What is Perception???

Below is the real time practical demonstration to understand what is perception.... 

THE SITUATION

In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.  During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.  After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing.  He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:

 
The violinist received his first dollar.  A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

 
At 6 minutes:


A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly.  The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time.  This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes:


The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.  About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:
   
He finished playing and silence took over.  No one noticed and no one applauded.  There was no recognition at all.


No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.  He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.  Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.


This is a true story.  Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:

      *In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

      *If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

      *Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?


One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . ..

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

 

Enjoy life NOW .. it has an expiration date

Let us build the Quaid’s Pakistan

EACH year on Dec 25 we remember our Quaid and promise to continue his mission and make Pakistan strong. But then the whole year we forget our promise and go along with routines and chores of everyday life. We see, listen and know that there are problems which need immediate attention and measures to be taken to overcome them in a respectful manner.
The Quaid-i-Azam is our role model. He was bold, truthful and never compromised on principles. He spent a disciplined life. He analysed the situation and then spoke with confidence.
If we look at his statements, there is a ray of hope and direction in whatever he said in words. The Quaid avoided discussing the past and problems of the present.
He knew that the past was gone and the present was handled with hard work and devotion. He was always concerned about the future of Pakistan. He had a vision to see a prosperous Pakistan.
When talking to defence forces’ personnel, he emphasised that they should only focus on their profession and fulfil their responsibilities.
When it came to contribution of women, he very clearly mentioned that they have equal responsibility to share in making a nation strong. His utmost concern and high hopes were with the youth of Pakistan. He wanted them to learn and excel in studies and avoid getting involved in anything else.
The Quaid had high hopes that the youth of today would be the true leaders of tomorrow if they observe experience and learnt the skills necessary to compete with the world around them.
He emphasised on good and effective education which opens the doors to all hidden treasures.
Today it is our responsibility that if we really love and respect our Quaid, we should follow what he said and make our country strong and prosperous as he wanted.

BY ANWAR PARVEEN

Understanding Jinnah

Some two decades back, I read a book by Raj Mohan Gandhi, titled Understanding the Muslim Mind. The book is about eight great Indian Muslims, including Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, who shaped the destiny of the Muslims of the subcontinent. I thought of doing a similar book that would provide insight into the Kashmir mind. But then I asked myself, could any of them really be called great men? The eight people Raj Mohan Gandhi has written about are truly great minds and out of them I see Muhammad Ali Jinnah as the greatest, for his “indomitable will“. Also, as put by his biographer Stanly Wolpert, “his place of primacy in Pakistan's history looms like a minaret over the achievements of all his contemporaries.“ In my search for finding what was missing in our contemporary leaders, I found that instead of redeeming people they have pushed them into a morass of uncertainty. I had an opportunity of finding a Jinnah outside his famous biographies. In two articles about him, I found a Jinnah that has hitherto remained eclipsed from people -one by his sister Fatima Jinnah titled “A businessman Becomes A Barrister“ and another by Sadat Husain Manto called “Jinnah Sahib“. His sister says his eager mind was keen to benefit from his visit to England at a time when the spirit of British liberalism was making profound impact on the minds of people. He adopted the typically English habit of reading carefully his morning newspapers. About his joining the Lincoln's Inn, Fatima Jinnah quotes his brother as saying, “My inquiries and discussions made me decide for another inn than Lincoln's. But then I saw the name of the great Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) engraved on the main entrance of Lincoln's Inn among the great lawgivers of the world. So I made a sort of vow that I would join Lincoln's Inn.“ Saadat Hasan Manto's writings on Jinnah makes for an interesting reading in that he talks about the lifestyle of this great leader, his relations with his sisters other than Fatima Jinnah and with his servants and drivers. “The Quaid had three sisters, one of them lived at Chowpati and her husband did not earn much. Jinnah Sahib would send her some money every month.“ Jinnah played billiards and would hit with precision. Manto also wrote that in politics “the Quaid never made hasty decision. As in billiards, he would examine the situation from every angle and only move when he was sure he would get it right the first time“. This article not only belies Jinnah's detractors but also provides insight into his personal life even though the general belief has been that his domestic life would always remain a mystery. By Zahid G Muhammad

