pakistan and
announce their independence. And the independent country would call Bangladesh.
And then India would accept Bangladesh as a sovereign state to pave the way for
its recognition at the international level.
After that India would deny Pakistan the use of its air and
maritime territory by force. So that the army could not reach from East
Pakistan to West Pakistan. Then the rebellious Bengali soldiers would capture
other cities and declare independence. The meeting ended and Mujibur Rahman
came back to Dhaka. The meeting goes by the name of the Agartala conspiracy. The
plan was promoted by Lt-Com of the Navy, Moazzam Hussain who was the right hand
of Mujib.
As per media reports, Sheikh Mujib and Moazzam Hussain had received
a heavy amount from India. They kept a part this amount and distributed the
rest among their associates. This amount was delivered through the Indian
diplomatic officer in Dhaka, P.M Ojha. This plan quietly went on during the
Indo-Pak in 1965. As many as 1500 people joined this plan shortly. Moazzam
Hussain and his associates met the officers of the Indian Embassy many times.
The Awami League leaders went to Agartala and met Lt-Col. Mishra,
Major Manon, and other Indians. These leaders also held secret meetings in
Dhaka, Chittagong and Karachi. These meetings were continuing side by side
Mujibur Rahman's political efforts. He wanted maximum autonomy for East
Pakistan. If that autonomy had been given, a section believed, it would have
saved Bangladesh's creation. For this autonomy Awami League with the
nationalist parties of East Pakistan, presented the 6 points.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had presented the 6 points in a political
meeting held in Lahore. These demands were tabled to autonomy for East
Pakistan. But General Ayub Khan termed the six-point as aimed at separation
from Pakistan. In February 1966, Opposition parties had an important meeting in
Lahore. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for the first time presented these six points in
that meeting. These points demanded supremacy of the Parliament as per the
Pakistan Resolution of 1940 which means ending the dictatorship. That Federal
Government should only deal with the defense and the foreign affairs.
The rest of the departments should be given to the provinces. The
third point demanded separate currency for East Pakistan and West Pakistan. Transfer
of money from East Pakistan to West Pakistan would be barred. And the foreign
reserves of East Pakistan would be separated from the joint account of
Pakistan. Taxes would be levied by the provinces instead of the federal
government. The provinces would provide funds to the Federal government.
The provinces would also be permitted to trade with other
countries. A separate paramilitary force would be set up for East Pakistan. These
were the six points. The Lahore meeting of the Opposition did not too much
debate these points. But on February 22, 1966, the Executive Council of the
Awami League approved the six points. The points were printed and pamphlets began
to be distributed while the Ayub Khan government looked them as a conspiracy
against Pakistan.
So Mujibur Rahman was taken into custody under the Defense of
Pakistan Rules in May 1966. And he was kept in jail for one and a half years. He
was in jail when the Agartala conspiracy exposed. It came when some people in
the conspiracy suspected Moazzam Hussain bungling the funds received from
India. That not the whole funds were transferred to the leaders and were being
misappropriated. So some days after this suspicion, the conspiracy was exposed.
As any offended person leaked out the plan. The Ayub Khan
government at once came into action on learning this conspiracy. In December
1966, including employees of the air force and the Navy, 28 persons were
arrested. The already detained Mujibur Rehman was also arrested in this case on
January 18, 1968. Including Mujibur Rahman, 35 accused of the Agartala case
were tried at on June 19, 1968 at Dhaka cantonment.
The case was being tried in the open court. Foreign media men were
also present in the courtroom. Mujibur Rehman pleaded not guilty in this case
and termed it a conspiracy against him. The local media reported that 11
accused in this case had become approvers against Mujibur Rahman. Later the
prosecutor also presented a list of 232 witnesses to the court. In view of the
long list of witnesses and the government's claims conviction to Mujibur Rehman
and his co-accused appeared certain.
But that did not come about. Awami League took the stand that Ayub
Khan had fabricated this case against its leader. But Maj-Gen. Khadim Hussain
writes that the case was strong but prosecution did not perform well. According
to the British writer Talbot, the prosecution performed so badly that people in
the courtroom began to sympathize with the accused persons. In this situation
the news about police torture on the prisoners also got the air.
Many prosecution witnesses turned hostile saying, they were being
made to state under duress. This all made the prosecution case very weak. Then
a murder was committed that deteriorated the situation further. On February 15,
1969 two accused of the case Flight Sergeant Fazle Huq and Sergeant Zahurul Huq
snatched rifles from the guards and attempted escape. The police opened fire on
them wherein Fazle Haq was wounded and Zahurul Huq killed.
