New Delhi, June 2: Bangladesh?s history may have taken a slightly different turn had the Mizo National Front (MNF) carried out its decision to execute former President and dictator Zia-ur Rahman.
The Mizo National Front (MNF) was in hiding in then East Pakistan and was mulling over the pros and cons of the war of liberation as it would have entailed installation of a pro-India government and elimination of all camps. The MNF was allowed to set up camps in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of East Pakistan with the active support of Islamabad. The outfit?s sympathies lay with West Pakistan.
MNF cadres had chanced upon Maj. Zia-ur Rahman near Rangamati in the hills after he was transferred to the newly- raised Eighteen East Bengal Regiment at Chittagong. While serving in the regiment, the young Major had led the revolt against the Pakistani army. He made the historic announcement of the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistani rule on March 26, 1971.
Confirming the incident, MNF leader and Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga said, ?When the Pakistan army had cracked down on the Mukti Bahini, the former President, who was then a Major, had reached our camp in the Chittagong Hill Tracts seeking assistance. Our boys were quite insistent that he should be put to death as he was fighting the Pakistan army, which happened to be our friend. But we later set him free though he was detained in our camp for some time. We explained to him our inability to offer any assistance and he seemed to have understood.?
Former MNF activist Vanlalngaia, a current spokesman of the Mizoram BJP, said, ?Some of us were in Silchar jail when Zia was captured and ordered to be shot by our cadre. We could not do anything except speculate about the possible impact of the war?s outcome on our movement,? he said.
?It was about the same time that our activists caught the Major. Since he was opposed to the Pakistani regime, it was quite natural for our boys to assume he was our enemy. A friend of India had to be our enemy and subsequently it was decided to put him before a firing squad without the knowledge of the high command,? recalled Tawnluia, at that time the chief of the Mizo underground army at Chittagong Hills Tracts and currently vice-president of the MNF.
He said Zia was apprehended along with some of his supporters from the East Bengal Regiment. ?Initially we had no idea that such an important leader of the independence movement had been captured. Strategies had to keep on changing while waging a guerrilla war and that, too, against the Indian army. We realised that Pakistan was losing the war and some kind of assistance would be needed from the Bangladesh government if our camps were to survive,? Tawnluia said, explaining the other reasons for setting them free.