Jinnah lessons for our politicians

Jinnah has left an enduring legacy in the shape of Pakistan. However, if his vision and aspirations for Pakistan are to be attained, a lot still reckons to be accomplished. And today our politicians, instead of just giving statements praising Jinnah, need to emulate him in words and actions.
Right from his childhood, Jinnah was head and shoulders from the crowd. His childhood friend Nanji Jafar remembers, “once Jinnah, only fourteen, came to me and said don’t play in the dust; it spoils your clothes and dirties hands.
We must stand up and play cricket.” It was this sense of personal dignity and self-confidence that defines Jinnah right from his early life. Sadly, stateliness and honour have long been lost in our political elite.
Jinnah’s earliest influences focus around Dadabhai Naoroji and Pherozeshah Mehta, both political mountains in their own might. However, the person who
influenced Jinnah the most was Gopal Krishna Gokhale. I seriously doubt the current leadership of the Peoples Party or the Muslim League has any inkling whatsoever about studying and using history to learn and dictate future decisions. Our politicians have only mastered one art: that of giving emotional and gut-wrenching speeches. And here lies another lesson for them: Jinnah once said to his right hand, Liaquat Ali Khan, “I don't care for beautiful language: I only wish to see my idea through.“ Jinnah initially joined the Congress in Gokhale's footsteps. However, Jinnah's legal and methodical mind contrasted from that of Gandhi's and he resigned from the Congress in 1920 with a protest against Gandhi's extreme measures, “your way is the wrong way: mine is the right way -the constitutional way is the right way.“ I wish our political class could understand the gravity and morality of principles and ideologies, only then could the Constitution of Pakistan ever attain its sacrosanct status.
Meticulousness and singularity of purpose were Jinnah’s binding principles, and he never strayed far from his ideals — however lofty they appeared. Many believe the reason Jinnah did not feature in the public discourse as much as Gandhi and Nehru was not because of his limitations; in fact it would have made more heady news given his accomplishments. The reason was his brusque and curt behaviour with reporters. Jinnah was always indifferent to the values, or the pleasure, of popularity. Journalists respected him and one of them recalled, ‘he would summon us to his house, but he would never offer us a cup of tea or a cigarette. He was above even such trivial bribery as this.” Our politicians, however, seem to breathe and live in the media limelight.
As early as 1941, Jinnah was reported as being ‘unwell’. But it was not in his
nature to rest, and he marched on. Once, when asked what Jinnah’s chief recreations were, he responded that “my profession is such that it never allows time for recreation.” And contrast this to our politicians who seem to be in a perpetual state of vacation and leisure.
Even till his end, the command and control that defined Jinnah did not wane.
Minutes before his death, his physician Col Dr Ilahi Bakhsh leaned over and whispered, “Sir, we have given an injection to strengthen you, and it will soon have effect. God-willing, you are going to live.” Jinnah moved and spoke for the last time, “No, I am not”.
It is never too late to mend ways. Let’s all make Jinnah and Pakistan proud by actually following and believing in what Jinnah said. For starters, let’s remove the veil that covers our eyes and start tackling all our problems in earnest, pumped by pure passion for Pakistan. Let us not destroy Jinnah’s legacy.

By Mohammad Rai

A Beautiful Story

A little boy went to a Telephone booth which was at the cash counter of a store & dialed a number.
The store-Owner observed and listened to the Conversation:

 Boy: "Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?
Woman: (at the other end of the phone line) "I already have someone to cut my lawn."
Boy: "Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price than the person who cuts your lawn now."
Woman: I'm very satisfied with the person who is presently cutting my lawn.
Boy: (with more perseverance) "Lady, I'll even sweep the floor & the stairs of your house for free.
Woman: No, thank you.

 With a smile on his face, the little boy end call with thank you.

The Store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy.

Store Owner: "Son...I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit & would like to offer you a job."
Boy: "No thanks,
Store Owner:  But you were really pleading for one.
Boy: No Sir, I was just checking my performance at the job I already have.

I am the one who is working for that lady I was talking to!"

This is called

         

         "Self Appraisal"

Karachi stock brokers behind NICL scam!

Stock brokers also questioned about the role of the scions of two political leaders. 

ISLAMABAD: The multi-billion-rupee scam in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) took a new turn as its ex-chairman, Ayaz Khan Niazi, claimed that stock brokers from Karachi had also played a key role in the irregular deal. After being flown in from Karachi, Niazi told his interrogators that one of the board members of the NIC, Qasim Amin Dada, had played an important role.

