A personal narrative
The British Factor and Asia in the Twentieth Century

Chapter X

DJ is serialising extracts from the proposed book by Maj (Retd) RAJA MUHAMMAD SARWAR DHUDDY.

EAST PAKISTAN

a. In Search of Identity

Great masses of Bengal and Assam provinces of former India had accepted Islam as their spiritual faith. The work was done by the saints and mystics who impressed the masses with the message of  truth, justice, piety and spiritual contentment.  Such masses were economically and educationally backward.  The dominating force continued to be Hindu, whose exploitation was resented but the masses and the British accepting that fact partitioned Bengal in 1906 to be undone in 1911 due to Hindu pressure.  Later when Muslims renaissance of Nineteen thirties gained momentum, the Muslims of Bengal again raised hue and cry and in 1940 Lahore resolution of the All India Muslim League, they were included in the demand for an Independent Pakistan. The strong Hindu influence and flickering minds of Bengali Muslims again made them to suffer disintegration of Pakistan, placing Muslims of Bengal (now Bangladesh) under Indian hegemony.  But before that happened a lot of struggle for East Pakistan’s survival as part of United Pakistan took place.

The purely agrarian economy of East Pakistan which had the densest population in the world placed that part of Pakistan at the bottom end of income group per head per year. Industry was non-existent and commerce at purely local levels was in the hands of Hindus.  Bengalis had large families with very very limited sources of income. Their land fit for agriculture was reduced greatly due to marshes and dead waters. Agriculture produce per acre being very low was also wasted due to climatic conditions.  The Bengalis, under the British were  classified as agitators and unreliable for services, also  they were considered  to be ‘home sick’ people due to their nature. As a result they were not taken into central services in greater numbers, nor were they popular for employment in industry.  As such they were condemned to cling on the ever reduced agricultural subsistence.

It should be necessary to know the starting off point for masses in the two wings (East & West) of Pakistan at the time of independence. Whereas West Pakistanis were popular as work force all over the world, their friends or brothers of East Pakistan needed to come up to that mark. Similarly they were beginners in Armed forces and they had to be patient to get their right place in the central services.   The strong Hindu minority of East Pakistan which dominated in control of economy, trading, transport, medicine, education, judiciary and clerical, almost remained indifferent to new sovereign country.

They never co-operated whole-heartedly with government’s development activities; and their loyalties rested with India and they kept no stone unturned to ensure failure of new state.  Muslims failed to appreciate the serious consequences of such negative attitude of Hindus. I put one question to ‘Bangladeshis’ for them to answer to their conscience. How many schools of East Pakistan sang National Anthem, if ever any one did, in the morning as was required before the commencement of day’s activities?  In 1962, I was posted to a battalion of East Bengal Regiment (3 EBR) as Second-in-Command at the time of its raising.  Having raised it and spending a year with it, I was transferred to 2nd East Bengal Regiment, where I spent good many years.  My stay of more than 3 1/2 years, is rich in experience. I have seen so much of that country and its pitiable condition against the encircling ‘Octopus’ of India that I am always in a good position to take on any discussion on that unfortunate Country.  Being part of my Country, I loved every inch of it and the good natured, simple and affectionate people of that Country can never be forgotten.   Their exploitation and shameless behavior of selfishness during their fall down movement, apart, a Bengali Muslim was and is in a greater need of its sovereign identity free of cruel and perpetual clutches of Hindus.

What the Bengali Muslim really needed, besides freedom of thought, speech and expression was work, employment opportunities closer to their abodes.  That was necessary because they would better share their daily living with kith and kin and have lesser wages than to live away from home at higher wages, which in any case were denied to them for more than two decades. There is so much that can be in this respect provided there is genuine will.  To mention only a few projects, which do not need outside technology or advanced expertise.  Nor these need much of foreign exchange, which is not there for Bangladesh or Pakistan.

b. Marsh Lands

There are so many low lying areas which are mere waste marsh lands and during rainy season such areas, expand far too much, become lakes for some months.  Similarly there are ‘Dead rivers’ spread all over this delta plain.  These rivers are like loosely strung cot.  During rainy season you can travel to any place in the country over a small boat without having to change it.  But in dry season these water channels are broken into hundreds of dead rivers, some high projection in their course cuts off the flow.  Besides being terrible health hazard these waters are not of much utility.  These twisting water channels cover millions of acres of fertile land which can be brought to productivity if these channels are straightened and streamlined. Around these waters are population centers, either on their banks or close by.  The lives of such rural people are much connected with these.

An organization, say at a ‘Thana’ (local Police Station) level combined with local bodies, agricultural and fisheries departments can easily develop production units to plan and execute development of co-operative farms based on such waters.  By dredging of already low lands and by straightening of winding loops of dead rivers, enough earth can be made available for creating high flat banks on these waters. These banks can be divided into convenient vegetable growing plots. Water would be available for lifting either through power or through normal manual labour.  Men and women will be available from walking distance to work on such agricultural plots.  Their produce can be a tremendous boost to Bangladeshi’s poor ‘food basket’.  Addition of even an odd ounce to a person’s daily diet will be an achievement.

c. Agricultural Wastes:-

Bengal’s soil is so rich that there is a saying which humorously states that "You cut a finger and plant it in the soil and it shall grow".  Almost anything which its warm climate permits is grown in abundance. But then the same humid and warm climate destroys the ripened fruit and crop.  Wastes are of two types.  Firstly a lot of fruit, especially, green mango falls off due to high speed wind storms and then the ripened fruit and vegetables become rotten because there are no food preservation stores or industries.  A heart-breaking story shall establish my point.  During Indo-Pak war of 1965, the troops in East Pakistan remained on borders for long time even after cease-fire. Our battalion, 2 EB Regiment, was deployed on border North of Jessore. We had our Head Quarters in Jibbon Nagar, a small town very close to the border, West of which was Indian main city of Calcutta, of-course about 60 miles away.  A marketing and trading system in existence in that country ensures that a barter trade or purchases by wholesalers continue at conveniently located towns throughout the week.  That fair being called ‘Haat’ is rotated from town to town on different days.  That facilitates poor farmers to carry their products, which include almost any thing, even ‘one egg’ and exchange it with some other commodity or cash.  The wholesale dealers or moneyed traders purchase jute fibre, paddy and other articles at very cheap rates and carry those to their godowns to make fat profits.  One day, such a ‘Haat’ was organized in that town and it being a holiday, we the officers, decided to visit it for two reasons.  Firstly a good recreation and secondly to know more about the life there.  Among the officers were Major (later General and President of Bangladesh) HUSSAIN MUHAMMAD ERSHAD and Lieutenant (later Major General, Adjutant General and Chief Assistant to General and President ZIA-UR-REHMAN) NUR-UL-ISLAM.  There was, also, the budding genius IKRAM-UL-MAJID SEHGAL as Subaltern.  Ikram-ul-Majid Sehgal is a popular military strategist, businessman, journalist-cum-economist.

