Reverse Swing
Major riots broke out in East Pakistan because of the Tashkent accord between India and Pakistan in January 1966. Bengalis vehemently and vociferously protested the perceived sell-out of Pakistan’s interests to India after the 1965 war. Instead of returning to the cantonments from the borders on the signing of the Tashkent Declaration, troops (mainly from the East Bengal Regiment) were rushed in “aid of civil power” to many of the major cities of East Pakistan, Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, etc. Alpha Company 2E Bengal, then commanded by Maj (later Lt Gen, COAS Bangladesh Army and President of Bangladesh) H M Ershad, with 2/Lt (later Lt Gen, COAS Bangladesh Army) ASM Nasim as his Company Officer, was sent from Jessore Cantonment to Khulna. Detached from Bravo Company I was sent ahead with a wireless jeep to Khulna as Liaison Officer (LO) attached with Deputy Commissioner Khulna, Mr Mohammad Idris (Nasim’s father), (then) DIG (later IG) Police Mr AKM Habibur Rahman (father-in-law of my good friend Anwar Karim) was the Police Chief. Tense confrontations took place with unruly mobs all over the Province. It is an irony of fate that in comparison protests in West Pakistan over Tashkent were muted, if at all. It was only when the (then) Foreign Minister late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto left the Cabinet several months later that Tashkent was raised by him as political bogey.