Niazi alleged that Dada helped clear the multi-billion-rupee deal inked with the Warraich family, which is at the centre of this scam. This disclosure comes in the backdrop of news that pressure is being exerted on the FIA to stop its manhunt for Dada, believed to be hiding in Karachi.
The former board member has been declared an absconder by the FIA in the multi-billion-rupee land scam. The case is being probed on the orders of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The Chief Justice had intervened in the last hearing of the case to ensure the handing over of Ayaz Khan Niazi to FIA  Lahore for investigation.
Niazi was also questioned about the role of the scions of two political leaders who are believed to be shielding one of the accused persons in the case. But Niazi refused to spill the beans.
However, the change of air from Karachi to Lahore made Niazi talk more openly about some Karachi-based brokers who worked through Qasim Dada. Two recent attempts to arrest Dada have so far failed. His house was raided by an FIA team in Karachi after Dada’s name surfaced as one of the key players in the deal.
Niazi told the FIA that it was Qasim Amin Dada who had convinced the NIC board members to sign two deals with Habib Warraich and his son Mohsin Warraich to purchase 803 kanals of land in Lahore for Rs2 billion against their actual market price of a few million rupees.
Niazi recalled that Amin Dada had not only given a briefing to board members to make them fall in line and subsequently clear the two dirty deals, but he had also put his own signatures on three official papers that were connected to this transaction.
The statement of Ayaz Niazi about the active role of Qasim Amin Dada was further substantiated when it was revealed that surprisingly Amin Dada was the only board member, who had signed three official papers otherwise the rest of the members had signed only one paper to clear the two land deals.
Meanwhile, the FIA has sent a letter to the British government to freeze the bank accounts of principal accused Mohsin Warraich who is living in London, along with a request to repatriate him to Pakistan where he was facing several criminal charges in the NICL land scam.
The British government has sought replies to some questions from the FIA. Mohsin’s British wife Beenish, mother, two sisters and his father are also facing criminal charges.
Talking to The Express Tribune from Dubai before flying to the UK last month, Mohsin Warraich had denied the allegations in the two land deals and had claimed his family was being victimised.

By: Rauf Klasra

 

BUSTED – WIKILEAKS WORKING FOR ISRAEL

Reports have come in today, tying Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, directly to Israeli intelligence and “Israel friendly” media outlets.  We are told Assange, while at a Geneva meeting, agreed to allow Israel to select or censor all Wikileak output.

Despite the dramatic arrest of Julian Assange for rape, a story long hyped by the media, Assange “the martyr” now appears to be Assange “the Israeli spy.”  Reports from inside Wikileaks differ greatly from the image presented by the press, an Assange tied to ultra-nationalist Israeli groups, an Assange with an extremist agenda, an Assange who sees himself as a geopolitical player, willing to censor, willing to fabricate and willing to betray.

The new Assange, as recent revelations reveal, may very well be capable, with help from Israel and powerful media friends,  of  staging a phony arrest.  The new Assange may also be absolutely guilty of real sex crimes, and not a martyr at all.

The look “behind the curtain” at Wikileaks we have been given shows us a Julian Assange capable of anything, now labeled a paid Israeli agent by multiple press sources around the world.

NEOCON THREATS ON FOX NEWS “PART OF THE ACT”

The latest pro-Israel “Neocon” to attack Assange on the very pro-Israel Fox network is Newt Gingrich.

When I saw Newt Gingrich, Neocon hardliner with a closet full of skeletons, on Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano, something was terribly wrong.  Gingrich was threatening Julian Assange, who had, only that day, praised Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and long time patron of Gingrich.

I immediately smelled a setup.

There is a problem with all this.  Both Assange and Gingrich are virtual “stepchildren” of Rupert Murdoch, his followers, his acolytes, and, despite the “bad boy” Assange persona, political twins.  Assange, at heart, is everything but progressive and open.  Assange, as described by those around him, is a dictator, manipulator and allied to wealth and power.

Newt Gingrich was on a mission, he and other Neocons along with Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, all pouring threats at Assange to build “his” credibility on the basis of the total lack of theirs.

THEN THE SHOE DROPS ON ASSANGE

Today we learn that Assange is also a creature of Israel, bankrolled by spies, running a disinformation site with help from Fox News, the New York Times and other media giants.  A confirmed news story from the “IndyPress”has Assange in bed with Israeli intelligence;

“Assange met with Israeli officials in Geneva earlier this year and struck the secret deal. The Israel government, it seems, had somehow found out or expected that the documents to be leaked contained a large number of documents about the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza in 2006 and 2008-9 respectively. These documents, which are said to have originated mainly from the Israeli embassies in Tel Aviv and Beirut, where removed and possibly destroyed by Assange, who is the only person who knows the password that can open these documents, the sources added.”
ASSANGE AND 9/11

More importantly, Wikileaks has never had a document mentioning the 9/11 investigation, the controversy over the “9/12″ secret flight to Israel or the “dancing Israeli’s,” the 5 Mossad agents arrested on the George Washington bridge on 9/11 in a van with 2,000 pounds of explosives.  This group, admittedly “documenting” the 9/11 attack for the Israeli government was kept in custody for 10 months and only released after diplomatic wrangling and a major lobbying effort.