As our group entered a lane of shops, we saw huge stacks rather mounds of beautiful Brinjals.  These were no less than two dozen, and the sellers started shouting the sale price.  I heard very clearly and without any ambiguity   "CHAR ANNA KA PANCH SER"  (Five seers to four Anna – there being 16 Annas in a Rupee or Takka).  How could one believe that.  I told the shouter to reverse the figures which, I thought were due to his poor knowledge of Urdu (the language he used because of us). But no – they all insisted for the same rate.  We almost had heart attacks.  Here was a vegetable, fresh and lovely which a poor man had grown in his field and which took about 6 months of care and watering to ripen and the man, the seller, was selling it at no price or was there a price?  The reason: The man who grew that crop, had done so to keep to the tradition set by his great, great, grandfathers, God knows how many generations up.  The crop found its way to populous Calcutta, through various traders.  At a stage in between, the partition of the country took place and now there was an imaginary line to separate which was supervised by introduction of ‘Border Police’ of the two countries.  These border police having established posts for garrisons a few miles apart, controlled the border through patrolling.  In fact the controlling was not through patrolling but through fixing a price per cart load of commodities which would continue to move over the traditional route the border police on both sides would be content as long as the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ was maintained and the trader would continues his trade while the grower would have no reason to stop growing  ‘Brinjals’.  Now the war meant closure of borders for such free trade because the troops were manning it.  The trade route was closed but not the growth of the ‘Brinjal’. The bumper harvest which ensured cart loads of commodity for big traders to feed the large market of Calcutta, was now stock piled  for the ‘Haat’ at Jibbon Nagar, for us to feel ashamed as human beings belonging to the same  country that of the poor, unfortunate grower.  Why couldn’t the local authorities or the government ensure lifting of the crop to compensate the grower? The government obviously would say that there were no appropriate stores or industries to process the same for commercial deals.  But the question is why such arrangements are not there? Should it be a problem for the International Community?

d.       Lacking Local Zeal

During middle and late 60’s, a wave of bitterness against leadership of West Pakistan, overran the entire East Pakistan.  That was beautifully masterminded and executed by those who did not recognize Pakistan as a sovereign and independent country.  Late Shaikh MUJEEB-UR-REHMAN, a person of very very average thinking, became a tool in the hands of such people and he vigorously conducted such a movement.  Notwithstanding follies or even doings of some West Pakistanis, especially Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan and his hawkish young ‘Turks’, the whole movement was against the interest of the people of East Pakistan. While it pitched the brotherly people of two wings against each other, most inimically, it suited the Hindus, dominating minority of East Pakistan and of course late INDIRA GANDHI, the Prime Minister of India, was delighted to have claimed "burial of two nation theory". The end result of that shallow and thoughtless movement has not brought any freedom of kind to the people of ‘Bangladesh’ nor it has improved their lot economically.  Bangladesh has gained nothing from India and old disputes of water and territory still remain unsolved.  To the contrary Indian hegemony is an established fact; it would be a different thing if some in that country still call themselves sovereign and independent. Bangladesh has limited space and her ever growing population cannot expand anywhere.  Open lands of Assam and hilly territory presently thinly populated are now closed to them. Pakistan’s original demand had included such lands as part of "East Pakistan".  That was not to settle people from West Pakistan there, it was for East Pakistanis only if they had a futuristic thought on it.

e. Why Blame Others

During the days when Shaikh Mujeeb’s movement had gained open expression and when there was no political forum to counter it, the intelligentia and man in services also became out-spoken.  There was a border dispute in the North Bengal and troops from both sides were moved to the area. In our case my battalion was concentrated at Rangpur with one company of Captain HUSSAIN MUHAMMAD ERSHAD (later General and President of Bangladesh) was moved into the disputed territory, incidentally his home district.  This move of troops was the first one after, possibly, passing through of troops of 14th British Army of Burma during World War II, about 20 years earlier. The local population had not seen soldiers from close distance and they were very shy and kept their distance from us. In order to restore mutual confidence and to create homely atmosphere, it was arranged that we should play football matches. We were invited by the Deputy Commissioner first.  During that match, the district officials were there because of compulsion, since they kept themselves withdrawn and much reserved despite the Deputy Commissioner’s initiatives.  Except for a few who were from West Pakistan the lot of officers of the battalion was from Bengal.  Yet the hostile attitude or at best the coldness was very much visible. On return match, when we were hosts, we did our best, through our Junior officers to make the atmosphere more pleasant, but yet the civil service officers, especially the younger lot were vocal in criticism of West Pakistan leadership and they blamed them for every wrong of East Pakistan.

Although, as soldiers we are not supposed to get involved in discussions of politics, yet I thought as a citizen and senior among them, I had a duty to clarify some misgivings. I had witnessed among others three important things earlier and I thought of taking on my friends squarely. I had seen a dead man’s body being dragged and eaten up by dogs in our camp training area. It was possibly an unclaimed corpse of a Muslim (otherwise it would have been disposed of, by throwing it into river, if it was of a Hindu) which the local administration gave to some contractor for burial for which he must have been paid. The contractor couldn’t take the trouble of digging down to the required depth and in sandy waste ditch, he dug an odd feet and placed the body there and gave it a thin sand covering. Obviously dogs can smell sensitively and they did it.  This was right under the nose of District Administration.  Now which West Pakistani was  responsible for that? On another occasion, I visited a Demonstration Agricultural Farm close to Jessore Cantonment, for purchase of good quality Bananas.  I saw to my amazement a field, about one acre, covered with green bushy crop laden with reddish fruit.  As I moved closer, I found that it was ripe crop of tomatoes-beautiful, fresh, juicy and fine quality. Getting still closer I was horrified to see the ripened tomatoes lying on the ground only to rot. Bulk of those was half eaten by rats and other rodents.  In the third case the matter concerned policy of ‘Parity’ which was introduced by late Field Marshal.  According to that policy what was imported from abroad was to be divided between the East and West Pakistan’s provinces having been amalgamated to form infamous "One Unit". Accordingly a large consignment of fertilizer reached a Sub-divisional town of East Pakistan.  After lapse of about 4-6 years the quantity received remained almost undisturbed and safe in the godowns. It did not reach the farmers. By now Bangladeshis must have realized the absurdity of their undue blame of West Pakistanis. I don’t mean that there were no problems.  Whatever was there could have been easily settled through political process and patience.

