Karachi
December 26, 2020
This is high time we admitted that the separation of East Pakistan in 1971 was due to our fault. Historian Dr Mubarak Ali said this on Thursday as he spoke at an online talk on Brig (retd) AR Siddiquiâs recent book on former president Yahya Khan, titled âGeneral Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan: The Rise and Fall of a Soldierâ. He said Bangladesh got independence on December 16, 1971, and we should call that day independence of Bangladesh rather than Fall of Dhaka.
The talk was moderated by academic Prof Dr Riaz Shaikh. He said Yahya was a major character in the incidents that led to the separation of East Pakistan, but not many books had been written on him. He praised Brig (retd) Siddiqui for writing on the former president.
KARACHI: A book titled Gen Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan: The Rise and Fall of a Soldier – 1947-1971 by retired Brig A.R. Siddiqui and organised by Tareekh Foundation Trust was launched online on Thursday evening.
Speaking on the occasion, Brig Siddiqui said the central idea of the book is about jihad and the Pakistan army. He then gave a detailed account of the armed forces in the post-independence scenario from the time when the country came into being to the first constitution presented in 1956 to the 1965 and 1971 wars and Gen Yahya Khan’s role in the latter war. In his concluding remarks he pointed out that the 1971 war was avoidable.