Hundreds of cables were generated by this issue and thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, tied to 9/11.  All magically disappeared at the hands of Julian Assange whose public statements on 9/11 now make him suspect.

THE WIKILEAKS DICTATORSHIP

Inside the Wikileaks organization, Assange’s secret deals are seen as a betrayal.  Assange is described as dictatorial and secretive, with a lot to be secret about.

“In a recent interview with the German daily Die Tageszeitung, former WikiLeaks spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg said he and other WikiLeaks dissidents are planning to launch their own whistleblowers’ platform to fulfill WikiLeaks’s original aim of “limitless file sharing.”
Mr. Domscheit-Berg, who is about to publish a book about his days ‘Inside WikiLeaks’, accuses Assange of acting as a “king” against the will of others in the organisation by “making deals” with media organisations that are meant to create an explosive effect, which others in WikiLeaks either know little or nothing about.”

WIKILEAKS AND TEL AVIV

Payoffs by Israel to Assange had, until today, been an issue of debate among journalists.

Following the leak (and even before), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a press conference that Israel had “worked in advance” to limit any damage from leaks, adding that “no classified Israeli material was exposed by WikiLeaks.”  In an interview with the Time magazine around the same time, Assange praised Netanyahu as a hero of transparency and openness!

As for personal ethnics, I give it to Assange, hands down, he is the cleaner of the two, no question about that, and far more valuable to Rupert Murdoch and his media empire, the virtual voice of the State of Israel.

ASSANGE, “THE CARDBOARD LOTHARIO”

Yesterday, something odd happened in Britain.  Julian Assange was arrested on charges that seem bizarre, under circumstances that discredit the legal system of Sweden.  The alleged victims have been cited by the world press as CIA agents in more than one story and the case itself shows obvious signs of tampering, maybe to harass Assange or maybe, based on bizarre timing, to help sell Wikileak data that is increasingly looking like an Israeli intelligence scam.

Today, Julian Assange, “bad boy,” hacker, accused rapist, threatened by American neo-cons with contract killing, authors and op-ed for The Australian, Rupert Murdoch’s flagship publication in Australia.

His article cites Murdoch as his inspiration.  A day later, we learn that Assange was working, not just for Israeli ultranationalist Murdoch but for the Israel government as well.

AN ISRAELI PSY-OP?

All three, Gingrich, Assange and Murdoch have several things in common.  All are avid Zionists, supporters of Israel’s expansion.  Murdoch, Australian born of a Jewish mother, is an Israeli citizen and the powerful guiding force behind the ultranationalist Likudist Party, the hardliners pushing to dispossess Palestine’s non-Jewish population, Israel’s anti-American political wing.

Assange, we know nothing of him other than the rumors and myths, now all brought into serious question.

Gingrich’s move to “the darkside” traces back to the beginnings of his political career.

A GINGRICH PATH..

In 1994, Gingrich’s wife, Marianne, was hired by the Israel Export Development Company.  This was while her husband, Congressman Newt Gingrich had just announced support for that company’s free trade zone in Israel.  Gingrich had already established himself as “fair game” after a series of ethics and IRS investigations involving the GOPAC organization and its questionable financial practices.

SOURCES:

(“Gingrich Aided Export Firm That Employed His Wife”, NY Times News Service, San Francisco Chronicle, February 7, 1995 pA7)

(“Gingrich, Critic of ‘Business as Usual,’ Helps Out Special Interests Like ‘Any Member of Congress’”, Phil Kuntz, Wall Street Journal, April 3, 1995 pA16)

Both articles, exposing the Gingrich/Israel connection were in the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper later purchased by Murdoch, a paper unlikely to carry such as story ever again.

Soon afterward, Newt was called on to aid Murdoch in an FCC complaint made by NBC.  They contended that foreign ownership of Fox, Murdoch was not an American, was illegal.  Murdoch then gave Gingrich $4.5 million through his publishing company, Harper Collins, to write a book.  Murdoch had offered similar deals to Margaret Thatcher and other politicians where Murdoch had regulatory problems.  This time, when Newt was found to be meeting with Murdoch’s lobbyists, it all blew up in his face and he was forced to give the money back.