f. Indo-Pak War of 1965        

During that War our troops in East Pakistan were so less and few that you couldn’t call them "Defence forces" in any case.  Our light and under strength one Infantry Division had the task of defending the few important and wide apart military stations.  Our battalion was part of JESSORE Brigade and the area to defend extended to two districts of Kushtia and Jessore, a border line of about 80 miles. We had trained quite a few "Mujahid companies" which carried rifles and grenades, when issued on embodiment.  There was another force called  "Ansars", who were as good as the Mujahids. In addition the East Pakistan Rifles (Border Security Force) companies were available at certain places.  Our national defence strategy envisaged that the defence of East Pakistan lay in the successful defence of West Pakistan.  That meant that the enemy would not attack East Pakistan unless he had inflicted military defeat on West Pakistan. Whether that theory was correct or not, in that war it proved correct, the real problem was maintenance of national morale, we did our best to organize defensive positions in and around all important towns and focal points close to the border. It is a pleasant memory with me that I witnessed at MEHARPUR in KUSHTIA district, which lies only an odd mile from the border.  There was another important town of DARSANA, to the south which was right on the border and Pakistan’s largest Sugar Mill was located there.  Also the railway line which was the major and sure means of communication between the Western district of East Pakistan, ran through it. We therefore placed a Rifle company there with a few Mujahids and Ansar companies. During my co-ordination visits I as a Battalion Second in Command, was asked if any Artillery support could be provided to that defensive locality. Our Artillery Battery Commander, bold and courageous  Major A.A.K.NIAZI, (Abdul Aziz Khan Niazi) assured me that he would be able to do so, by adjusting deployment positions provided we made an existing rough and muddy track fit for his Gun towing vehicles. I made a request to the Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Meharpur who showed great enthusiasm to do so.  Then I went to attend to other matters and before returning to the HQ I thought of having a look at the concerned track for my personal assessment of the task.  What a pleasant surprise, the track, about 2 miles in length, had been made fit for heavy vehicles and the entire village population, including women and children, of all ages were busy working with unmatched spirit.

In another case, I had requested the said ADC to arrange some quantity of Bamboo wood for provision of head cover to our trenches.  The gentleman unloaded about 5,000 bamboos that very day.  In addition the local population dug for us not only the firing trenches for soldiers but also an elaborate network of communication trenches. What more can one ask from civil population.  The good natured and fine poor people were worth their weight in gold; who wouldn’t give his life for such people. Though the war ended soon and there wasn’t much action in that theatre, except for Indian Air Force bombing of cantonments on a day and some firing exchanges at the border.  Since we were to remain on the border for quite some time even after the ceasefire, our tactical deployment changed often. We moved to a town called JIBBON NAGAR, a story on ‘Brinjals’ has already been given in the earlier pages. When visiting the companies for purposes of co-ordination ‘on ground’ I was received by Major H.M.ERSHAD (later President of Bangladesh), the company commander, who lead me through high crop fields to the forward most positions. I saw a few things which go to demonstrate high morale.  Dear ERSHAD’s men did not leave even an inch of land short of the stone border pillars.  Edges of forward trenches were so close to the border line that a soldier’s rifle when in firing position would be in enemy territory.  The other side was well away, about a thousand yards, across the lower level belt of paddy fields.  There was a prominent village beyond and I was told that enemy was nowhere near that.  Then I noticed quite a few civilians digging trenches along with soldiers.  To my questioning looks at ERSHAD, obviously I was concerned with security angle; I was put to ease – the civilians were Muslims from the Indian village across. All the aforesaid patriotism was just 6 years old before the Bangladesh war of independence.

i. Challenging Life 

A Bengali, though condemned for non-soldierly traits over centuries, was very eager to participate fully and to accept all challenges. Some outstanding zeal which I observed would explain the true make of a Bengali of today.  East Bengal Regiment made a beginning soon after independence and First Battalion (1st East Bengal Regiment, later known as Senior Tigers) and later another battalion, 2nd East Bengal Regiment and another 3rd East Bengal Regiment, were raised.  The rank and file being Bengali, while a very few, about one dozen, NCOs and JCOs were from West Pakistan. Among officers, Majors and Lieutenant Colonels were generally from West Pakistan because Bengali officers had not reached to that seniority. Some filling in that rank was necessary from West Pakistan. When I landed as Second in Command of the 3rd East Bengal Regiment which was being raised, we had very few officers, JCOs and an odd number of NCOs from West Pakistan.  That was in 1962, that is about 15 years after independence. Why such battalions were not raised earlier I wouldn’t know. There were East Bengalis in Artillery, Engineers and other branches of the Army. Of course in Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy they were well ahead.  One notion, common, was that Bengali didn’t take well to life at Pakistan Military Academy and there were many casualties.  Also a much larger percentage did not make the required grade at the Inter Services Selection Boards and those who qualified, otherwise did not make it medically.  However my experience, at that stage, is full of praises for the keenness, zeal and competency of Bengalis as soldiers.

Our Battalion, the 3rd East Bengal Regiment, soon joined the ranks as a first class battalion taking it from any standard.  Annual Tactical Exercise, Annual Technical Inspection and achievements in Brigade Sports including Boxing was of high order – they ranked second to none.  We, who were responsible to train, teach and guide worked extra hard and the young Bengali officers, JCOs and men played equal game.  We had our Senior, the 2nd East Bengal Regiment (known as Junior Tigers) in the same station and soon I was transferred to that battalion. I spent best of my Army service, after ‘Guides’ Battalion of the Frontier Force Regiment, in 2nd East Bengal Regiment.  There is so much that has remained as ever lasting memory with me but I shall narrate a few incidents only which reveal true picture of matters of that time.

ii. Mujahid Training

In accordance with government policy we were required to train large number of men as Mujahids who would form companies at short notice during an emergency.  For administrative reasons, their officers were taken from among the educated, influential volunteers who displayed great enthusiasm.  Of course they had their own political affiliations and we never took notice of that.  The men proved their mettle and they did not want to take off their uniforms after  completion of their training which showed their keenness to be soldiers.  During a final exercise set for a company of Mujahids included selection of a ‘Hide out’ which they were to reach stealthily and without any one in the country-side knowing about their presence.  From that base, they were to move out for an assault on a given target and achieve surprise.  They had done well and had chosen a low lying area covered with plenty of bush and scrub and it was well away from population, and ordinarily no one had any business to pass by, at least, during the best part of the night which this company was to spend there.  What horrified me was a thought that here were men, precious ones, lying in bush with bodies almost naked, due to extreme humidity, the place which was full of poisonous cobra snakes. Of course we did carry anti-snake bite injections but more than that it was the ‘All Protector’ who saved us from such enemies on whose privacy we had intruded. The men maintained absolute silence and discipline and any one would feel proud of such an outfit.

