January 1968 and the Agartala Case

With the passing away of Col. Shawkat Ali not so long ago, it is a decisive phase of our history, symbolized by the Agartala Case, that we remember. We go back to a recapitulation of history. Shawkat Ali is part of that history.On 22 February 1969, the Agartala Case was withdrawn unconditionally and all the accused, except for one killed by the soldiers, were released.

The case was officially known as ‘State Vs Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Others.’ But soon the regime of President Mohammad Ayub Khan, intent on destroying the reputation of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and painting Bengalis in general as secessionists in league with India to break out of Pakistan, began deliberately to dub the case as the Agartala Conspiracy Case. The process of justice was thus undermined by a regime intent on delivering the sinister.

Thirty five Bengalis, accused of conspiracy to break up Pakistan through declaring its eastern province as an independent state, were produced before a special tribunal on June 19, 1968. The Agartala Conspiracy Case instituted by the government of Pakistan against Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and thirty-four other Bengalis remains a point of reference for students of Bangladesh’s history. Much debate has ensued about the way the case changed the course of Bengali history and transformed the nature of politics and geography in South Asia, especially in the context of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

There remains the opinion of those who have believed that the case effectively hastened the fall of the military regime of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. There are yet others who have held fast to the idea that when the Pakistan government decided to go ahead with the case and in fact gave formal shape to it, the state of Pakistan, by nature fragile, took an inexorable step toward decline in its eastern province.

The first hint of something going on in the Pakistani establishment came in December 1967, with reports of junior level Bengali officers of the Pakistan army, air force and navy being taken into custody by the government. It was not until 6 January 1968 that an official statement about the arrests would come from the ruling circles in Rawalpindi.

Altogether about fifteen hundred Bengalis were placed under arrest by the authorities on charges of conspiracy to bring about the dismemberment of Pakistan. But as yet no formal charges were filed against any individuals, for the good reason that Pakistani military intelligence was frantically going around trying to convince a large number of those detained to turn approver and testify in court against those who would be formally charged with the crime.

On 18 January, matters became somewhat clearer. The Pakistan government informed the country that thirty-five individuals had been charged with conspiracy to break up Pakistan and turn East Pakistan into an independent state with assistance from the Indian government.

At the top of the list was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, president of the East Pakistan Awami League and in detention since May 1966 under the Defence of Pakistan Rules. The implication was clear: Mujib had spearheaded the conspiracy. In stark terms, one of the more prominent of Bengali politicians had engaged in subterfuge and conspiracy to destroy the unity of the state of Pakistan!

The proceedings of the trial were presented in detail through the print media, which perhaps was one particular reason why the Bengalis of East Pakistan began to develop the notion that the whole show was aimed at humiliating not just Mujib but also an entire people. Such feelings gained ground when quite a few government witnesses turned hostile and told the tribunal that they had been physically and psychologically tortured into becoming approvers in the case.

And then came the death in custody of one accused, Sergeant Zahurul Haq, on 15 February 1969. With the country already seething in anger and with demands for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s unconditional release rising in crescendo for him to take part in a round table conference called by President Ayub Khan, the Agartala Case looked doomed. The Agartala Case marked the rise, in meteoric manner, of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the spokesman of the Bengalis. His courage of conviction where his principles were concerned and an abundance of self-confidence were made clear in the early stages of the trial.

On 22 February 1969, Vice Admiral A.R. Khan, Pakistan’s defence minister, announced the unconditional withdrawal of the Agartala Conspiracy Case and the release of all accused. The next day, a million-strong crowd roared its approval when Tofail Ahmed, then a leading student leader, proposed honouring Mujib as Bangabandhu, friend of Bengal. On 24 February, he flew off to Rawalpindi to argue the case for the Six Points.