When it came down to “splainin’  time,” Newt and Murdoch denied it all, then it came out that they met secretly on a park bench.  Then they claimed Murdoch’s agent, Lynn Chu and Gingrich’s “associate” Jeff Eisenach had cut the deal and forgot to tell them about it.  Rupert Murdoch got to keep Fox News and the Neocons gained control of content, making Fox the unofficial voice of Israel, the Republican Party and the military/industrial complex.

Thus began the Gingrich/Murdoch partnership which continues to this day.

SOURCES:

(“Gingrich’s political education”, Jeff Gerth and Stephen Labaton (NY Times News Service), San Francisco Examiner, February 12, 1995 pA6)

(“IRS clears Gingrich donation that led to his House censure”, Capitol Hill Blue Website, February 4, 1999)

(Ethics Committee Drops Last of 84 Charges Against Gingrich ,By Curt Anderson (Associated Press), Washington Post, October 11, 1998, Page A13)

“Use of Tax-Exempt Groups Integral to Political Strategy”, by Charles R. Babcock, Washington Post, January 7, 1997, Page A01)

(“Jump-Start: How Speaker Gingrich Grabbed Power and Attention So Quickly”, Wall Street Journal, January 19, 1995 pA1

(“The Inner Quest of Newt Gingrich”, Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, September 1995 p147 “Gingrich, Murdoch reveal lobbyist’s role at meeting”, Katharine Seelye (NY Times News Service), San Francisco Examiner, pA1 “Murdoch, Gingrich Admit They Talked”, San Francisco Chronicle, January 13, 1995)

(“The Mysterious Mrs. Newt”, Martin Fletcher (London Times News Service), SF Examiner, January 15, 1995 pA4 “Newt’s Near Misses”, Ron Curran, The Bay Guardian, January 11, 1995 p10)

(“Newt, Inc.”, Dennis Bernstein, Bay Guardian, February 1, 1995 p19)

THE NEOCON CHARADE

Separating myth from reality, real “Wikileaks” from the “Franken-Wikileaks” of Israel and Julian Assange, is going to be difficult.

Where the Swedish government may really be after Assange, it is obvious that the parade of Neocon politicians and media pundits, all “creatures” of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, are not.

The same media that worked with Assange to censor and manipulate Wikileaks for the Netanyahu government in Israel is the same media, the same outlets, the same ownership, the same management that are now pouring out threats, demands for “hanging.”

Seldom is such a scenario successfully exposed, particularly of such complexity.  First Wikileaks source is tied to AIPAC, the Israeli lobby in the United States, through information leaked in a private lawsuit.

Then we learn Assange is, not only working directly for Israel, but is closely aligned with the Murdoch media empire that is managing the most violent criticism of Wikileaks.

Will there be an end to this, a “not so innocent” side show that may well have been put together to push the world into its last war?

Wikileaks once had much promise.  It can again.

Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran, and Senior Editor at Veterans Today. His career has included extensive experience in international banking along with such diverse areas as consulting on counter insurgency, defense technologies or acting as diplomatic officer of UN humanitarian groups. Gordon Duff’s articles are published around the world and translated into a number of languages. He is regularly on TV and radio, a popular and sometimes controversial guest.

Video: For Those Who Don’t Believe In The Illuminati Dajjal – See It And Weep

Info: Lord James of Blackheath describes a Private “Foundation” which has more money than all the governments of the world put together. This “Foundation X” willing to bail out the world “for nothing”. What a lovely sounding old Lord this man is BUT is he seriously this naive?

Nevertheless, why is all this so top secret if it is a real, honest offer by a Private Group of people who should never have achieved such an amount of money in the first place (for what I hope are obvious reasons). Further, if such a Foundation exists (which it certainly seems to) then they can only have gained this amount of wealth over a very significant period of time (thinking in decades to centuries here) and it will have been, without a shadow of a doubt, ill-gotten. So the question is: Why don’t we simply hold a gun at their heads fully loaded and say “Hand it over! What’s preventing you?” Because if they need to talk to a Head of state before they do it then there must simply be conditions.

And lastly, WHO are these top 6 people of the world? You may say “it said top 6 security clearance” but so what? How many nations are there? So HOW can there be only 6 people with a Worldwide top security clearance? From what nations and what has security got to do with it? Probably very much the same as what the Official Secrets Act has to do with the Bank of England eh?

Click here for watch 

Murder of 1 million Non-Bengalis by Indian Mukti Bahani in 55 towns ...

Excerpts from “Blood and Tears” Book 

by Qutubuddin Aziz

 

Looking at the tragic events of March 1971 in retrospect, I must confess that even I, although my press service commanded a sizeable network of district correspondents in the interior of East Pakistan, was not fully aware of the scale, ferocity and dimension of the province-wide massacre of the non-Banglis.

Mukti Bahini trained by the Indian Army to conduct terror in Muslim Bengal

 

I must stress, with all the force and sincerity at my command, that this bock is not intended to be a racist indictment of the Bengalis as a nation. In writing and publishing this book, I am not motivated by any revanchist obsession or a wish to condemn my erstwhile Bengali compatriots as a nation. Just as it is stupid to condemn the great German people for the sins of the Nazis, it would be foolish to blame the Bengali people as a whole for the dark deeds of the Awami Leaguemilitants and their accomplices.

I have incorporated in this book the acts of heroism and courage of those brave and patriotic Bengalis who sheltered and protected, at great peril to themselves, their terror-stricken non-Bengali friends and neighbours. On the basis of the heaps of eye-witness accounts, which I have carefully read, sifted and analysed, I do make bold to say that the vast majority of Bengalis disapproved of and was not a party to the barbaric atrocities inflicted on the hapless non-Bengalis by the Awami League’s terror machine and the Frankensteins and vampires it unloosed. This silent majority, it seemed, was awed, immobilised and neutralised by the terrifying power, weapons and ruthlessness of a misguided minority hell-bent on accomplishing the secession of East Pakistan.

Jessore murders of Biharis by Mukti Bahini blamed on Pakistani Army 

  The sheaves of eye-witness accounts, documented in this book, prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the massacre of West Pakistanis, Biharis and other non-Bengalis in East Pakistan had begun long before the Pakistan Army took punitive action against the rebels late in the night of March 25, 1971. It is also crystal clear that the Awami League’s terror machine was the initiator and executor of the genocide against the non-Bengalis which exterminated at least half a million of them in less than two months of horror and trauma. Many witnesses have opined that the federal Government acted a bit too late against the insurgents. The initial success of the federal military action is proved by the fact that in barely 30 days, the Pakistan Army, with a combat strength of 38,717 officers and men in East Pakistan, had squelched the Awami League’s March-April, 1971, rebellion all over the province.
Typical of the open-air, human abattoirs operated by the Awami League-led rebels in East Pakistan in 1971 is this photograph of multiple-executions done by a Mukti-Bahini killer squad in Dacca Race Course. The pro-Pakistan Bengali and non-Bengali victims were tortured before being slain
The hundreds of eye-witnesses from towns and cities of East Pakistan, whose testimonies are documented in this book, are unanimous in reporting that the slaughter of West Pakistanis, Biharis, and other non-Bangalis and of some pro-Pakistan Bengalis had begun in the early days of the murderous month of March 1971.

Jessore massacres of Biharis by the Mukti Bahini, Bihari corpses littler the area while soldier march past in total bewilderment 

 Looking at the tragic events of March 1971 in retrospect, I must confess that even I, although my press service commanded a sizeable network of district correspondents in the interior of East Pakistan, was not fully aware of the scale, ferocity and dimension of the province-wide massacre of the non-Banglis.

I must stress, with all the force and sincerity at my command, that this bock is not intended to be a racist indictment of the Bengalis as a nation. In writing and publishing this book, I am not motivated by any revanchist obsession or a wish to condemn my erstwhile Bengali compatriots as a nation. Just as it is stupid to condemn the great German people for the sins of the Nazis, it would be foolish to blame the Bengali people as a whole for the dark deeds of the Awami League militants and their accomplices.

A Bihari victim grabbed by Mukti Bahini killers, begging for mercy

 I have incorporated in this book the acts of heroism and courage of those brave and patriotic Bengalis who sheltered and protected, at great peril to themselves, their terror-stricken non-Bengali friends and neighbours. On the basis of the heaps of eye-witness accounts, which I have carefully read, sifted and analysed, I do make bold to say that the vast majority of Bengalis disapproved of and was not a party to the barbaric atrocities inflicted on the hapless non-Bengalis by the Awami League’s terror machine and the Frankensteins and vampires it unloosed. This silent majority, it seemed, was awed, immobilised and neutralised by the terrifying power, weapons and ruthlessness of a misguided minority hell-bent on accomplishing the secession of East Pakistan.