On another occasion, our GOC decided to make an inspection visit and we were to show him these Mujahid companies conducting different exercises.  In one case I led the GOC to a central position from where we could have good observation all around for long distances. A road on one bank of a narrow but deep river which had its slopes without much greenery and the ground in general was quite open.  The company had taken a defensive position in that important area. The GOC and other officers were asked to point out if they could see or observe any defensive trench or a position in the defensive locality.  It was so well camouflaged that a lot of praise was given and then, on blowing of a whistle on my instructions, the men came out of their defensive positions to stand out.  The GOC was so pleased that he remarked "I wish the Chief was here to see this high standard of our Mujahid Force". By Chief he had meant the Commander-in-Chief.

Though, there was no war for East Pakistan and it was clear in the very first week, yet we remained on the border always prepared to face any eventuality of course any defense service body has to remain as such. While negotiations between the two governments dragged along for many months, we remained at the border. Our defensive area was so precariously open and devoid of any natural obstacle that any move of troops on both sides was always under visual observation of each other. Also we were very short of troops hence our small defensive localities and outposts were isolated over wide area.  Therefore a need arose to dig long but essential communication trenches.  Our Mujahids dug communication trenches everywhere after which our normal moves remained much safer from observation.  In addition to such supplementary help from Mujahids, we placed Mujahid bodies under command of regular troops at each level i.e. a section having a section of Mujahid thereby doubling their meagre strength. Pleasant surprise was that those men became as good soldiers as regular ones in almost every art less probably actual firing.

It is painful to recollect that it were the same Mujahids who formed the bulk of "Mukti Baheni" force of rebelling Bengalis who went over to India seeking help to fight against their own country.  Would they be recapitulating their actions which forced them to go beyond civil war.

iii.  Anxious Days

When the war broke out, I was required to move to our battlefield area which was about 60 miles away.  Our battalion had been earmarked for a tenure of service in West Pakistan and almost entire battalion strength, less about 100 men inclusive of HQ element was on pre-embarkation leave. According to battle procedure, while the Commanding Officer went to attend Brigade Commanders conference, I was to set out for the battalion battle area leading what is called "Colour Party". This meant such elements from all sub units who would receive their tactical locations from me on the ground and then lead their own sub units to the same as they arrived later. First of all it became a problem to find the appropriate men and their minimum number required for each sub unit, and secondly what would be the disposal of battalion "First Line" ammunition and other field equipment. Who was to carry the battalion Mortars and MMGs etc. visiting my lonely hut to inform my wife about the move, the bat man was asked to get ready to move with me to the front, halting the convoy outside the house which was on the way I took the Jeep and trailer inside the house compound, only to find my wife with two year old son returning from Combined Military Hospital. She had already learnt of war while at hospital. Loading field kit, I said Good bye to wife and the son, elder son and daughter were at the school. My wife asked one question. "Where were they to go in case of evacuation of families"?  Our cantonment was at a distance of only about 8 miles from the border and was facing a major Indian city of CALCUTTA, which lent it much greater importance. There were only a few West Pakistani families there and quite a few had already moved away to safer places.  The answer couldn’t be much different from normal in such cases. She should move along with the rest under Brigade arrangements.  Leaving one underage, fine boy to serve, and to be with them, we moved off. Organizing defenses was so absorbing that for 3 days there was no contact with the family.  Our soldiers, on leave hearing from the Radio broadcast about declaration of war rushed back from their homes and in a couple of days we had all of them back.

I have mentioned earlier about getting a track repaired for Artillery guns movement. On return from that trip to my Headquarters, I saw a group of officers including our Commanding Officer, the sportsman, Lieutenant Colonel Shaikh HAMEED-UZ-ZAFFAR, Major (later Brigadier) SYED ZAIR HUSSAIN, Major A.A.K.Niazi, the artillery battery Commander and the battalion Adjutant, Lieutenant NOOR-UL-ISLAM, affectionately known as "SHEESHOO".   They were talking over the telephone and soon I guessed that the distant call was for contact with the families at Jessore.  There seemed to be a crisis and it became difficult for Lieutenant Colonel ZAFFAR and Major ZAIR to decide as to how the families should be moved from JESSORE. It had been decided by ZAIR that my family would accompany his family and they would jointly move to CHITTAGONG, where ZAIR’s elder brother, the kind and generous Doctor SYED MUSTAFA HUSSAIN (may Allah bless his noble soul) was residing as Chief Medical Officer of East Pakistan Railways. Move from Jessore to Chittagong, over a route which crossed over after joining of two major rivers of Ganges and Brahamaputra where there is no bridge (on the later) and arrangement is by means of a ferry.  Then the route passed close to Indian Territory of TRIPURA, near FENI Town, only at a distance of an odd hundred yards unsafe in case actual fighting erupted.  The railway line moves all along the border, at time very close to Indian territory and it also ran the similar risks. I was asked for my opinion and that was difficult question to answer.  Because we had received reports of heavy Indian concentrations along the entire border which included no less than twenty major places.  There were reports of enemy troops being seen on "Man pack" alert which meant their preparedness for snatching important places such as JESSORE, DARSANA, FENI and others. In the light of such situation and additional preponderance of Indian Air Force gave them freedom to bomb any place such as major Ferry sights and important rail/roads bridges. So I also remained indecisive like my other friends whose families were involved.  On the other hand the Senior Lady, in Jessore was demanding decision whether they should take the train or were we to provide some military vehicle to them. Young and dear SHEESHOO took the hand-set and announced his decision "Please take the train and we shall see you at CHUADANGA railway station".  We all thanked NOOR-UL-ISLAM and took deep breaths.  Arrangements were  soon made for these families to move by train as "Personal Guests" of the Chief Medical Officer East Pakistan Railways -- VIP treatment being given throughout  with almost continuous telephonic information being passed on the VIP after train left each station.  He would in turn, inform us of the progress and we were praying for postponement of any offensive action by the Indians, if ever they had any plan.  At CHUADANGA railway station we were all there with huge quantities of roasted chicken, cooked rice, milk, tea and sugar and any amount of fruit and biscuits.  There at the two doors of the compartment we saw two young sons acting as guards. They were KHALID, son of Lieutenant Colonel  ZAFFAR and IMRAN, my son, both aged 14 years; they were holding, one shotgun SB and one .22 rifle.

iv. Friendly Sikhs

There are a few snippets concerning humour of jolly Sikhs of the Indian Army which may be of interest and which may be a good change here.

