পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৬৪০

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608 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড gradually claiming to express the wishes of the people of East Pakistan. The danger is that if we do riot start a dialogue between political leaders of the two wings we will soon have the army and the Indians talking on behalf of both wings and perhaps, plunging us into a war. (iii) Major-General Rao Farman Ali Major-General Farman Ali is a tall, intelligent and soft-spoken soldier who looks after the civilian side of the martial law in East Pakistan. He knows the region well and his understanding of the political situation is unusual for it professional soldier. This is what he had to say: The first thing I want to make clear is that, had we not been convinced that Mujib and his party would divide Pakistan, we would not have taken the action we took. We did not want political power. We proved our goodwill by having the election and allowing all panics freedom of action. Had we wanted power, we would not have held the election and would have stayed in without further fuss. You see that we have broken the Awami League. This we could have done earlier when Mujib was still weak. I have known Mujib for a long time. I was in contact with him almost every day during the past two years. He turned out to be a weak man who could be hypocritical. He told us one thing in private and said exactly the opposite in public. He thought he had taken all of Us in the army for a ride, misinterpreting our desire for a political settlement as a sign of weakness. There is no glory for the army in undertaking such an operation. We would not have done it had we not been forced to by Mujib. The man was unfit for leadership since he was a megalomaniac who could be driven to do all sorts of things under fear of losing his popularity. He was a rabble-rouser who, through a series of coincidences, was forced to assume the task of a statesman. Let me tell you something I have told no one before, apart from my superiors. A day before the trouble broke out and the army had to take action, I called on Mujib with a last plea for a settlement. He said he was "finished as a man". He said that he was convinced he would be killed in any case. "If I do what you want," he told me, "the students will kill me. If I do what they want you will kill me. In any case I am finished." Now, was this the way a statesman should think at the most decisive moment in his career? I am not a politician and don't wish to sound like one. But how can anyone with such a degree of cowardice be in politics? We were prepared to accept anything from Mujib short of secession. He did not want to stand up to his secessionists because he wanted to remain popular with everyone. How is that possible? You say he might have been forced to take to secessionist role. Well, but a man who is induced to commit a murder by others still remains the main agent of the murder. Now let us turn to other topics. The Indians say that we used the period of negotiations between the President and Mujib as a cover for flying green troop into East Pakistan from the West. I give you my word of honour as a soldier that not a Single man