Eye gouging and burning the skin of Biharis by Uniformed Mukti Bahini soldier aided and abetted by Indian Army

 The 170 eye-witnesses, whose testimonies or interviews are contained in this book in abridged form have been chosen from a universe of more than 5,000 repatriated non-Bengali families. I had identified, after some considerable research, 55 towns and cities in East Pakistan where the abridgement of the non-Bengali population in March and early April 1971 was conspicuously heavy. The collection and compilation of these eye-witness accounts was started in January 1974 and completed in twelve weeks. A team of four reporters, commissioned for interviewing the witnesses from all these 55 towns and cities of East Pakistan, worked with intense devotion to secure their testimony. Many of the interviews were prolonged because the Witnesses broke down in a flurry of sobs and tears as they related the agonising stories of their wrecked lives. I had issued in February 1974 an appeal in the newspapers for such eye-witness accounts, and I am grateful to the many hundreds of witnesses who promptly responded to my call.
A scene of Mukti Bahini mass murder of Biharis in Dacca on December 18, 1971. A rebel soldier lifts his boot to strike a bleeding bayoneted boy who showed signs of life. Dead bodies of other slain non-Bengalis lie in the foreground.

Mukti Bahini killer plunged his bayonet in the writhing Bihari’s chest

 

“I am the lone survivor of a group of ten Pathans who were employed as Security Guards by the Delta Construction Company in the Mohakhali locality in Dacca; all the others were slaughtered by the Bengali rebels in the night of March 25, 1971”, said 40-year-old Bacha Khan.

“I heard the screams of an Urdu-speaking girl who was being ravished by her Bengali captors but I was so scared that I did not have the courage to emerge from hiding” said a 24-year-old Zahid Abdi, who was employed in a trading firm in Dacca. He escaped the slaughter of the non-Bengalis in the crowded New Market locality of Dacca on March 23, 1971 and was sheltered by a God-fearing Bengali in his shop. The killers raped their non-Bengali teenage victim at the back of the shop and later on slayed her.

 Mukti Bahini massacres of Biharis: typical of the open air, human abattoirs operated by the Awami League-led rebels in East Pakistan in 1971 is this photograph of multiple executions done by a Mukti Bahini killer squad in Dacca Race Course. The pro-Pakistan Bengali and non-Bengali victims were tortured before being slain

“My only daughter has been insane since she was forced by her savage tormentors to watch the brutal murder of her husband”, said Mukhtar Ahmed Khan, 43, while giving an account of his suffering during the Ides of March 1971 in Dacca….“In the third week of March 1971, a gang of armed Bengali rebels raided house of my son-in-law and overpowered him. He was a courageous Youngman and he resisted the attackers. My daughter also resisted the attackers but they were far too many and they were well armed. They tied up my son-in-law and my daughter with ropes and they forced her to watch as they slit the throat of her husband and ripped his stomach open in the style of butchers. She fainted and lost consciousness. Since that dreadful day she has been mentally ill.”

Shamim Akhtar, 28, whose husband was employed as a clerk in the Railway office in Dacca, lived in a small house in the Mirpur locality there.

She described her tragedy in these words:

“On December 17, 1971, the Mukti Bahini cut off the water supply to our homes. We used to get water from a nearby pond; it was polluted and had a bad odour. I was nine months pregnant. On December 23, 1971, I gave birth to a baby girl. No midwife was available and my husband helped me at child birth. Late at night, a gang of armed Bengalis raided our house, grabbed my husband and trucked him away. I begged them in the name of God to spare him as I could not even walk and my children were too small. The killers were heartless and I learnt that they murdered my husband. After five days, they returned and ordered me and my children to vacate the house as they claimed that it was now their property.”

Zaibunnissa Haq, 30, whose journalist husband, Izhar-ul-Haque, worked as a columnist in the Daily Watan in Dacca, gave this account of her travail in 1971:
A copy of the ads and the forms used for soliciting testimony from the victims.

“….On December 21, a posse of Mukti Bahini soldiers and some thugs rode into our locality with blazing guns and ordered us to leave our house as, according to them, no Bihari could own a house in Bangladesh. For two days, we lived on bare earth in an open space and we had nothing to eat. Subsequently, we were taken to a Relief Camp by the Red Cross.”

In Pubail and Tangibari, the Awami League militants and their rebel confederates murdered dozens of affluent Biharis. Shops owned by the Biharis were favourite target of attack.