At DARSANA, a railway line from CALCUTTA enters into East Pakistan now Bangladesh. We had our defensive positions right on the border line which was hardly a hundred yards from the last few houses of the town.  The Indian positions were well away, about a thousand yards or more. One morning, after a lapse of many weeks, when things were peaceful and a ceasefire had held for sometime, two Sikh soldiers were seen moving along the track, one on either side.  Our MMG observer saw them through the binoculars and informed the Commander who in turn informed the officer. The two jolly soldiers kept moving at quick pace and coming as close as 200 yards, halted, saluted, turned back and walked off.  There was no way to give to them return salute.  On another occasion I was informed that for two days at different times, a Sikh soldier was shouting at the top of his voice, near the border, if there was a "Punjabi soldier" in the area. When I heard of it, I went to the area hoping that the good Sikh might reappear and would be pleased to hear me talking to him in his language. But unfortunately he did not come, may be he was hauled up by Indian Security Forces.  We concluded that the man must have been bursting with some valuable information.  Again in the same area, there was a large size village right on the border, in fact only a street divided it between Indian and Pakistani halves. We had no troops to be placed there and only depended on one Mujahid with a motor cycle who was to run and inform us in case the Indian troops made any aggressive move.  We were told that the kind Sikh Brigadier who visited his side shouted loudly for our civilians to hear and said that since there was no war here, both sides should remain peaceful-surely he was well informed and we believed in what he said. Shouldn’t such small incidents be reflective of morale of Sikhs in the Indian Army.  Surely their hearts were not with their government in that war.

g. Primitive Life Persists

i.  Santhals – Swimmer Oxen

I was given an assignment to conduct Survey of Northern districts of East Pakistan which included Dinajpur and Rangpur districts.  I had a junior Artillery officer to assist.  The survey concerned location of concentration areas for bodies of troops, communications, obstacles including rivers and any ground which physically dominated the area.  We started off with first camp at TITALIA near the neck of thin territory of India allowing passage to Assam between NEPAL and EAST PAKISTAN.  Working  our way downwards from that Northern most town, we passed through a country which was comparatively broken and higher than the plate like flatness of rest of Bengal. We passed through a large village with a central dirt road constructed through local bodies department which was good enough for our Jeep.  The village made up of mud walls and bamboo wood with thatched roofs was devoid of any signs of modern life. To provide protection to these ‘straw houses’ there were fresh green bamboo clusters around almost every hut.  While passing through the village we could see, the square man-made ponds, cows and goats with any number of children playing primitive games and elders sitting idly everywhere.

Suddenly, I saw a young girl appearing from nowhere and started running wildly in front of the jeep. I was driving and slowed down the speed but the girl kept on running. On my blowing horn she would speed up and continued running without looking back. Covering about good 100 yards she picked up a child of about 3 years from among a few more from the road and jumping off, took position behind a bush and holding her child closest to her she gave looks as if she had been saved from some monster. Ours probably was the first ever mechanical vehicle which appeared on that track and one can’t blame her tribe considering it a monster or a Demon. She probably was from Santhaal tribe.

Camping for the night a t a place called PACHAGARH, we set off for next day’s work.  First objective was a large forest shown on our map which had the main metalled road running to its one side while a river running down from above mentioned town marked its other side.  We decided to take our breakfast, there. In our Jeep and trailer, we had our cooking facility and the driver was quite competent for emergency cooking, with two of us not lagging behind in any case.  My colleague started survey on one side while driver started preparing breakfast. I moved into the forest and because of my nature I was drawn deep into it.  Not realizing how much deep I had gone, I suddenly felt presence of some other living being and my senses warned me.  A careful look revealed, some parts of the body of an almost naked man hiding behind a tree trunk. I called him to me, by using his language and that is where my knowledge of Bengali finished.

As he appeared smiling, I saw a strong, sturdy man with highly developed muscles. He was of medium height and had a complexion much fairer than that of an average Bengali.  He was wearing only a cloth covering which wrestlers wear and was carrying a Bow and about a dozen arrows. On my questioning as to what he was doing there, he smiled and asked the same question from me while announcing authoritatively that he was the Forest Guard in-charge of the forest.  I realized hat it was me who had trespassed and asked him to accompany me to the road which he willingly did.  He continued to smile and there wasn’t much that we could discuss because of language difficulty.  Our driver did the job of an interpreter. The man was a Santhaal and live in a hut on one side of the forest with his family.  They would eat lizards, mice, jackals and any thing available and the bow and arrow was his arm of which he proved to be a master.

I was fascinated to have come across a man of a period of millennium left behind and took delight in his ways of simple carefree living. I asked him to lend me his Bow and an arrow which he gladly lent. The bow was as strong and of a standard that would match any and similarly the arrows, having iron heads, were no toys. The forest department have a system of tree marking by cutting a square hole in the bark of the tree trunk. I placed a rupee coin in that square cut and from a distance of about 12 yards taking aim I fired an arrow, the same fell short of the tree trunk. My colleague Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) EJAZ tried to hit the coin, but he too missed it.  The Santhal (warrior) was highly amused and taking the shot at a smaller coin, from across the road, increasing the distance by twice as much, let off an arrow. It was a sight seeing his muscular body stretched at a rising angle of about 70 degrees from his feet, everything in straight line i.e. his legs, body, arms and the arrow was perfect in every detail. The coin got buried into the tree trunk hole with the ‘warrior’ full of delight and superiority earned Rs.15/- from me.  This was a second accurate arrow fired in my presence, the first one which save me from a cobra poised to attack in MALWA of Indian Madhya Pradish before partition in 1944.  After that camp, we moved to survey surrounding area of an Indian Enclave of MEKHLIGANJ.  There are, astonishingly around 50 such enclaves inside the boundaries of former East Pakistan.  These territories belonged to the state of COOCH BEHAR  which had acceded to India, hence the status of such small areas of land remained unchanged and very often these became source of high tension and even  of border conflicts.  For all practical life they are inter linked with surrounding East Pakistanis but are Indians, technically and politically.  A side track skirting the plantation forest mentioned earlier, lead to a fairly high bank of KARATWA river, on the other side of which was the said enclave. The track ended on the river bank after descending close to water edge. While I was looking around and making notes, mainly concerning details of the river, I saw a bullock cart approaching the river.  I had left it behind earlier and now it caught up with us.  The man, a fairly grown up sitting on front portion of his cart, between the two thin and weak oxen, was singing "Bhatiali" song in a sweet voice which certainly was very pleasing in that fairly wild but romantic background. He did not hesitate when his cart, drawn by two oxen entered the swift river.  The water which could be about 100 yards in width was fairly deep in the middle and we saw the oxen and bulk of the cart submerge in water, even the cart was being pushed by strong current downwards to great discomfort of the poor oxen. Only the heads of the oxen and the man were visible, above water, for a while and then they were through the deep and the worst part. One couldn’t resist acclamation of efficiency of their art.

