Thank you for bringing this topic to light. With the exception of Syed Tahir X, most of you have been humane, which gives me great hope that the Pakistan you younger generation will help build will bear your stamp, your morality, your goodness. That is my earnest prayer.

I was there, and the memories are too painful. A Brig. Mehboob Qadir wrote very sanctimonious and laudatory articles in the Daily Times, to which I sent him emails detailing the names of his commanding officers and the ones in Jessore sector familiar to me. I asked him, according to the Nuremberg War Trials, the commanding officers are held entirely responsible for their underlings [who, in any case, are following directives, if not direct orders when they kill &rape on such vast scale]. Was Sharmila Bose there? Her stake is that of notoriety & self-interest. I have nothing to gain, and have lost everything. The Catholic priests, some still living in Dhaka, are also witnesses. They had zero political affiliations.

I can say something without putting any spin on the truth. The war in Bangladesh was very complex, and had its antecedents in 1961, in Chittagong, and further in 1965. In 1971, there was a civil war between various factions of Bengali Muslims, one that continues to this day. Hindus, 10% of the population, got caught in between not only after 1947, but were savagely and deliberately targeted in 1971 for no reason at all. They were hardly in the thick of politics, being the underclass, but were marked for particular savagery by the Pakistan army. Such horrific sins visited on innocents have a karmic effect, and we are seeing some of it today. We need truth and reconciliation for the greater good of the entire subcontinent.

I am very sure we shall have world wars soon, owing to resource shortages and the actions of national elites in the subcontinent. One of the few chances of goodwill is to try and truly understand what are the root causes of anger and ill-will that divide Hindus and Muslims. I have my own suppositions, but my generation has come to its end.