“Four armed thugs dragged two captive non-Bengali teenage girls into an empty bus and violated their chastity before gunning them to death”, said Gulzar Hussain, 38, who witnessed the massacre of 22 non-Bengali men, women and children on March 21, 1971, close to a bus stand in Narayangang. Repatriated to Karachi in November 1973, Gulzar Hussain reported: “….On March 21, our Dacca-bound bus was stopped on the way, soon after it left the heart of the city. I was seated in the front portion of the bus and I saw that the killer gang had guns, scythes and daggers. The gunmen raised ‘Joi Bangla’ and anti-Pakistan slogans. The bus driver obeyed their signal to stop and the thugs motioned to the passengers to get down. A jingo barked out the order that Bengalis and non-Bengalis should fall into separate lines. As I spoke Bengali with a perfect Dacca accent and could easily pass for a Bengali, I joined the Bengali group of passengers. The killer gang asked us to utter a few sentences in Bengali which we did. I passed the test and our tormentors instructed the Bengalis to scatter. The thugs then gunned all the male non-Bengalis. It was a horrible scene. Four of the gunmen took for their loot two young non-Bengali women and raped them inside the empty bus. After they had ravished the girls, the killers shot them and half a dozen other women and children.”

She described her tragedy in these words:

As the victim did not die in a single bayonet strike, another Mukti-Bahini killer plunged his bayonet in to the writhing Bihari’s chest. Dead bodies of Bihari and Bengali victims lie strewn over the execution ground as Mukti-Bahini killers and their accomplices watch the butchery with sadist pleasure.

“On December 17, 1971, the Mukti Bahini cut off the water supply to our homes. We used to get water from a nearby pond; it was polluted and had a bad odour. I was nine months pregnant. On December 23, 1971, I gave birth to a baby girl. No midwife was available and my husband helped me at child birth. Late at night, a gang of armed Bengalis raided our house, grabbed my husband and trucked him away. I begged them in the name of God to spare him as I could not even walk and my children were too small. The killers were heartless and I learnt that they murdered my husband. After five days, they returned and ordered me and my children to vacate the house as they claimed that it was now their property.”

Zaibunnissa Haq, 30, whose journalist husband, Izhar-ul-Haque, worked as a columnist in the Daily Watan in Dacca, gave this account of her travail in 1971: “….On December 21, a posse of Mukti Bahini soldiers and some thugs rode into our locality with blazing guns and ordered us to leave our house as, according to them, no Bihari could own a house in Bangladesh. For two days, we lived on bare earth in an open space and we had nothing to eat. Subsequently, we were taken to a Relief Camp by the Red Cross.”

Nasima Khatoon, 25, lived in a rented house in the Pancho Boti locality in Narayanganj. Her husband, Mohammad Qamrul Hasan, was employed in a Vegetable Oil manufacturing factory. Repatriated to Karachi in January 1974, along with her 4-year-old orphaned daughter, from a Red Cross Camp in Dacca, Nasima gave this hair-raising account of her travail in 1971:
A Bihari victim grabbed by Mukti-Bahini killers, begging for mercy.

“At gun point, our captors made us leave our house and marched us to an open square where more than 500 non –Bengali old men, women and children were detained. Some 50 Bengali gunmen led us through swampy ground towards a deserted school building. On the way, the 3-year-old child of a hapless captive woman died in her arms. She asked her captors to allow her to dig a small grave and bury the child. The tough man in the lead snorted a sharp ‘NO’, snatched the body of the dead child from her wailing mother and tossed it into the river”

The Awami League’s rebellion of March 1971 took the heaviest toll of non-Bengali lives in the populous port city of Chittagong. Although the Government of Pakistan’s White Paper of August 1971 on the East Pakistan crisis estimated the non-Bengali death toll in Chittagong and its neighbouring townships during the Awami League’s insurrection to be a little under 15,000, the testimony of hundreds of eye-witnesses interviewed for this book gives the impression that more than 50,000 non-Bengalis perished in the March 1971 carnage. Thousands of dead bodies were flung into the Karnaphuli river and the Bay of Bengal.

Savage killings also took place in the Halishahar, Kalurghat and Pahartali localities where the Bengali rebel soldiers poured petrol and kerosine oil around entire blocks, igniting them with flame-throwers and petrol-soaked jute balls, then mowed down the non-Bengali innocents trying to escape the cordons of fire. In the wanton slaughter in the last week of March and early April, 1971, some 40,000 non-Bengalis perished in Chittagong and its neighbourhood. The exact death toll, which could possibly be much more will never be known because of the practice of burning dead bodies or dumping them in the river and the sea.

The uniformed killer puffing the cigarette to singe the eyes of the terrified prey. Eye gouging and burning the skin of victims was a favourite torture method of the rebels.