ii.   A Lonely Hut of Jessore Cantonment

The accommodation in which we lived for about 2-1/2 years, was a lonely hut in environments which equaled a zoological garden. It was situated well away from other cantonment buildings and was raised on otherwise low ground surrounded on two sides by paddy fields and marshy waste on the other sides. A track lead to it from main road for about a furlong. The British had constructed it during World War-II, for a small airbase Cantonment in support of 14th Army fighting further east in Burma. This hut having open marsh land stretching over many acres was generally surrounded by water during rainy season, even the paddy fields became part of the lake which swelled. That provided good chance for children who took delight in catching and collecting small fish which was carried to the fields with high-water but got stranded where the water receded. In the surroundings we had a Date palm tree preserve and many isolated such trees along with other variety of palm trees. The preserve belonged to Cantonment Board which auctioned its exploitation rights.  Date palm trees of Bengal do not produce a fine quality of fruit hence, people use the trees for production of a very sweet, coarse, red sugar from its extracted juice.  The method of this is very interesting.  Trees are given shave, every year in winter and skin of one side of the upper most part of the trunk is removed so that the juice of the trunk starts oozing, wooden nail is driven at the bottom of the removed skin area,  the juice starts collecting on to this nail and drips down drop by drop from the end of the nail.  This juice is collected in earthen pots tied under the nail.  The mouth of the pot is covered with muslin cloth as a measure against pollution by squirrels and other creatures.  The pot gets full with the juice over night.  Then the collected juice, from all such pots, is poured into a big drum to heat the juice.  When the juice is thick enough like jelly, it is poured out of drum into small earthen moulds and is left for a while to cool.  After cooling the hardened sugar balls (Gur) are packed in bags for sale.

Other trees are nesting and insect-feeding grounds for many a specie of birds and it is a treat watching them from season to season. During one spring season we saw the tiny industrious bird ‘Robin’ in detail. A whole family of these lovely and intelligent birds, first married their new grown ups, then they all got busy with building their township. They would spend the whole day in flying to Datepalm trees, tear off a strip from its long, strong leaf and take it to its chosen site, on one of the large leafy branches of the tall palm tree and do its engineering work to weave it into a nest. We saw two types of nests when they finished their construction work.  One nest was long bottle type with a very strong foundation which would withstand any storm, and storms in East Pakistan are usually about 100 miles an hour. These have entry hole starting from near the bottom of the nest, moving along its side well up and then another door will make entry to the room which is well carpeted or cushioned with feathers, wool, cotton etc.  This is probably the safest abode for eggs and the young chick robins against stronger birds, squirrels, snakes, rain and storms.  The other nest is for young chicks to exercise and play.  Before the chicks come, the grownups themselves spend quite a bit of time to enjoy themselves in such nests.  These are similar at the foundation which enables these to hang and take swings against storms, but at the bottom they have a thick cord with opening  at two sides. The tiny bird enters the hole, moves over and below that cord gets out from the other side of the hole. When they are at play added by their chirping music, it is a sight to see and admire their skill.  Other birds such as swift family and fast flying sparrows are also seen.

One summer evening we were sitting in the lawn when millions of winged termite broke out from one corner of a room which we used as drawing room and took flight towards the setting sun.  It was a frightening sight to see these, otherwise harmless insects, which had grown under our floor and within crevasses in the walls.  What was their purpose, how did these transform into flying insect and what made them get out of their under floor holes and where were they heading and on whose command? The density almost created darkness in the area over which a thick stream of these was flying.  Then we got the answer to above long question.  After all everything is created with some purpose and nature does not create any thing without its some usefulness.  There appeared scores of birds and crows to prey on these insects and they must have thanked Providence to give them sumptuous meal. Those saved from this group must have been utilized by others -- these were destined to die but inside their place of birth and nursery they wouldn’t have helped any other being. 

The climate of East Pakistan is highly humid during summers and during that season insects of hundreds of variety including grass insects, mosquitoes and many others are produced in billions and trillions.  Wherever there is an electric light pole on the road side or a defence light for any building,  these insects attack light and get killed in the process.  Under every light bulb you can collect many kilograms of these in weight.  These combined make a good high protein meal for jackals, dogs, cats of various types and many other small  animals or rodents.  One would never see a dog or a jackal in poor health in that country.  Because of the openness of area where our hut was situated, there were plenty of such spots and we often saw jackals attacking dogs and the latter would run away -- jackals were usually strongly built.  This was first time that we saw dogs taking fright from jackals.

iii. Snakes

Bengal is very rich in snakes population as well. These include Cobras and the variety which lives in water. Anyone with a short stay in that country will have a tale to tell. In my case, I came across so many of these that I shall have to scratch my  head to find a day when I didn’t have some incident connected with snakes. A few very interesting incidents which took place right in and around our hut would be enjoyable. One evening I went to kitchen where my wife was busy in cooking. I saw about 3 feet long snake only about a foot from her.  It was hiding in a crevasse created by pulling away of the mass of cement platform made for cooking stoves, from the wall which took place over years of climatic and rain effects.  Lucky for us that I went to kitchen, driven by some unconscious reason, and that I spotted it and killed it. On another occasion my elder son, about 13 years then and daughter about 8 years were playing in the grassy lawn which was encircled by a bed of flowers.  My daughter being very fond of butterflies was chasing one when she thought, she had spotted a ‘partridge’.  How come partridge in Bengal-but she did not have that knowledge.  She shouted for the brother to help in catching it, who in turn brought a towel to catch the bird which was hiding under a flower plant.  As he bent down to throw the towel over the ‘supposed partridge’ he realized that it was a large size cobra. In fact a few days earlier I had hit a cobra when I drove home riding a motor cycle.  I was lucky  to have missed his strike since I was without socks and was wearing sandals with my ankles and shin completely bare.  Most probably he was also caught surprise and before he stood up to make the strike I had pulled away.  My son seeing this encounter brought an iron stick from inside and killed it on spot.  This one in the flower bed may have been the pair mate of that one killed earlier.

Once we were sitting in the lawn, it was never safe to sit in grassy lawns, no matter how much and how often you mowed it, the grass grew very rapidly and you were always on the losing side.  So we had a cemented platform built in the lawn, which also ensured dry place safer against rain water.  All around us, except for the raised track and our sitting platform, there was water and high grown grass.  We saw a cobra, about 6-7 feet long picking up a large size frog and swimming away.  For some minutes the reptile struggled to swallow the frog which kept making noise with every hard effort of snake at swallowing and then the snake was out of sight and the frog went quiet, forever.  It must have passed down the throat into the stomach of the snake.  On one side of the hut, towards the main road, in the marsh or swamp, there resided a big Python snake. It was harmless and lazy and it surfaced occasionally, either to breathe fresh air, during days of intense humidity or when its stomach was full and it needed sleep. Besides my family many others had seen it.  It surely was more permanent resident of that ‘Zoo’. No one dared or had the need to attempt at killing it.

iv. Sundarbans Jungle

Sunderbans is a delta forest covering thousands of big and small islands at the mouths or delta of Ganges/Brahamaputra rivers combined.  The forest is rich in wild life, most important and dominating being the famous Royal Bengal Tiger.  For a large population (about 800)  of this King of beasts, to survive, there are hundreds of thousands of deer and wild boar.  In addition there are monkeys. Sportsmen from all over the world as well as tourists and lovers of nature and students of geography visit this forest in large numbers.