At the burial of Zahurul Huq violent protests started. The
protesters torched houses of two ministers, police barracks and many buildings.
In this gory situation, a countrywide movement was also continuing against
General Ayub Khan. Students were in the forefront in this movement. A student
lost his life due to police firing in the protest in Dhaka. Students in East
Pakistan and West Pakistan come out on the road against the police firing.
Students in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Karachi and Peshawar took out
massive rallies during which clashes with the police also took place. It was a
forceful public movement. After students political and the religious parties
also joined this movement. The protest movement brought General Ayub Khan to
the knee. On February 21, 1969 he announced not to become a candidate in the
next presidential election. Next day on February 22, the government withdrew
the Agartala conspiracy case and released Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other
accused persons.
That is why Agartala is a mystery that has not been taken to any
logical conclusion. As per the Awami League website, Ayub government had
arrested Mujibur Rahman scared of his 6 points. Mujibur Rahman had also denied
the charges levelled in the Agartala case. But the British writer Talbot
stressed that Mujibur Rahman had met the Indian officers in Agartala. And the
Awami League leaders had been in touch with the Indian agents after 1965.
Some accused of Agartala case had also confessed this conspiracy
after separation of East Pakistan. Among them former Deputy Speaker of
Bangladesh Shaukat Ali was also included. He admitted that under the leadership
of Mujibur Rahman he wanted to separate East Pakistan through an armed
revolution. After release when Mujibur Rahman reached his house in Dhaka, his
elder daughter Haseena Wajid the sitting prime minister of Bangladesh was a
university student at that time.
On learning about the release of her father, she took a rickshaw to
reach the house. At the sight of her father, she began to weep badly. One by
one, people from the entire city reached the residence of Mujibur Rahman. When
Sheikh Mujib came out of his house in an open jeep he was welcomed very warmly.
Next day in the Race Course Medan Dhaka a huge public meeting was held. Here
the students gave Mujib the title of 'Friend of Bengal.'
Later he became popular with this title and still he was known by
the same. In the same rally Sheikh Mujib made an important announcement. He
said the people of East Pakistan did not want separation at all and they only
wanted their legitimate right in every sphere of national life. He also turned
down hatching any conspiracy and that he feared none other than Allah,
Almighty. The 1971 elections were around the corner in Pakistan when Mujibur
Rahman was released.
They were undoubtedly the most important elections of Pakistan
history. In this scenario a round table conference of all political parties
took place. The conference had to settle matters relating to the elections and
their follow-up. On that occasion General Ayub Khan and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
held a historic meeting. That played a pivotal role in the subsequent
developments. The meeting of General Ayub and Mujibur Rahman had a reason.
That General Ayub Khan had stated that miscreants from outside were
entering the country and they were selling out rifles to the locals at cheap
prices. In response, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman met General Ayub Khan next day. And
Mujibur Rahman clarified that nothing like this was happening in East Pakistan.
Contrarily, Sheikh Mujib blamed that the people of the ruling party, the
Convention League were doing this mischief and giving wrong information to
General Ayub.
On that General Ayub said it meant these people were setting their
own house on fire. General Ayub said so in the background of the houses of many
Convention Leagues leaders were set on fire by some unknown persons. When
General Ayub put this matter before Sheikh Mujib, he became silent. He did not
say anything at that time. After that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman came back to Dhaka.
Next month in March 1969, General Yahiya Khan threw down the government of
General Ayub.
And Yahiya Khan assumed the office of the President. Maj-Gen.
Khadim Hussain who then was posted in East Pakistan wrote that during the regime
of General Yahiya Khan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was making very harsh speeches
everywhere. He was using scathing language against the Federal Government, the
Punjabis and the Biharis. That was promoting hatred. Since General Yahiya had
made Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a sacred cow so no-one could dare touch him.
He writes, taking advantage of this laxity, Mujib freely spread
hatred against the non-Bengalis. On November 28, 1969 General Yahiya announced
holding of elections in the country. October date was fixed for holding of the
elections. The principle of one man one vote was set. It may be recalled the
Assembly following the 1971 elections was to frame the constitution also. So
General Yehya laid down two conditions in this regard.
First
that the Constitution of the state would be Islamic in character. Secondly, the
new assembly would be dissolved if it failed to frame the constitution in four
months. In his address he also promised to give maximum autonomy to the
provinces. So preparations for the polls and holding of the public rallies
begun with zest and zeal more than before. But India attacked East Pakistan
before the elections.
Also, Know about:
