It would be a tremendous understatement to say that Pakistan has had an eventful history, both in the years leading up to 1947 and the years hence; it is almost hard to believe that a nation-state at once so young - as far as nations go, anyways - should simultaneously be so lived.
But historical events of great significance, in spite of (or perhaps because of) their lingering influence on us and the world, can be difficult to traverse: very often, the more important it is that some fact of our history is to be understood, the harder it becomes to understand what happened and what it all means. Then begin the all-important tasks of asking the right questions, digging for answers, looking for lessons, and separating fact from fiction.
Ikram Sehgal and Bettina Robotka's Blood Over Different Shades of Green aims to do just that: help us understand the history of the tumultuous events of 1971 and separate the fact from the fiction. The text explores the events leading up to the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war and the independence of the erstwhile East Pakistan within their historical and cultural contexts, and provides an in-depth analysis of the causes, events, and stakeholders.
The author's own unique connection to the events and peoples involved, as an individual of both West Pakistani and Bengali descent present in East Pakistan at the time, promises an undertaking that may manage to be both impartial and yet still involved - and this promise is, for the most part, delivered. If the author ever departs from this role of impartial analyst, it is in the not-infrequent bemoaning of mistakes that were made, and impassioned rejoinders directed at the shortsightedness or blindness of the political establishment and stakeholders involved.
The elephant in the room with any text written by a Pakistani concerning the formation of Bangladesh is that of a very specific breed of bias; is the text going to be an exercise in some form of apology for the events that took place, or a true consideration of the facts. And while it is impossible to deny an undercurrent of military eulogization - the author states, in a paragraph without which the book would progress unimpeded, that "Those who have smelt cordite during battle ... are a different breed altogether." - the author is very careful to neither be nor come off as an apologist or as someone in denial: in casting doubt over the official number for the death toll, the author is quick to add that the pain caused then "cannot be understood adequately by quantifying it", and that a smaller number of deaths nonetheless "would not have decreased the magnitude of the tragedy." As such, the author is evidently aware of the dangers in writing such a text and is careful not to get entangled, presenting as honest a consideration of the facts as one could hope for.
The book is structured so that its chapters come off as a series of research papers, with each analyzing specific historical or cultural contexts and political and martial developments of the time. Early chapters provide a detailed layout of broader questions, such as The Cultural Identity of East Bengalis, and historic ideas and plans that the reader is unlikely to have hitherto been exposed to, such as Purba Pakistan. Later chapters provide detailed accounts and analyses of specific events as they transpired - the formation of Mukti Bahini, India's role in events, Bhutto's part, and Yahya Khan's attempts at reconciliation, to name a few. Making the best possible use of this organization, as well as efficient and effective use of a host of primary and secondary source materials, the text is able to introduce new (or, more accurately, relatively unknown) information and a great deal of further nuance to the reader's understanding of events, all while presenting a coherent and compelling narrative of historical events. The reader is allowed to see not only why things turned out the way they did, but how they might have turned out differently - and why they did not.
Blood Over Different Shades of Green is a tremendously educative text, even to those that may consider themselves familiar with events in East Pakistan in and leading up to 1971. It succinctly explores historical events in their political, social, and cultural milieus, and calls into question statistics and interpretations of events that many have hitherto taken as fact. For instance, the book contains an illuminating analysis over the question of genocide, and subjects the number of 3 million deaths - so often taken as a given fact - to greater scrutiny. Though not perfect (the litany of details of military postings, divisions, and companies are especially hard to keep track of for someone with no personal association with the armed forces, and are frequently presented in somewhat greater detail than is necessary), the book may well be considered necessary reading for anyone that seeks a deeper, more nuanced understanding of this specific page of the history of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the world.
(The writer is a student of political science and
economics at NYU, and is the published author of The Pakistani Grammar. Email: [email protected])
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