My dashing visit to Sunderbans along with a friend Major Niazi was very exciting one. There was a team of my battalion conducting Mujahid Training in a town close to Sunderbans.  Although the normal route for visitors was via KHULNA/CHALNA and all communication and other facilities were available through that channel, we decided to get into wilderness from an unspecified and unrecognized route.  From the map I chalked out a route and with Major NIAZI, we combined it with an  official inspection visit to the Mujahid Training Camp and then avail a short holiday for the visit.  We left early in the morning ferrying our Jeep over a combination of boats, over a deep river which changed its direction of current with the high and low tides ‘Jawaar Bhata’ of the Bay of Bengal.  The land surface is hardly 20 feet higher than the sea. We reached a place which divided our halting place from the edge of the virgin Sunderbans or call it silent and rarely visited part of it, by a 150 feet wide water channel. The tide was low and we had to climb down about 12-15 feet over muddy and slushy bank in order to get into a small boat.  We were three besides the two oarsmen, the third being our driver who was as keen as two of us to have the sensational feel of the Sunderbans.  As our boat moved into a side water channel so as to get into the one which would take us deep into the forest, we spotted a large snake swimming in front which was trying to get on to the dry ground and the wood.  We all took shots at it but because of infirmness of our moving boat, none  succeeded and the big reptile got on to dry land. I took another aim with the rifle and my friends gave me the credit of having made the hit – they saw the snake lifting up with a jump.  Next we passed close to a bank of an island which had tall Eucalyptus trees with scores of vultures sitting on top branches.  That indicated a fresh kill by  a tiger in the vicinity.

There is a common saying from experts in tiger hunt and especially those who claim knowledge of Sunderbans, that where there are tall trees, there will be less undergrowth and ground below will be open, providing security to innocent deer from the clever skillful Tiger. In addition, the playful monkey shall feed on tall trees for figs and fruits and in the process will drop substantial quantity of tree leaves on the ground – an attraction for the deer to eat. Yet the monkey, safe, high up in the tree, acts as a good and timely warner to the deer when he spots a Tiger in his artful field craft, before he pounces on an animal. So where there shall be tall trees, usually on dry and higher ground  safe from routine washing of ground due to high tide, there will be monkeys and below on ground the grateful deer.  Therefore the Tiger wouldn’t be far away – the lesson being that those who want to hunt for Tiger should be on the look out for such an area of the Sunderbans while unprepared visitors for other  reasons should take care. I having undergone a course of Survival in Jungle (details given in earlier chapter) did learn quite a lot on Tigers from our great  teacher JIM CORBETT, therefore here was the chance for  me.  We selected a narrow but not very deep channel of water in which our boat men directed the small boat. They were apprehensive, because the banks were covered with very thick leafy bushes and we couldn’t see a thing through those. The water edge on both sides of the boat was not more than 10-12 feet away.  The boat men were loaded with the knowledge of previous factual or otherwise incidents of some Tiger having jumped from one bank and landing on the other, carrying a person from the boat, like a kite attacks on chicks.  This made the atmosphere tense and highly sensational.  We adopted a formation and defensive arrangement that two of us watched the front, one on each side and our driver was to watch the rear.  We decided not to load the rifles and were to use the bayonets only in case of a surprise attack by a Tiger, though our senses told us that there were remote chances of such a happening.  All the same our going deep into the wilderness, about 2 miles, made us conscious of another thing, that we might lose the direction and the path for return journey because of criss crossing of so many water channels.  We therefore having enjoyed rather experienced the thrill or fears of the Sunderbans, decided to turn back.  Throughout we did not hear any thing from any type of Sunderbans natural inhabitants.  Even those people who usually are engaged in exploitation of the forest wealth, were nowhere to be seen.  Did we, by chance, go to a virgin area?

We hurried through, on the return journey mainly because we were running short of time and we had to reach the earlier mentioned ferry on river which rose and dropped with high and low tide.  We made it in just about even time and when we were almost close to the disembarkation bank, the water became neutral, moving on neither direction, which meant that soon the low tide was to commence.   We touched the bank in good time for our Jeep to drive off the ferry boat – some more time lost would have meant, for Jeep, to get ashore impossible.

A new land route was discovered from JESSORE/SATKHIRA/KALIGANJ into Sunderbans for thrillers which we publicized a lot among friends.  Sunderbans is most fascinating forest.   ‘Sunderi’ is a tree which is not a large one but all the same it grows well and is utilized for production of ‘Newspaper Print’, an important export of that country.  The forest is therefore appropriately named "Sunderbans".  It is rich in forest wealth especially for a poor country like Bangladesh.  Besides wood, timber, it feeds paper mills, there is oil extraction from a type of a tree and there is plenty of Bee Honey besides Tiger skin and other animal hides. It is attractive for tourists.  Bangladesh is an important country in South East Asia which is most thickly populated by people who are intelligent beings.  As stated earlier, it is not possible for me to forget the people of Bangladesh with whom I had developed immense love and feelings.  Because of these two reasons I think there is a need for giving greater attention to it by the International World.  If for no commercial or strategical reason, for the sake of humanitarian and social reasons it is necessary to help Bangladesh to improve its economy.  The mass of humanity locked up in a small stretch of land, though fertile, but constantly under floods and other climatic calamities has no open space for its constantly increasing population.  Their present economy is still outdated and semi-primitive agricultural, with per acre yield of crops very very short of developed world such as Japan. Although Indian West Bengal State is equally over populated, it has advanced Industrial standard besides some developed mineralogy.  In addition India has open lands of Assam, where the combined Bengal’s over flow of population used to migrate. Of course they have their secessionist problems there.  There is sad history of India’s denial of river waters to Bangladesh.  They are denied water for their essential needs during drier seasons and all floods are allowed to be the sole propriety of that lower riparian unfortunates. Such controls are essential for planned development of Bangladesh economy which is only possible if the world at large ensures Indian fair play.

h. Bengali Culture

i. During collective training we were camping at a site close to Jessore Cantonment, when one local gentleman came and after introducing himself, he was a Hindu and a medical practitioner, I am sorry I forget his name, and said that his house was quite close and he wished to invite us for entertainment.  Along with 3/4 officers, I was there in the evening.

His house was a small one with a few rooms made of Bamboo wood with floors raised to save against rain water.  His house ladies kept in neat and clean and daily mud plastering of floors and clay-white washing was very fresh.  Some decorations were done by ladies with their hands showing artistic skills.

Singing performance in sweet Bengali was given by his two teenage daughters who were students of high school.  The lady of the house with a couple of others remained smiling throughout and looked much satisfied. The host himself played at the musical instrument (Harmonium) and was faultless.  We wee entertained with fresh coconut water directly from the nuts.  This was made possible by cutting a hole in each with the chopper and there were some Bananas as well. Shyness of avoiding use of cups and tumblers was visible. This was done to avoid any offense in sharing of things between Hindus and Muslims.

Luckily I had received a consignment of dry fruits from West Pakistan some days earlier and now I had some quantity of a good variety available at the camp. That was given to the young artists who appreciated the fruit so much that next day their father revisited us to thank us in real terms.

We ensured that their normal lives were disturbed the least and no damage was caused to their  crops or fruit trees-bananas were ripening.  We left good impression and I am sure the village people who were mixed (Muslims & Hindus) were happy.

ii. Music and Dancing

These are part of Bengali culture and are fairly advanced. Some of their popular dances are "KATHAKALI" and ‘CHAMPAKALI’.  Once we had annual function at the Cantonment High School where the whole garrison families were invited.  The Principal of the school was wife of one of the officers and her brother young ROBIN GHOSH who was a music director as well as a Producer/Director of Art Films was also present. He was engaged to be married to Pakistan’s top ranking Film Heroine ‘SHABNAM’ who was also present.  On the request of the audience they, Robin and Shabnam gave us few of their best performances.  There was ‘KATHAKALI’ dance and Robin played beautifully at his Musical Instruments. Students did well in their performances, specially those belonging to Bengali parentage. 

iii. Champakali Dance

If I remember correctly, ‘Champakali’ dance depicts a whole love story through dancing and no word is ever uttered.  It starts off with performance by kids, below ten (boy & girl) then suddenly the scene changes and we see grown up teenagers who give youthful performance and the third act is by fully grown up couple  who really create a thrill.  I am sure their teachers work really hard to produce the effect and errorless performance.

iv. Trees of Bengal

Bengal is a very green country and is full of trees, all-over, which are of many variety. There are timber wood trees which include Teak, Mangos, Karohi Mahagony and other varieties. Fruit trees include Mangoes, Jack Fruit, Tamarind and other smaller varieties. The landscape becomes most beautiful with Palm trees which includes Coconut, Date Palm (only useful for making coarse sugar)  and other varieties.  Bamboo is found everywhere and especially in and around villages for obvious reasons that their living houses are generally made from this wood. Also it acts as wind breaker to provide safety against high speed wind storms which are regular affair causing much damage to human life and crops, especially Mangos and other fruits.

The most fascinating tree which is common, sacred and grows to be very large  is ‘BANYAN’.  One very large tree which I thought was hundreds of years old and which had thrown out scores of roots turning into tree trunks, covered an area about 4 acres. On my suggestion commanding officer Lt. Col Muhammad Aslam MC suggested a family picnic and we were all there. The tree was so fascinating that everyone admired its beauty. Some of those tree trunks were used by local Hindus for Worship and they had placed idols and wick lamps underneath. Everyone enjoyed taking swings with its hanging routs. These long young routs were mind boggling engineering Fiats. These made such geometric angles when clinging on to the branches and taking turns before getting permanently fixed in their places to grow strong and large, which no other tree does.  According to Col Aslam this tree was no smaller than the famous CALCUTTA Tree of British Encyclopedia.  This tree is sacred for Buddhists and Hindus. Lord Buddha meditated under Banyan  tree.  During Ghandara civilization  in Peshawar area one local ruler RAJANWALKAYA also used to meditate under banyan tree.  Later when Mughal Kings organized staging camps along the main communication road (the grand trunk road) they created rain water ponds and wherever there was a pond there was a banyan tree.  So now we see scores of such trees many hundreds of years old along the said GT road between JHELUM and RAWALPINDI. In the recent years the road was made a double carriage-way and some of these trees were falling in the alignment of new road.  But some thoughtful officer in the Pakistan Army’s National Logistic Cell, the contractors of this road, very rightly accorded priority to these magnificent trees and the road was re-aligned where necessary but no damage to Banyan trees was caused. One such tree exist on Margalla road of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, which has a legend that lord Buddha or his Buddhist disciples had meditated under this tree.  Now we find nationals from Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other Buddhists visiting this site.  The tree has its own beauty.

j.  Development Potential.

The British, in their earlier days of rule over  India, used to produce "Indigo"  in large quantities which they carried to Europe.  Also I found, in early Nineteen Sixties, that their research had established a feasibility of establishing a leather tanning factory, based on perennial supply of goat skins.  This prompted me to think of tremendous possibilities of salvaging their agricultural products, which are other wise wasted, and to establish industries based on such materials.

One such coarse exercise which I carried out was to utilize waste products of date palm, unripe mango and seed of jack fruit.  These three items are wasted  in millions of tons.  The date palm of Bengal does not ripen to be eaten and its dates remain yellowish and hard like ‘Berry fruit’, otherwise as said earlier they extract juice from the tree trunk to produce very sweet coarse sugar ‘Gur’.  The juice extracted from palm tree trunk added with the pulp of unripe mango which drops from tree because of high speed storms at that stage and further addition of seed of jack fruit should produce a rich and edible jam or sweet pickle.  Add to it an extract of Tamarind and it should be jam of finest quality. That country is so rich in above stated products that, collection or storage of these commodities to various centers wouldn’t be costly. The surplus manpower, which is in need of work opportunities will be well employed and Bangladesh will have added a source to its badly needed Foreign Exchange reserves. Of course these were and are the thoughts of a lay man and a real research work will only prove its efficacy. Surely the government of that country can depend upon help from friendly countries or the United Nations for such a research program. Some reference has been made of possibilities of good development opportunities in various fields in Bangladesh. Any amount of emphasis won’t be out of place that this country needs flood control, it needs to reclaim land under swamps, dead rivers and such wastes, its agricultural production must be given latest scientific support, its agricultural produce must be preserved against weather damages. Its idle population must be provided work opportunities through such development projects. Considering the keen interest and low wages, Bengalis will surely co-operate to their own advantage and not a very great effort will be needed. In fact a few 5 years development programs will change the economic shape of the country completely.  Another angle which can help that country is to raise a high seas fishing organization. Bangladeshis are good at sea and their staple food, besides rice, is fish. Huge peat coal reserves are available for development of power needs.